Front End Clanking - Need Help

[Quicksilver]

I went and did and open track event on Friday, but didn't have this problem until just now. Whenever I turn my car fairly sharply to the left, the front drivers side tire or suspesion is making a kind of clanking noise. If I go over about 15 mph at the same angle, it appears to go away.

I've torn apart most of the front suspension looking for anything that's rubbing, but couldn't find anything. I also rechecked all torque specs on suspesion nuts and bolts. I also checked tire pressure and rotated the tires while I was at it. Still the problem persists.

One odd thing is that I intentionally dug into the brakes hard to try and isolate if it was a brake problem. No unusual noises from that, but the clanking went away for about 2 minutes after that.

Any help with the problem would be appreciated. Mods are listed below for reference.

[USMCSI]

I had the exact same problem, I got under the car and found out that some how my upper mount was binding and the spring wasn't turning as a unit with it making a clunking sound. It could be something else but mine snuck up on me too.

I see you have the ss kit, i would take a serious look at how the spring is turning on the upper mount, do you have the upper pillow ball mounts or stock?

The stock ones do not seem to like aftermarket springs. Take a look at it.

[Quicksilver]

Here are some new twists on it. I now get some clanking when driving between 35-55 mph. Also the noise only happens when I'm going forward. No noise when going through the same motions and speeds in reverse. It sounds kind of like part of the tire is rubbing on something that is then clanking back into place. I can't find anything rubbing though. :mad:

I've got a morning appointment at the dealer to have them look at it. I just hope it's nothing serious. <keeps fingers crossed> Thanks for the advice, but the springs were one of the first things I check due to numerous other posts about clanking sounds.

[ephatchback]

I had a similar problem when I lowered my car. I spent forever trying to find the problem, and it turned out to be the splash guard. When you lower your car you need to cut away some of the splash guard under the fender. Other wise when you are driving it starts to pop up and down against your spring. It's really loud too. When it first started doing it It almost sounded like a mild backfire in the header.

[TezGari]

Originally posted by ephatchback
I had a similar problem when I lowered my car. I spent forever trying to find the problem, and it turned out to be the splash guard. When you lower your car you need to cut away some of the splash guard under the fender. Other wise when you are driving it starts to pop up and down against your spring. It's really loud too. When it first started doing it It almost sounded like a mild backfire in the header.

I dunno, i think we might have diff problems, if i turn my car on in park and then turn the wheel left and right i here a clicking sound that comes when i turn the wheel? Wht is it? i looked at the spring and it seems to be jerking...How why? i think its gotta be remapped in.

[02SilverSiHB]

Originally posted by Quicksilver
Here are some new twists on it. I now get some clanking when driving between 35-55 mph. Also the noise only happens when I'm going forward. No noise when going through the same motions and speeds in reverse. It sounds kind of like part of the tire is rubbing on something that is then clanking back into place. I can't find anything rubbing though. :mad:

I've got a morning appointment at the dealer to have them look at it. I just hope it's nothing serious. <keeps fingers crossed> Thanks for the advice, but the springs were one of the first things I check due to numerous other posts about clanking sounds.
you have full coilovers from tein, correct? It's hard to say what it could be. I assume on even the most slightest bumps you will get a clank sound, almost as if a medal piece is being thrown up to your sprngs real quick and then stops after the bumpiness is over?

[Quicksilver]

It seems like my problem keeps getting more stupid every hour. 7pm this morning I start driving the car to the dealer that's 20 minutes away. Two miles down the road, the clanking is non-stop with every rotation of the tire (high or low speeds now). So I pull off into a little parking lot and call AAA to get a tow truck to tow it to the dealer.

One hour later, no tow truck. Call AAA back, "Oh they're just being dispatched now. They should be there in 15 minutes." 45 minutes later, a mini-truck service truck show up. He says they're really backed up because AAA's computers were down and so AAA has them backed up with work orders. He calls the dispatcher for a timeframe of when they're going to be able to get there. The driver gets the response back and says to me, "You're not going to be happy." <sinking feeling sets in> "It's going to be 90 minutes before he can get out here." So I fill out the paperwork and my dad picks me up to take me home. It's 10am by the time I get home. 3 hours wasted!

I called the Honda dealer to let them know my car would be late and should get there around noon. They tell me that they'll take it in as soon as it gets there and see what they can do to check into the problem. I get my first call from them at 2:30pm that the car has finally arrived and they'll be taking it into the service bay. That makes about 7 hours between the time I called and the tow truck got there!!!

You might think the fun stops there, but you'd be wrong. I get a call at 4:30pm from the service rep who then asks me, "Did you know that you have aftermarket struts and aftermarket brakes on your car?" [DUH!!!] He then follows it up with, "Well since it's got aftermarket struts, we're no allowed to work on them." I explain that it's not the struts that could be making the problem, but his mechanic insists that the noise is coming from the strut. Even after I explained that it's a noise that happens every rotation of the tire, not as the suspension loads and unloads, he still says it's the struts that are the problem.

So tomorrow I get to go down there and find a competent mechanic that can give a second opinion. I'm willing to take accountability if it's the brakes, coilovers, or any other mods I've made, but nobody will even diagnose the problem it seems. I have the feeling that a Service Manager is going to get an earful tomorrow. I even double-checked with someone knowledgeable on aftermarket parts that I trust to give me an indepenant opinion, and he said that there's almost no way it could be the strut given the description.

When will this nonsense end!!! I'll keep you guys posted.

[02SilverSiHB]

yeah, some dealerships are asses like that. I wonder if it's just the heat sheild hitting you new discs? I doubt though, don't you have to take those off with the big brakes installed?

[Quicksilver]

Originally posted by 02SilverSiHB
I wonder if it's just the heat sheild hitting you new discs? I doubt though, don't you have to take those off with the big brakes installed?

I think I virtually eliminated that possibility by raising the car up and rotating the tire by hand to try and find the source of the noise. I get no clunking with the car's weight off the suspension. And no, the heat shields do not have to be removed with the brake upgrade.

[02SilverSiHB]

Originally posted by Quicksilver


I think I virtually eliminated that possibility by raising the car up and rotating the tire by hand to try and find the source of the noise. I get no clunking with the car's weight off the suspension. And no, the heat shields do not have to be removed with the brake upgrade.
ah, okay, I wasn't sure about that. Damn, I hope they find out what the deal is.

[BlasTech]

Maybe theres something wrong deep inside the "knuckle" that only occurs when the weight of the car is on it. Does the clank give you any feedback on the wheel?

[Quicksilver]

Dealer's mechanic and I went for a test drive to help him hear the problem. He still insisted that it was the strut even though it was clear that after each rotation of the tire that the noise was happening off and on. After a little discussion we tried a few other things to help isolate the problem. The problem appeared to go away under moderate braking (light and heavy braking still made the noise). He assured me that is was not the axle and that it should be okay to drive. He also changed his story to suspecting the brakes. Since it seemed possible that it was brake related, I took my car home for brake disassembly.

After taking everything apart, my suspisions on the way home were true. One of the bolts that holds the rotor to the hat had backed out and was hitting the dust shield. I'm going to have to kill the person that installed my brakes when I go to see them for not installing the bolts tight enough or without enough lok-tite. Oh wait.... I installed them.... :o I'm going to have to fire my @$$ I guess. :D Lessen learned here: Be sure to apply an ample amount of Lok-tite when installing the bolts. There was residue left over showing that I had put some on before, but apparently it needed a bigger strip of Lok-tite.

Needless to say, I feel a little stupid about not catching that earlier.

[02SilverSiHB]

Originally posted by Quicksilver
Dealer's mechanic and I went for a test drive to help him hear the problem. He still insisted that it was the strut even though it was clear that after each rotation of the tire that the noise was happening off and on. After a little discussion we tried a few other things to help isolate the problem. The problem appeared to go away under moderate braking (light and heavy braking still made the noise). He assured me that is was not the axle and that it should be okay to drive. He also changed his story to suspecting the brakes. Since it seemed possible that it was brake related, I took my car home for brake disassembly.

After taking everything apart, my suspisions on the way home were true. One of the bolts that holds the rotor to the hat had backed out and was hitting the dust shield. I'm going to have to kill the person that installed my brakes when I go to see them for not installing the bolts tight enough or without enough lok-tite. Oh wait.... I installed them.... :o I'm going to have to fire my @$$ I guess. :D Lessen learned here: Be sure to apply an ample amount of Lok-tite when installing the bolts. There was residue left over showing that I had put some on before, but apparently it needed a bigger strip of Lok-tite.

Needless to say, I feel a little stupid about not catching that earlier.
See! I knew it had something to do with the dust shield :D
Glad you figured it out and found it in time before any more came out :angel:

[PogoFX]

Glad you got your problem fixed! Well I have a similar problem that I wish I could fix.

Whenever I drive over bumpy pavement, I get a clunking noise in the right front suspension. It seems to be associated with suspension travel as opposed to wheel rotation. You can only hear it at slower speeds and its not associated with turning either. The dealer has retightend everthing twice and even installed two new front struts to no avail. I have no aftermarket suspension mods except 17" OZ's, but the noise was there before I put those on. I've had the dealer look at it 6 or 7 times and they basically gave up and said it wasn't hurting anything. I've tried troubleshooting for hours including beating on everything but sheetmetal with a rubber mallet to find something loose. Any ideas?

[Quicksilver]

Originally posted by PogoFX
Whenever I drive over bumpy pavement, I get a clunking noise in the right front suspension. It seems to be associated with suspension travel as opposed to wheel rotation. You can only hear it at slower speeds and its not associated with turning either. The dealer has retightend everthing twice and even installed two new front struts to no avail. I have no aftermarket suspension mods except 17" OZ's, but the noise was there before I put those on. I've had the dealer look at it 6 or 7 times and they basically gave up and said it wasn't hurting anything. I've tried troubleshooting for hours including beating on everything but sheetmetal with a rubber mallet to find something loose. Any ideas?

Just taking a few shots in the dark here:
1) The upper spring perch may not be seated in the correct direction. Even though it seems like the setup is identical no matter which direction is should be pointed, it's really only supposed to point on direction to sit properly in the frame. It may just need to be turned 120 degrees.
2) The upper spring perch may not be fully seated in the frame. Doubtful, but it's possible.
3) The springs pigtails may not be correctly seated in the spring perches. If I remember correctly, the end of the tail should be pointed to the outside (toward the tire). There should be a little indent that the spring end should sit in.
4) The springs may not have the rubber cushioners at the end of one of the sides. Again, not likely but possible.

The dealer should know all of these and have tried them all. That's about all the possibilities that spring to mind with that description. Good luck.