Tein Basic making sounds. Halp!

[ttttrigg3r]

So today I pulled out to get gas and my suspension makes clunking sounds whenever there's a bump. It's not the normal THUD it sounds like something's loose and bouncing up and down when there's a bump. Someone help? I think I'm lowered 2" by the way without camber kit. Still waiting for it to come in the mail.

[Distance]

Is ur suspension blown? Should recheck everything if u were the one that installed it urself.

[K20wagon]

Do you have just the lowering springs with stock struts or what.

[ttttrigg3r]

no they are full coilovers i had some guy come over and installed them last week. They're brand new. I reused the top hat like supposed to. Here are some pictures. I see that the spring is sitting on top of the rubber o-ring. Is that correct? Anyone help

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r123/ttttrigg3r/03262010030.jpg

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r123/ttttrigg3r/03262010029.jpg

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r123/ttttrigg3r/03262010028.jpg

That's just the front left by the way. It's getting dark and I have the weekend to fix it.

[RickEP3]

Are the locking perches loose?

[ttttrigg3r]

I don't think they were. When I tried to unlock them it took a good amount of force. They were locked pretty tight.

[K20wagon]

Cant really tell my anything in the pics but do you know exactly where its coming from, front left and right or back left and right .

[ttttrigg3r]

I just used my hands to bounce all 4 corners at a time. I only hear it from the front left. Really sounds like something's loose but when I jacked it up I found nothing loose.

[Strife]

My Tein basics make weird noise on bumps too. I think they're blown or something else is wrong with them, I'm replacing them soon just to be safe.

[ttttrigg3r]

that's horrible. I just got this litterally 2 weeks ago and got them put on last week. They can't be blown. Do you have any pictures of them put together? I want to make sure they're install correctly but the instructions are pretty confusing. Can't be sure about the diagram.

[K20wagon]

If it is coming from the front left then just jack your car up and take it out and inspect it to see if you can see anything wrong.

[jzeravsky]

had the same problem but turns out my ball joint was bad check the ball joint

[SHG_EasyE]

First off, you need to determine what corner the sound is coming from. That will make it much easier to locate the problem.

One of the first things that comes to mind is this... Are the springs held up against the top hat at all times? Since its a single adjustable coilover (spring preload and ride height are adjusted simutaneusly) Im assuming they arent. In this case, when the suspension unloads, the top of the springs may become unseated. When the wheel clears the dip and starts to compress the suspension the spring will pop back onto the top seat which would produce the sound youre describing.

[ttttrigg3r]

Thanks. The springs are held against the top hat at all times. This only happens on the left side though. Today I'm raising my car an inch just to try to make this go away. Hopefully raising the car and compressing the spring will make it sit firmer in case the spring was loose.

[krylonking]

Sounds like the nut that connects the strut to the top hat may not be all the way seated. Look at the left side nut to see if its as far down as the right. I would try to tighten down the nut on the ground and with the car in the air.

[ttttrigg3r]

Also I'm raising the rears. I set the coils to the same measurement when using the keys. 4cm for both side of the rears. Why is it that my driver side is 3/4" higher than my curb side when I put them all on wheels and off the jacks? I'm guessing because the exhaust system is pretty heavy so it makes the curb side lower than the driver side, but does anyone know for sure why?

[Strife]

I also had an issue with my driver side rear having a larger gap than the others when all set up the same. I don't exactly have time for pictures or have a camera good enough to capture necessary details. Just posting for the sake of letting you know I have the same problem. I've heard people with RSXs hating on the Tein Basics for other reasons as well as ours.

[SHG_EasyE]

Rule of thumb when setting up a car.... All 4 corners will never be adjusted to the same height, neither do you want them to be. Reason is the corner weight of a front wheel drive will naturally have an excess amount of weight on the left front corner with driver weight in the car. To counteract this, the right rear shock has to be shorter to effectively take weight off of the left front.

To properly set up a car it should be corner weighted on a set of scales. Also, to properly set up the car you need adjustable endlinks on all 4 corners. Since the ride heights will all be slightly different to balance the car you need to lengthen and shorten the endlinks so theyre not putting upward or downward pressure on opposing wheels, causing a dynamic change in cornerweight throughout the suspension stroke.

[ttttrigg3r]

So I think it was the nuts on top in the engine bay wasn't tight enough. When I put everything back together and took out for a test drive the noise stopped for now. Right now my measurements are 13 3/4" from fender to center of hub cap on the curb side and a little higher on passenger side so when my fat ass get in I hope it will be balanced. A lot of people tell me getting corner balance is overkill for daily driving. I also don't know shit about endlinks. so I guess she'll sit like that until the rear camber kit comes. Then I might drop a little more.
Thanks everyone for input

[K20wagon]

Cool so sounds like you fixed it, and ya make sure you get that rear camber kit on there since you are 2" drop.

[ttttrigg3r]

SOrry to bring up last week's thread but I thought instead of making another one i'd ask my question here. So I just got SPC rear camber kits in yesterday and I just want to ask what's the absolute correct way to raise or lower all four coilovers to the same height. I have an idea of where I want them (just enough to get my cheap jack under the frame) but I notice that even if I use the same measurement on the coilovers the height is still different. For example I use 4cm on both rears but the left sits higher than the right. i compensated by raising the right rear a little and dropping the left rear a bit. Is this the correct way to do it? someone please fill me in. And do I install the rear camber kit after or before I do this?

[xxllplayallxx]

ttttrigg3r, I AM HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM!!!! HOW DID YOU TIGHTEN THE BOLT?

[ttttrigg3r]

I took the strut out to examine it and then put it back in. I must have tightened it in the process because the noise stopped. Try taking a wrench to the top 3 nuts and see if they're tight. Jack your car up, take off the wheel and see if everything's installed right. Also check the perch to see if they're locked.
I had a 2" drop almost so I guess the car was 2 low.