Just finished swapping out the UCA. Now it shakes even more, my camber is way out of control, and my steering alignment is fucked to hell. I give up.
Wear,
Here are some common issues I’ve found over the years that lead to “clunking”:
Exhaust hangers: sounds dumb but if you haven’t inspected each and everyone they could be torn at the corners and although they are still connected they may not be doing a thing to keep the exhaust stable.
Wheel Bearings: Based on the photos you’ve posted you clearly deal with freezing temperatures which can burn up an unsealed open face bearing like our cars have been cursed with.
Diff: Depending on the mileage of your car, you may have a diff carrier bearing which is going out and actually rubbing on the inner face of the trans casing, you may want to raise the car spin the wheels to make sure you’re not getting any friction at that end of the drivetrain.
Best of Luck and let us know what you find. Remember, no one ever learned anything while things were go right.
J.
Very nice build! It’s a great improvement from what it was when you got it. I like your suspension setup, its the same as mine besides for the top hots.
I most say though that I liked the rota’s better for some reason.
Can you describe your vibration problem to me in detail? I can’t seem to find it in this thread, I’m probably just retarded though.
I’m a certified technician and used to deal with vibrations and what not all the time until I lost my job…
Thanks J. I have been able to eliminate those as possible culprits. Any other possible insight would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Honduh. Well, the problem began as soon as I wrapped up the Koni/GC installation. Since then I have had an odd problem. Driving straight and turning left are cake, no problems at all. The problem is when I make a hard right turn or go over certain bumps a noise begins on the drivers side front. I have had an axle go bad on me before and that is the only thing I can liken it to. It is a steady ‘thump’ that is dependent on wheelspeed. The faster I am going, the faster the ‘thump’ and the more severe the turn, the harder the ‘thump’. Mind you this only happens on the drivers side while turning right.
So far I have eliminated the following as possible culprits:
- axle (replaced)
- sway bar endlinks (replaced)
- upper control arm (replaced)
- the Koni/GC assembly itself (switched w/ pass. side)
- tires (swapped)
I feel that whatever happened to cause this occurred during the installation of the suspension. The only thing left I can think of would be possibly bad bushings between the damper fork and lower control arm. I’m not certain if that would yield the problem that is occurring though. All of the searches I have made turned up nothing.
I’m currently attending school for automotive repair and none of the instructors or students has a clue either. We are all just scratching our heads.
Where the dirty DA and I have spent most of our time this week.
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Wow, I wish me and my da could spend a week in a garage like that. The possibilities…
Good luck on your problem. I’m afraid I can’t offer any insight to help you, but I wish you luck.
[QUOTE=rollinmyda;1986959]Wow, I wish me and my da could spend a week in a garage like that. The possibilities…
Good luck on your problem. I’m afraid I can’t offer any insight to help you, but I wish you luck.[/QUOTE]
I did spend a week in that garage and I accomplished nothing. I’d prefer not having to waste my time on dumb shit like this and instead actually enjoy my car.
Thanks for the support. 
I had a similar issue, going over bumps or turning would result in a knocking. My lower control arm bushings were totally trashed. I can’t say 100% surety they were the only cause because at the same time I replaced my upper control arms, front sway bar end links, the a arm bushings and the lower control arm bushings, but when I was done the issue was resolved and the knocking stopped.
falken 912s :bowdown:
Really? Hmmm… :hmm:
I think those LCA bushings will be my next course of action. After that, I’m shit out of ideas seeing as how I’ve replaced all of that other stuff.
Haha. I don’t have any complaints and you can’t beat them for the price!
Wear,
Have you checked your front or drivers side motor mount?
The more aggresive suspension could have shaken out a slightly torn motor mount. It’s something you might want to check out if you’re going to be looking at bushings as well.
J.
J.,
I think they looked alright. I’ll give them a closer inspection tomorrow. :dozing:
How severe is your axle angle? This is about the ONLY thing I can think of that you have not replaced. The direction you are turning and the height of your car could be causing that axle to bind only under that situation. Its the only rotational part that could make that noise that you haven’t tried to replace. It makes sense with the noise being louder with you turning into a corner harder and more occurring with rotational speed.
Axle angle is common problem with lowered cars. My da on your same suspension setup is a bit lower than yours and I experience axle vibration under a light load because of it.
I actually did replace that axle earlier this week and it still produces the same exact problem. The thing is, my car is no lower now than it was before I put the Koni/GCs on. If anything, it’s up a little higher. :shrug:
[QUOTE=wearedaughters;1986962]I did spend a week in that garage and I accomplished nothing. I’d prefer not having to waste my time on dumb shit like this and instead actually enjoy my car.
Thanks for the support. :)[/QUOTE]
I wish I has access to a garage like that as well! I hope you figure out this noise thing soon man, you take more pics when you like your car. 
Did you ever consider your tranny mounts? My front one is about shot and it makes the car vibrate heavily under acceleration…I would at least check them out
Checked the mounts earlier. They all look good.
I think I’ll get an alignment done tomorrow. It needs to be done regardless.
I haven’t updated this for a minute since I’ve been busy trying to fix this.
Here’s what I’ve been into.
Last week I replaced the UCA on the drivers side. This threw my steering and camber on the DS way off. The next day I replaced the UCA on the passengers side to compensate. Steering was corrected but camber was thrown off on that side as well, not to mention both sides were majorly toed-in.
After replacing the UCAs the problem got 10x worse. Any type of turn to the right, no matter how slight would make the noise 10x louder and shake the hell out of me and the car. I’ve had to drive like this since last Friday, not something I ever want to do again.
I decided I needed an alignment anyways so I replaced both of my haggard-looking outer tie-rod ends and aligned it myself on the rack at school on Tuesday.
While I was underneath it I decided to take a look around since I hadn’t been able to see under the car while the suspension was loaded. Everything looked fine until I noticed the axle on the DS. I thought something looked off so I checked the PS axle, ‘the good axle’, for comparison and sure enough the two looked different.
The inner CV joint was binding on the DS just like honduh said. 
s to you!
So then I returned the axle and got another reman-ed hoping the prior was defective. Nope. Same problem.
Which brings me to today.
I took the new UCAs off and put the old ones back on with the bushings from the new. Greased up the upper balljoints which were still good and put them back on. I figured this would help correct my camber issues resulting from the ‘new’ UCAs. It definitely helped.
I decided it would be a good idea to try to raise the ride height while I was at it. Unfortunately, due to the design of the Ground Control coilover sleeve, I couldn’t raise the front any higher since the sleeve wants to spin with the adjuster once it is tightened up against the spring.
So I was forced to remove the whole assembly from the car to compress the spring to allow me to adjust it a bit higher. The hand-operated ones wouldn’t slip between the coils so I couldn’t use those. I was able to ‘kind-of’ use a compressed air-operated one but due to the design of the compressor I wasn’t able to compress the spring much but it did allow me to raise the adjuster ring by three or so threads.
So…
It’s not totally fixed but it is definitely the best it has been since the problem started. I can deal with this until an actual solution is reached. I’m thinking a camber kit would help out a lot as well. I’m just stumped as to why it only does it on the DS and not at all on the PS. :think:
The next things I will be replacing are the lower balljoints since the boots on both are ripped and possibly the strut rod bushings on the LCAs.
Ordered camber kit for the front and picked up some washers and longer bolts for the rear. Probably put them on Tuesday when the fronts get here.
Also put some exterior goodies back on. I decided to leave the spoiler on for good now.
Can’t wait for it to warm up. I want to start riding again.
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