Do Your Coilovers Squeak??????

[cornerstrike]

For those who currently run or have had coilovers in the past, I was wondering if you guys and gals have had experiences with squeaking? I have a friend who has a set of coilovers on his Infiniti i30 and recently he started experiencing this. He says that the ride itself does not feel different, but every once in a while he hears squeaking from the front coilovers.

We contacted the manufacturer not long ago and one of the guys explained that most likely some of the rubber bushings needed to be lubricated. My friend took his car to the shop and had that done. It did help, but it did not completely fix he small problem.

I guess after that I was curious if any of the 8thCivic members have had any experience with this? I would appreciate your feedback. Thanks.

[hoanger]

I'm not sure if this is the same situation, but it may help.

I just installed my function form coilovers and recently, the left front had a knocking sound on bumps and stuff.

me and my cousin took off the wheel, inspected that all bolts were tightened, they were all good as gold.
so we decided to "imitate" the road by holding the rotor/brake and pulling it up to simulate a bump in the road. turns out the knocking was from the strut's middle bolt was loose and not tightened down to the body.

after we tightened it, no more knocking.

one of the things that i suggest though is doign what we did and taking off the wheel, grabbing the brake and pulling it up to hear where the squeaking is coming from in order to diagnose the problem. gl

[Slav]

i have the same problem with the knocking, and i just cant get to the nut on the si, i have a hex key and still i cant get past 9 treads, the other side though has 12 threads, so i might take it to a shop tommorow to have it tightened, maybe theye have better tools. anyway is it horrible to drive around with that for a short while?

[hoanger]

if its the exact same problem as mine where the middle bolt of the strut in the front is not tight enough, then it shouldn't be to terrible just as long as you don't wait too long.
you can just pop off that cap and use a wrench to turn it.. its pretty simple. however it's easier if someone holds up the rotor and strut assembly so that the bolt is easier to turn.

[Slav]

oh man i didnt even think of that! plus one for you man, its definitelly the upper nut on top of the strut. i just cannot figure out a way to get to it because it goes so deep, ill try to figure it out tommorow thank you again

[hoanger]

is it the back or front? the rear is even easier to get

the front's should not go deep at all, in fact, its the easiest bolt to get to..

you know what i'm talking about right? you open your hood, pop open that cover, and you can see it all clearly, just take a small wrench and turn it.

anyways, i hope it goes good for you. good luck!

[Slav]

yeah i know the cover thats right bellow the wipers and that circular one that pops out on top, the hex key i have is a 17mm and i cannot get it to lock onto the nut because it too low in the hole but maybe if i raised the rotor it might come up to the right spot, i also think wd-40 might help as well i just have to get to school and back tommorow, im just worried something might get messed up

[Slav]

and i dont think any ratchet can fit in that little opening in the plastic, my friend has a teg and its simply right under his hood open the hood and its right there not covered by mazes of plastic peices, hah sorry for the ramble

[hoanger]

hmm.. its weird that you use a hex key.. mine is a nut

heres a pic of my rears


my fronts look exactly like that, but without the bowl-like thing covering the nut, so its really easy to get.

i know what you mean about your friends teg, most older cars are like that.. i hate how everything on the FG is so hard to get at

[Slav]

ahh damn yeah the rears just under the insulator mat,but the front have a rubber piece like that but maybe not as deep so i cannot fit anything in there to tighten the nut, what would be a better tool that would fit? ill post pictures tommorow

[Slav]

not my pic but this is exactly what mine looks like

[hoanger]

so you don't have coilovers then? isn't that stock?
if it is, then you just gotta tighten those three bolts around it.
unless theres a nut in there thats hiding in the picture
if there is, then yeah it'll be tough because you need the hex AND the wrench to tighten

[Sirbelch]

Some coilovers reuse the top front mount, Tein SS and Basics do. YOu have you use an allen wrench to keep the rod from turning, and use an offset wrench to tighten the nut.

[hoanger]

Originally Posted by Sirbelch

Some coilovers reuse the top front mount, Tein SS and Basics do. YOu have you use an allen wrench to keep the rod from turning, and use an offset wrench to tighten the nut.

oh wow that just makes things complicated.
I hate how its such a tight squeeze on practically everything on the car

my coilovers started knocking on the right front again, so i tightened the bolt a second time. I hope this doesn't start to be a problem... should i use loc tite?

[Slav]

yeah i had to take off the windshield wiper and the plastic cover to get to the nut, but you can rest asured that it is very tight on there and my coils ride perfect, im very happy with tein ss after all the negative feedback from some forums

[Sirbelch]

Originally Posted by hoanger

oh wow that just makes things complicated.
I hate how its such a tight squeeze on practically everything on the car

my coilovers started knocking on the right front again, so i tightened the bolt a second time. I hope this doesn't start to be a problem... should i use loc tite?

I don't think loc tite will help that problem. It will just make it harder to taked off later on. If they are too lowered that could cause a noise on large bumps when the suspension out travels the spring and then comes down on the spring when it lands. If you want to tighten that top nut on the suspension, the easiest way to do it is outside the car. I sit on the floor and hold the whole suspension assmebly between my legs and then tighten the nut.

[Sirbelch]

Originally Posted by Slav

yeah i had to take off the windshield wiper and the plastic cover to get to the nut, but you can rest asured that it is very tight on there and my coils ride perfect, im very happy with tein ss after all the negative feedback from some forums

My Tein SS rode good but as time went on, the just made more and more noises. I had them for about a year. They were too soft for my handling taste. So i got Tein Flex and all 4 of the dampers blew in 3 months. I don't think Tein make good stuff at all.

[hoanger]

Originally Posted by Sirbelch

I don't think loc tite will help that problem. It will just make it harder to taked off later on. If they are too lowered that could cause a noise on large bumps when the suspension out travels the spring and then comes down on the spring when it lands. If you want to tighten that top nut on the suspension, the easiest way to do it is outside the car. I sit on the floor and hold the whole suspension assmebly between my legs and then tighten the nut.

actually, the bolt for the function form coilovers in the middle has nothing to do with taking the strut assembly OUT of the car, it simply holds the whole strut assembly together.. so if i were to use loc tite, i think i'd be saef, however i don't feel safe "locking" something up that might need to be unlocked again hahaha

wow how do you sit on the floor and tighten the top strut bolt? you must be HUGE
i actually jsut have to pop off that front cover, take a wrench and tighten it. good and done!

[Highrev1]

Pre-assembley is key, it makes install ALOT easier. I put it all together outside the car then intall the whole assembley. Much easier that way. Why HUGE? Its just an opened wrench and allen. DON"T use an impact wrench on that shizz thats NG...

Also look at the front mounting locating... Imagine if it could be oh I dunno .5 to 1" higher that would add suspension travel when lowering a car. Now also imagine that that new location was incorperated into a camber plate, that would be SICK

[hoanger]

Originally Posted by Highrev1

Pre-assembley is key, it makes install ALOT easier. I put it all together outside the car then intall the whole assembley. Much easier that way. Why HUGE? Its just an opened wrench and allen. DON"T use an impact wrench on that shizz thats NG...

Also look at the front mounting locating... Imagine if it could be oh I dunno .5 to 1" higher that would add suspension travel when lowering a car. Now also imagine that that new location was incorperated into a camber plate, that would be SICK

I've kinda lost you haha.. my front mounting location has a pillow ball mount on both left and right sides. is that what you mean?
but about the pre-assembly, it was my first time installing coilovers and after reading all the DIY's that I could here... no one ever said about tightening that top bolt. perhaps its function/form specific. I guess i've learned something

when i said HUGE, i meant because he said he sat on the floor, held the entire suspension with his legs and tightened the top of the strut.. theres a lot of distance between yourself when sitting and the top strut bolt where you gotta reach into that little dinky area where the strut is.