I have Cusco Stage 2 Coilovers and started to hear a strange clunking noise first coming from the rear of my car, then after a few months it is now on all four corners of the car. I can only hear it when I first start to drive, at very very slow speeds. Does anyone know if this is normal? Or what it could be?

Thanks,
Dave

 

It could be a number of things, depending on how you have your coilovers set up. If the springs are set tight but dampening set to be soft, it could be the individual coils contacting each other (teflon sleeves can help this), or the strut bottoming out. If there is any other information you can provide, it would help in determining the cause of the noise.

About 2 months ago, I heard a clunking coming from my front left strut whenever I went over a bump or crack in the road or made a sharp turn at a moderate speed. I first thought I didnt tighten the top mount down enough and it was rattling around whenever stress was put on that wheel. That wasn't it. Then I thought some part of the steering on that side was coming loose. I checked, and that wasn't it. I finally gave up. About a week later, I found that I had a ball of ice floating in the middle of the windshield wiper fluid reservoir and it was making the clunking sound when it contacted the sides during turns and bumps.

 

Did you check to make sure that guy was actually dead in your trunk?

 

Did you just install sway bar endlinks when you installed the coilovers, Those do tend to make noise, and also I have heard from a few people that the Cusco Coilover kits do make a little noise because of their metal strut tops.

Cheers
Rush

 

Ok, I was messing around on my reply to this thread, now the same thing seems to be happening a month after installing my HKS Hipermax II's.

Same symptoms... clunking noise at low speeds accompanied by a slight feel in the pedals with each clunk. Sounds as if something is bumping the firewall on both sides of the front end, but when I put the car up on the lift, everything appears normal. The struts were pretty caked with oily dirt, but I assumed this was caused by the Tein Rust Proof spray (like a thick WD-40) I applied to them and dirt from daily driving. I cleaned them off, and drove around for 2 days and they dont appear to be leaking oil. This began a day after I made a 12 hour drive from Northern Japan down to Tokyo.

How can you tell if your coilovers are blown? I know you can do the "push" test by putting weight on the corner of the car and see if it springs back, but coilovers are too tight to even make them budge using body weight alone. Any help would be appreciated.

 

After having my car up on a lift everyday for the past 3 days, I finally found the root cause of the clunking noise.

The coilovers weren't bottoming out like I had originally thought. They were actually topping out! I have my springs set pretty tight so I can have 8" wide wheels without scraping the fender, and the dampening wasnt at the proper setting to keep the spring from extending the strut fast enough to contact the internal stops of the strut cylynder. Every time the strut would compress, the spring would snap it back to full extension, causing a clunking sound that was only audible at lower speeds. I noticed the sound was lounder and more frequent when I backed the dampening off to the lowest setting. If you have this problem, crank up the dampening a few notches until the sound goes away.

 

Ok, in the end, the noise is probably a sign of impending strut failure. I noticed the noise would come back after a week of tightening the dampening **** a few more clicks. When it would come back, I would tighten it up more. I am at the last setting, and the noise just came back again yesterday. I will have to send the fronts into HKS to have them rebuilt at $140ea. The Japanese HKS website has information on having them overhauled, and symptoms of failing struts, to include clunking noises, increased braking distance, mushy cornering and increased wheel jerking at high speeds.

 

Ive got a 2004 STi with the STi Pink springs and the CLUNKING is driving me insane. What the hell is that dam sound. Ive checked everything i think. I guess the factory sturt must be bad. Ill try that i cant take it much longer. Only at low speeds through any kind of bumby surfaces!!

THAT NOISE!!!!!!

 

Probably the same thing. Struts still function, but damn, does it #%$@ me off.

 

I just noticed my car started making this type of noise about 2 weeks ago.....from the right rear corner....at first I thought it was the spring not seated properly, but after thinking about it, if that were the case I would have heard this since I installed my springs about a year ago.

Then I thought it might be my rear sway bar or RSB mount coming loose, checked that, and they are all solid as can be.

So next I figured it was probably my strut going bad, (I have TEIN S-Tech springs on STOCK struts.) because I have heard that lowering your car with springs on stock struts will cause the struts to fail pre-maturely, as they weren't designed to be on lowered cars. So after reading this thread, I am guessing that a bad strut IS my problem, and feel confident that changing them will solve this issue.

I have a set of KYB AGXs at home (had them for about 3 months now) waiting to be installed......so I guess its gonna be about time to bite the bullet and put those puppies on.

Thanks for the info guys.....

-Ted

 

I have a 2005 STI. Got it bout 6 months ago. Everything was great until this #@%& sound starts coming from rear driver side every time i come to a stop or as i am taking off. Its like a tapping noise and i cant stand it! I took it to the dealer and they couldnt find anything wrong with suspension or anything. They asked me if i had gotten any body work done lately. And i had so took it to my body shop guy and he had a look. Everything was good with the body. Then i had him listen as i drove it forward and backwards over a speed bump (because that is where i hear it the worst) He narrowed it down to the driver side rear strut tower. So took it back to the dealer and i told them the results. After some diagnosis they said it was the strut. I am getting it replaced today and i hope to god that dam sound goes away! I will let you guys know when i get it back if it fixed the problem.

Sounds like this is a pretty common problem reading other threads. Steady mobbin im out!

 

I had the same problem with my 04 STi, the problem originated in the rear passenger side, then spread to the rear drivers' side. Fortunately i got it replaced under warranty......but now its happening again just like last time, damnit. C2R Groupbuy? =P

Is it actually possible for a new strut to fail again only after 6 months of regular use? I know BA roads are crappy but this is ridiculous.