let me start on what I have, it's a 03 Cavalier sedan..... and YES I did some research, but found nothing relative with my case
I just got installed a new suspension setup, which consist of the Eibach Prokit with KYB AGX shocks....now the car ran excellent for 1 day.... a day after, a weird sound started to come from the FRONT PASS side strut/spring....it only sounds when you go though a rought pavement, speed bump, pot hole,......It does NOT sound when braking nor turning....so it means that its not a wheel bearing or cv jonts
most of the sound it's like a knock knock soundlike something loose....I checked the engine nothing its out of place. I took the car back to the shop where they installed, they checked it and they said everything its fine and where it should be
I'll take it to someone else on monday just to make sure......But Im thinking it might be the strut mount.....I just want to get some opinions....
by the way...I did aligment after they installed the suspension, do they move the suspension or camber when making an aligment???
thanks in advance
CaviFL45
could be a strut mount. if you feel comfortable take the strut assembly off of the car and look to see that there is a spacer just under the top strut nut, if there isnt, your going to have to call KYB to get it. without the spacer the strut will not be able to tighten down all the way. also make sure that all the nuts are torqued to the proper specs (top strut nut is 52 ft-lb, strut mount to the body are 18 ft-lb, and the strut to knuckle are 133 ft-lb)
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The easiest way to check the space thing is it look under the hood if the nut has space under it that is not touching the mount then you need to put something there to fill the gap. go to home depot and get some nice shiny washers to put in there most likely 3/8 or 1/2.
If that doesn't pan out stick your finger in the offending strut through the spring and lift the dust boot up and see if they put the bump-stop back in there. also is there any sound like a binding when you turn, different from the clunk your getting. that will tell you if the bearing is gone and the mount is binding up. I'm off most of Saturday, give me a call if you can't figure it out. I might be able to arrange to look at it for ya.
thanks for the replies guys....I'll update with some details on monday after I have it checked again...
CaviFL45
i have the same thing. Everything is correct, but i cannt figure it out. Its driving me up a dam wall. I cannot take riding in a nice car, but it sounds like the front is falling off. My dad seems to thing its the spring coming loose from the car and smacking down onto the housing if that makes sense.
well yesterday they took everything apart and foung nothing wrong or broken.... ( I don't even know how a damaged strut mount looks )but, anyways... they put all parts back and...no sound or knock came back....but by the end of the day sounds and knocks came back, but this time.... you don't hear them as much as before.... I really dont know what is it...
CaviFL45
Are you using an impact wrench to tighten down the top nuts?
If not, you may not be getting them tightened down enough and they could be loosening and causing these noises.
I didn't installed them....the shop where I took it, used power tools....you know the one with air pressure.... Like I said before, I took the car back to them to check the problem, the owner did not recomend me to take everything back, but I insisted ( I really wanted to know if anything there was bad or broken )....so they did, and found nothing, everything was fine, very well tight, strut mount was looking good, everything was in its place, I checked it all myself.....we even tested the strut out of the car, just to make sure it wasn't the one making the noise...
but the sound is not the strut, its more like a wiggling sound, something loose on the suspension that makes this sound, knock knoc knoc, very fast ( maybe springs hitting something, I dunno really.. ) only on the left side.....and if you ask how sure I am that is the suspension making ther sound, cuz I had my brother go over a speed bump with my car and I was listening from the outside of the car
CaviFL45
Do you have the spacer under the strut nut?? KYBs need that spacer, and many of the older kits (some still lying around) didn't have them.
I'll try to tighten down myself a lil more and see...as for the spacer....is more like a washer between the nut and the strut mount ( size a lil bigger than a quarter , 25cent)
CaviFL45
Carlos F. wrote:the shop where I took it, used power tools....you know the one with air pressure....
LoL... they're not power tools if they use air... they're air tools
My suggestion? Take it all apart and... switch sides with everything. Put components that are on the L on the R and see what component is making the noise. in order to troubleshoot something you gotta narrow down the problem. I would reccomend starting with the struts. IIRC third gens have the tie rod attachment point low on the knuckle right? If that's the case then the struts should be identical on both sides right? If they aren't my bad.
C.T.S wrote:Do you have the spacer under the strut nut?? KYBs need that spacer, and many of the older kits (some still lying around) didn't have them.
Same situation with me it's just the darn spacer believe me. Might want to search my post I made last year but again indeed it's the darn spacer I temporary used some 4-5 washers in there until I recieved my spacers from KYB and it fixed the problem.
Hector
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I really don't believe it's the strut mount infact im positive it's the darn spacer that's missing but please follow Cinny's instructions below and go to home depot, menards, or anywhere to temp get some washers until KYB sent ya some.
Cinny wrote:The easiest way to check the space thing is it look under the hood if the nut has space under it that is not touching the mount then you need to put something there to fill the gap. go to home depot and get some nice shiny washers to put in there most likely 3/8 or 1/2.
If that doesn't pan out stick your finger in the offending strut through the spring and lift the dust boot up and see if they put the bump-stop back in there. also is there any sound like a binding when you turn, different from the clunk your getting. that will tell you if the bearing is gone and the mount is binding up. I'm off most of Saturday, give me a call if you can't figure it out. I might be able to arrange to look at it for ya.
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That spacer is nearly 1/2" thick, if you just have a thin little washer then you need the spacer. That's what's making the noise.
i had the same thing with mine, the ppl that installed them put the bearings for the new mounts in wrong, so there was a knocking while turning. do you find that if you turn right or left, the car pulls in that direction? if so, it's your mounts
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Quote:
If not, you may not be getting them tightened down enough and they could be loosening and causing these noises.
the top strut nut needed to be tighten I lilttle more, I thought that air tool was strong enough to make it tight, but it wasn't....no sound at all....thanks everybody for the info!!!
CaviFL45
Is the spacer only necessary for AGX shocks, or the GR-2's as well?
FireHawk wrote:Is the spacer only necessary for AGX shocks, or the GR-2's as well?
I've been told all KYBs on 2000 or newer mounts.
I've never put GR2s on 00+ mounts though.
