blackfairlady

iTrader: (9)

This should be an easy one for the more experienced of us out there...

I installed Hotchkis TVS springs in November. Here we are 2000 or so miles later, and I have a creaking from my front end, most noticeable when the car is flexing over uneven pavement, or making a sharp turn.

I really need a straight answer here as to what people think this creaking is, but my initial train of thought was that it was the springs. I installed them properly, but did not reuse the factory plastic/rubber covers that slide over the end coils on the OEM springs. The tutorial I used said not to. Funny, because my friend installed his springs not too long after and used them anyway. I should have used my own judgment and threw them on.

Do we think the metal/metal of the spring on the shock is what is causing it?

p.s. The car was in an "accident" but the rear suspension was what was damaged. It has been fixed and re-aligned. If we all don't think the symptoms I am describing are from the springs, it's going back in the shop. The creaking is only coming from the front of the vehicle. Either way, the shop should have done a thorough safety check of the whole thing.

Do we just think that the springs have finally "seated" and that is why I am just now experiencing the creaking? If yes, should I ignore it? If no, what else should I look at?

Thanks in advance to any responders

guitman32

iTrader: (15)

Did you install sways as part of the TVS kit? If so, I would guess that it's a bad end link. I had a similar problem in rear drivers side and actually removed and re-installed my spring - to no avail. The second time around I inspected the area and discovered it was the end link creaking. Interestingly enough the sound has gone away after about 800 miles of driving. Band aid fix though; I fully anticipate the sound to return and just need to get off my butt and get some new end links.

Even if you dont have sways I would recommend looking into it. Or, it could be the springs, but you need to describe your symptoms in more detail. Some sample questions:

Can you isolate the creaking to one side of the car?
Does it happen in constant radius turns when only the side in question is loaded (eg does the left front creak when making a right turn, or vice versa)?
Go really, really slow up a speed bump, completely head on. Do you still hear the creak? If so, from which side?
Do the same, now at an angle. Does the sound change? Repeat at different angles and speeds to help further isolate.

The last thing you want to do is remove and re-seat the front spring only to discover the spring isnt the problem!!

trodis

I have the same sound, but its more of a clunking and comes from the front. I isolated it to the OEM bushing on the front sways, they are grinding during any body flex (uneven pavement, slow speeds, ect). I am in the process of asking Hotchkis if they have a front bushing kit as there was only a kit provided for the rear, which should be re-greased every 1500 miles. That could be the culprit depending on where the sound is coming from.

blackfairlady

iTrader: (9)

^AGREED.^

First off, I did not install the sway bars from the TVS kit. When money allows, I'll look into it. I don't track or AutoX my car, so I didn't find them necessary.

The questions you ask are very pertinent. Tomorrow (later today), I will go out and do the tests you recommend with the slow turning and the speed bump. You present a very valid possibility that it is an end link. I have a hunch that it may be either the springs, like I said, or the driver's side end link. I beat it up a bit when I tried to re-align it with the control arm while doing the spring install. Later, I realized I didn't even have to do that anyway. I'm not even sure how an end link could go bad even though I beat it up, considering the car only has 26,000 miles. In the pictures below, you may be able to make out some hammer marks (but probably not) from me trying to hammer the end link back into the arm:




Tomorrow I will try to use my crappy digital camera to take a video of the sound while performing the tests above.

I hope I can diagnose it just by doing these tests, though. But a bad end link after 26,000 miles? Did i beat it up that bad??

blasian

iTrader: (29)

I have creaking from the rear and its my end links

blackfairlady

iTrader: (9)

They're only $13.70

http://www.courtesyparts.com/betasit...7-p-15879.html

blackfairlady

iTrader: (9)

guitman32,

I just got back from driving the car for a while. If I pretend like I am doing a slalom course, the creaking happens most frequently, and the loudest, when I turn the car to the left. This is at speed.

When I did controlled figure 8's in a parking lot going no more than 5 mph, I only heard the slightest creaking, and I think it was only during the changes in direction, regardless of whether I was going left or right.

Now for the bump....i didn't use a speed bump because I couldn't think of a place that has them around here, so I used the monster of a bump at the bottom of my driveway (it's like a 3 inch decline of driveway pavement until your front tires hit the road's pavement). When I pulled into my driveway slowly from the right (taking a right hand turn, with the passenger side front wheel hitting the bump first), I heard no creaking. When I took a left into my driveway (with the driver's side wheel hitting the bump first, I heard the creaking). When I drove straight into the bump, doing the best I could to hit both wheels at the same time against the bump, I heard creaking, but I couldn't decide if it was from the left or right. My gut feeling (and ears) said it was from the left.

So, the [supposed] creaking from the left side happens when the car is making left turns (left side not loaded), and when it is completely loaded when hitting a speed bump left-side-first at an angle.

I am thinking I should just replace the end link on the left since it's only $13.70 and see what happens.

Any thoughts??

p.s. when the end-link was out after I kinda beat on it during the spring install, I was able to move it circularly about its joint really easily. Is that normal of an end-link in good condition?

guitman32

iTrader: (15)

Interesting. When turning left, the left side spring is unloading. If it were the spring, I think you would hear the sound turning right, not left. +1 for end link.



Again, this might be the spring, but the fact that the creaking occurs when turning both left and right is further support for the end link (for the same reasons as point #1). Since the sound occurs only when in transition, this might support the spring theory. I lean to the end link, so in my book, another +1 for end link.


This is a tough one. How fast were you going? Idea being to go as slow as possible to minimize spring compression over the bump. That way, if you hear a creak, you can assume its the link and not the spring.


Definitely. I say go for the link, they're cheap and easy to install. If I'm wrong, Ill buy you a beer next time I'm in your neck of the woods.

blasian

iTrader: (29)

I had no idea... I'm buying some aftermarkets locally in a week or two

blackfairlady

iTrader: (9)

Update: Driver's side end link was the culprit.