GuardDrgn86

iTrader: (3)

So I have the Megan Street Coilovers with the megan upper a-arms. I'm not lookin for the megan bashers to hit up this thread I'm just concerned about what the noise is. When leaving a steep drive way or going over a speed bump. theres a noticably loud pop coming from the front passenger wheel well. I have checked all the bolts in the a-arm and the adjusting bolts and nothing is loose so I'm hoping someone has had this problem or may know what is causing the noise. Everything is stock except for the coilovers and a-arms.

terrasmak

iTrader: (8)

Sounds like the A arm is catching the plastic. Look at the A arm at the ball joint end and make sure its clearing the fender liner. I had to trim about 1/4 off my liner.

GuardDrgn86

iTrader: (3)

Yea I was having that problem at first so i removed the rear fender liner piece after I did the initial install and I don't think the front piece reaches the the a-arm so I left it in.

Z1 Performance

iTrader: (564)

Check the endlinks. Also time to check the lower control arm bushings as well as the transverse link bushings - when one or both go, it will do exactly as you are describing. Unfortunately there is no bushing replacement sold from Nissan, you have to purchase new arms

GuardDrgn86

iTrader: (3)

Thanks for the input Adam. Are there any aftermarket endlinks that you would recommend if they are what is causing the issue and how would I know if the endlinks are bad? Also the Control Arm and Radius Arm are new and only have about 3000 miles on them. Where are the transverse link bushings located?

Z1 Performance

iTrader: (564)

Unfortunately there isn't really any sort of test I can think of for the endlinks - it sort of just goes by feel. They should hold the bar very tight and not have any play at all. A good way to isolate the front endlink/swaybar issue is just to remove it completely, take the car around the block a few times and see if the noise goes away. It's a bit of a process of elimination, but definitely worth it to keep everything in good condition. For replacement endlinks, the Powergrid ones we distribute have worked out great for us. My car has basically had every suspension bushing/ancillary component changed out in the past 1.5 years due to noises, vibrations, etc that I've noticed as the car got older and the miles got piled on. A few off track excursions over the years hasn't helped either I'm sure! So one by one, I've had to replace a bunch of stuff. On the endlinks, I have found the rears to be more susceptible to premature failure than the fronts in most cases. Aftermarket sways tends to accelerate this because of their increased stiffness and the limited range of motion the stock links have, and their cheap components. At this point on my car I've replaced basically the whole front end, down to the steering rack (mine was on it's way out last year, so when we put my new motor in, we decided to just replace the rack)

As for the arms, there are 2 up front as you probably know - the lower control arm, which mounts horizontally from the lower subframe to the hub/knuckle assembly, and the compression rod (I mistakenly called it the transverse link earlier, my bad!). If the bushing for the control arm is torn at the subframe side, that's not the end of the world, as NISMO sells a nice replacement that can be pressed in easily. I have these in my car and they really do a great job of keeping lateral flex to a minimum when the rack and pinion is moving. The compression rod mounts on basically a diagonal from the knuckle to the subframe. On my car, the bushings at the subframe side had torn, and this is what caused my clunk. I noticed it over speedbumps mainly, though on the road it never made any noise. Unfortunately Nissan/NISMO doesn't sell any replacement bushings for these and you have to buy the whole arm. It's not all that expensive though, so that's a good thing.

I know tracking these types of creaks and pops can be tedious, believe me. But, with a little patience and the help of a couple friends, it can be done. Basically the best way I've come up with to diagnose these types of things is the wiggle method. Get the nose of the car in the air and secured by jackstands. Have a friend turn the steering wheel back and forth in rapid succession and see if you have any noises present. When you do this, you can see how much movement that front lower control arm has back and forth (it literally wiggles in place - the NISMO bushings significantly reduce this). From there, you can also use a jack to compress and rebound the shocks/coilovers per side and see if you have any noises as the shock goes through it's range of motion.

If you have any questions let me know, and if you need a copy of the front suspension stuff from the factory manual, I can email it to you

trodis

^---great info