hello my350z i own a 2008 350z and had a question about the sound im hearing. its been rather cold recently (30 degrees and below ) and i have recently been hearing a metallic clunk sound going over bumps or even really small bumps coming from the left rear of my car. everything seems to be working but its bothering me. I have also just a couple weeks ago had axle back straight pipe exhuast put on ( dont worry only temp. till tax return time ) i havent had the time to get outside and check since im working full time and since the weather has been so cold but any ideas? I apologize if this has been answered or if this is in the wrong location. Thank you

Jordan.

P.S. the car is lowered nothing extreme maybe .5" at most. actually whats stock height anyways?

thanks again

 

if your still running OEM shocks and struts on lowering springs its the shocks, How high is the mileage on your Z?

 

thank you for the response. its at 48k miles and i belive it was either aftermarket cups or cup mod was done? does that sound like an actual thing? my skills with cars only goes into electronics and wiring so i apologize with my terminology. but im pretty sure the rest of the suspension set up is stock. just to throw it out there i did notice my rear wheel fenders are rolled already as well. ( just to give a better estimation on my height ) if pictures are needed i can take them but it would have to wait till i leave work =(

 

If your lowered it could be your sway bar hitting something. Mine clunked the same until I adjusted it. You said your fenders are rolled, that's a good indication it's lowered a good bit.

 

Mine has squeaking in the rear coming from the left side and I can't narrow down what's making it..Good luck.

 

Squeaks are generally bushings. Lube if possible or replace. Clunks can also be worn end links on sways bars, happened on my fronts. didn't look bad or even feel bad but replacement solved it anyway.

 

That's coming from the bushings at the top of the rear shock absorbers. You can verify this by taking them apart and applying a little grease to the mating surfaces. That'll cure it for a while, but it'll come back.

What appears to be a permanent fix is putting thin discs of teflon or ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene between the contact surfaces. I did that to mine about six months ago, and haven't heard a peep since.

I happened to have some of the material on hand, so I made them myself.

 

Thank you guys for the ideas. everything was fine till about a day or two after the axle back straight pipes but ill check the sway bars. so far that seems like it could be the issue. performance wise im not feeling or seeing any difference, just the noise. when i get home ill take a picture of the area the best i can see if you guys can narrow it down. i have another idea of what it could be that ill point out in the picture as well. having fenders rolled was a very happy surprise i must say haha. after i solve this im going to dive into the word of spacers, offset, tire size, and wheel sizes >.< but thats for a different day...

p.s. axle back sounds better then i thought but my uncle, ( NH car mechanic ) when he heard it asked if i wanted a gift card to a muffler shop for christmas so i guess its a little too loud..... thanks again

Jordan

 

When you say cup mod.. do you mean the cup kit air suspension?

 

no arvin89 sorry for my terminology when I purchased the car they mentioned it was slightly lowered. I asked with what method was it lowered and they replied with the suspension cups were aftermarket. frankly I dont really understand completely what it means but the car sits nicely

 

pic of said cup mod?lol

 

Yes, could be the endlinks as well. I had the same clunking and purchased the Circuit Sport endlinks and Hotchkis Sawy bars after I had lowered the car and the clunking was occurring. The clunking stopped after I installed them. OP, this may be your problem.

 

3oh5z no problem ill take a picture of said cup kit/ after market cups/ whatever im talking about lol. it will have to wait till im out of work though

 

If you could get a picture of your setup we could help you out

I have a feeling you might have coilovers which is what the metallic sound might turnout to be

 

Any chance the exhaust that was installed 2 days before this noise started is rubbing or hitting on anything? That is where I would start looking.

 

ok so after inspecting more closely I seen that I have aftermarket suspension stupid me for not looking closer and taking their word anyways the pictures show the brand of them, they seem to be stance brand

http://www.stancecoiloversuperstore....lus--coilovers

I dont know what level they are but im going to say the cheapest they sell to be safe about it. pictures included! dirty car is dirty.....







if you guys know what ones these are id appreciate the help! also I guess this means I can go lower? pretty excited to be honest I havent looked up any reviews yet but hey I thought it was stock with a weird cheap mod that nobody heard.
Also the clunk is very minimal now

 

With Stance you can go just about as low as anyone could want. It's a lot easier with stance too seeing you lower it via the coil body and not the spring assembly so it doesn't effect spring preload. It's just a matter of disconnecting the shock body(?) and the swaybar endlinks. You'll need to purchase one of their lowering keys (not sure of the terminalogy) to help you loosen and tighten it. You can also adjust the dampening, but it looks like the top **** has broke off from your pictures.

Edit: maybe the **** isn't broken off. Might just appear that way in the pic.

 

I have the exact same sound. Same setup with true coilovers (stance). Just happened recently. The coilovers I installed about 6 months ago with no issues (sound wise) till now. If anyone might know what it can be please advice. I'm going to look at it in detail soon.

 

well to be frank, STANCE and any other coilover setup is going to produce noise.period. They aren't made to be comfy daily driven products. But to answer your question, yes you can go very low with this setup....

 

let me know if youre still having this issue.