Noises in JICs???

Ok I'm trying to figure out why the suspension is making clunking noise when I go over bumps at moderate speeds. My only guess is that the spring is pretty loose, so it hits against the shock body when i go over a bump. But then again when I had th egalant, that problem did not exist...I'd really hate to raise the car, but I want this problem to go away...any ideas?

Try and tighten the strut mount nut that connects it to the pillowball top... 

Mine is more of a sqweeking noise, but I can live with it since my radio usually is playing...

I wish it was squeaking noise...it's embarassing to drive over a bump and hear loud "thump" I got some rubber from an old bicycle tube, so I will make a small gasket to go between the car's body and the coilover. Then I will check all the nuts and bolts on the suspension to make sure those things are tight. Sigh. 

i had a clucking noise also.. (on my JICs)

the fix was exactly what one ton mentioned..


[quote=One Ton VIP ]
Try and tighten the strut mount nut that connects it to the pillowball top... 
[/quote]

when my spring isn't seated correctly in the cups, it makes clunks when i go
up/down driveways.

my fix is to jack up the car(part way up). just enough so you can have play to
wiggle the spring and then it pops into place..

i usually have 1 spring acting up everytime i jack up all 4 corners of the car.
it just happens, one jack up, a wiggle and BAM fixed.
i hope you're experiencing a simular problem

yeah I'll check this out today because it's gettingannoying...I want to have a quiet ride. :tickedoff: :)

sounds like its bottoming out to me. does it feel like a hard thump on the body when it does that. like it doesnt sound to good for the car? 

[quote=antbo ]
sounds like its bottoming out to me. does it feel like a hard thump on the body when it does that. like it doesnt sound to good for the car? 
[/quote]

the jic coilovers i had did not thumb when they hit the bump stops, OR were driven, sitting on the bump stops.

however, i will have to join the mystery clunking noise in the front club.

Well here's what I did: I took an old bicycle tube, cut small pieces about 1/2" in lenght and put it as a gasket between the body of the car and the pillow mount. I didn't get a chance to drive the car that much, but the side that was giving me a lot of trouble seemed to be quieter than before. Hopefully that solved the problem.

sh!t i have silkroad and on the right passenger side has always clunked (when i hit any kind of bump) and no one can seem to figure it out. 

Well the noise is still there...at least after having those shims it seems like there's a little bit less noise/vibration being transfered from the shock to the body of the car.

I guess I can join the club of people who's coilovers make noise. :(

I guess you can call me "sqweeeks" and we can call you 'clunks" and Shawn, "clank"....lol

[quote=PagongLS ]
I guess you can call me "sqweeeks" and we can call you 'clunks" and Shawn, "clank"....lol
[/quote]

man im so hoping that when i get my new coils that i wont have noise. My last set of JIC's had a squeek :-\. I hope that my trust in the company isnt misplaced now that i am getting a set of fl2 VIPs. They tell me that they were made to minimise noise unlike the SF-1's that i used to own. 

D. 

noise on coilovers is all part of the game. they all make noises.

Really? I've had at least 8 sets of coilovers from many different types of brands and not one of them EVER squeeeked! I've owned, TEIN RA's, HKS Hipermax C-compacts, ZEAL Endless B6's, JIC-FLTA2's and thats all i can remember right now. hehe. Those were the most recent. :)

It could be that our cars are older then yours...I dont know!

 ;)

Well also because most of us are running used sets either from japan or US, so this has something to do with it too. But then again my buddys skyline makes the same noise as my car and his JICs are brand new...but then again that car has a cage in it, so that makes a difference too.

[quote=PagongLS ]
It could be that our cars are older then yours...I dont know!

 ;)
[/quote]

Well not really. The Zeals were on a 91 MR2, and the others 85 Corolla, 95 Supra. ;)

If there's a clunking noise, then there's just something loose/not seated properly somewhere in there... there's only a few possible culprits, so it's not too hard to diagnose... spring perches, spring, top hat, spacer bushing, pillow ball... of course, that's only if you know for sure that the sound is coming from the coilover itself. If it's another part of your suspension (control arm bushings, tc rods, brake calipers, etc.), then that's another story...

Well it has to be coming fro the suspension because the car was extremely quiet before the coilovers, and now it clunks and today I heard some light squeaking. 

I don't know what's wrong. I have tightened everything. The spring is sitting in it's place...the only thing is that the spring is loose when the car is raised. The upper bolt that holds things together is also as tight as it can get.

Like I mentioned in aother post, the car handles like shit now. I am extremely dissapointed. I know this is not a track car, but I still want it to be drivable and stable in the corners. Right now whenever I go down a hill and take a left turn, the suspension cunks like crazy and something seems to be rubbing (most likely the tire) on the right side. The noise is loud enough for me to hear it through music playing at a moderate level...so just imagine what it sounds like outside. Maybe the front right is blown. because right turns go much smoother without any noise and any bouncing.

Also could poor allignment be the cause of some of these noises?

just sell me the JIC's ;D

I might actually consider that...

if you say that the car's handling has also been adversely affected, then chances are great that the coilovers could be blown also... but if they are, and if only one side is, then you should be able to tell pretty easily

sounds like your springs arent seated properly, i had that problem on my last car, just jack it up, and turn them until they sit correctly.

[quote=One Ton VIP ]
if you say that the car's handling has also been adversely affected, then chances are great that the coilovers could be blown also.[/quote]

japanese commonly sell used coilovers on yahoo auction in japan, that have one, or all shocks blown. ive seen several over the last 6 months.

how many miles are on these coilovers? new or used?

from what I understand they had 3K miles. 

A little update: I found out why my car was bouncing like that on the passenger side front...since my camber bracket was bent, I decided to use longer bolts to hold it together, but the ones I got were a bit too long. So what happened was that these bolts under hard cornering would touch the spring perch or whatever you want to call it, and wouldn't allow the pillowball to move freely and caused the front to bounce like as if the shock was blown.
I installed slightly shorter bolts and now it rides fine, and makes noise only when I go over bumps. The shocks are not blown because the car goes over the dips in the road just fine and does not continue bouncing afterwards...

Try tightening the center nut on the upper mount, that usually gets rid of the noise.

IF that still doesn't help, I would just have called JIC USA talk to Yukio or Paul and they should be able to take care of you and your problems. 

I have FLTA2's on my Y33 and I have no problems at all. Just talk to JIC, they'll take care of you.

JIC: [b](562) 803-6122 [/b] - Tel 

Good luck,
Pete

sweet, thanks Pete. I talked to Paul and there are a few things I need to have checked out at my local tuner shop.