Further suspension issues

[onewhippedpuppy]

So, thus far I've done my thrust arms, tie rods, center link, sway bar links front and back, dogbones, 3mm spring pads, and Racing King subframe bushings. No more shimmy, everything is nice and tight.......except for a very small pop. I get it at low speeds, over sudden bumps, or when starting or stopping slowly. Anything that loads or unloads the suspension, I get it most of the time. It's not really audible, but I feel it, and I'm pretty sure it's from the front end. Again, it's very minor, but there. I plan on double checking all of my torques, even though I double checked them when installed, but does anyone have any ideas? The lower control arms and thrust arms were torqued under load with the car on ramps, so that common mistake was avoided.

[Alexlind123]

Your dogbones might be worn out. On second thought though, i could tell that the sound my dogbones were making was coming from the rear. Do a quick visual inspection to see if the boots are torn (they are right in front of the rear wheels). I could move mine with my finger before i replaced them.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Nah, it's in the list above. On the rear I've done dogbones, sway bar links, and the Racing King bushings.

[Robin-535im]

Playing the odds I'd guess the front sway links or the strut collar nut. Both are notorious for tricking you into thinking they're tight when they aren't, so you button it back up and yet still get a clunk / pop from the front sometimes.

I had new links but didn't tighten them down enough (mine needed to be really tight to not move around at the attachment point to the axle). I could only hear it if I went over a modest bump on one tire only, and it would "clack".

Then again, could be something completely different... and expensive... like a wheel bearing! Ahh yes, the joy of a 15 year old car.

- Robin

[onewhippedpuppy]

Sway bar links are torqued to spec, are you saying you had to go tighter? The occurance of the pop would point to sway bar links, I just didn't figure new ones torqued to proper spec would give me trouble. Strut collar nut was put on with an impact until it began to twist the spring.

[632 Regal]

is this possible?

Strut collar nut was put on with an impact until it began to twist the spring.

[onewhippedpuppy]

If you impact it on, you don't have to hold the strut shaft. The impact will put it on without a backup. If you go too far it starts to turn the spring and unseats it. This is with the spring still compressed. Picked it up from guys doing strut changes on 944s. Makes removal damn nice too.

[mholbrook]

Might be , but when I put the Sachs kit in my last 535, I suddenly heard this awful rattle coming from the front. Turned out to be the fog lights. The "ball" broke and they were sort of "floating" around and making all kinds of noise. Fixed the fog light mounts by drilling a hole in the ball and reattaching it to the housing with the screw and epoxy. No more noise.

So the moral of the story is look around, it could be something unusual like that.

[632 Regal]

the strut collar nut is the big round thing that threads over the shock, thats supposed to me 80lb...real tight.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I'll double check it, I never bothered to torque it after impacting it on when re-assembling the strut.