Lowered the car, BANGING??

[welfare]

Ok, here's the deal, I stripped out my integra took my rear disc setups from the integra and put them on the eg6, changed out the whole rear arms, bought new adjustable toe arms from spc and kept my old camber arms from the integra (i think they are ingalls, they are adjustable too) along with the 3 month old KYB agx rear shocks. I changed my springs to neuspeed race for a more agressive appearance and lowered to 1.8 in the back (this is just .2 lower that my old neuspeed race which were the 1.6 inch drops) now there is a banging when I hit bumps, its almost sounds like a bad shock sort of like if you took a hammer and hit the door on your car. Either way, I had warranty on the struts so I got a new set, installed with new bushings and spring seats on the top, set the alignment again and still the same noise.
Anyone have any ideas?? I tried jumping on the car and I cant get it to make the noise, you gotta hit just the right bumps in the road, the only "close" sound i can get it to make is if I hit the wheel with a rubber hammer at the 3 o'clock position (right side) or the 9 o'clock position (left side)
Someone has to have some ideas or ways for me to check into this, I have looked all over and cant see anything touching anythign else.
Oh and I have had it apart 2 times now looking for bad bushings or the like and all I can find is some dry rot at the big "middle" bushing forward of the wheel on the main trailing arm. Could it be that??
Im just annoyed

 

[91_stylin_civic]

is the strut bottoming out? What year integra did you take the rear swap off of? No noise before the swap?

 

[welfare]

no noise before swap, 95 integra, and I checked the struts arent bottoming out ther is another 2 inches before bottom
the cross for the struts is the same, 90-01 integra and 92-00 civic. I was thinking of getting those strut riser things just in case, but there was NEVER a noise when they were in the integra and I def drove that harder than I have driven the eg.

 

[91_stylin_civic]

are the springs coming unseated? when you jack the car up do the springs still have tension on them or can you move them around?

 

[welfare]

tension, they are low enough that you can mount them without a spring compressor but it takes alot of force, and they def aren't coming unseated. . . Im leaning toward the trailing arm bushings. . .

 

[double0Si]

tension, they are low enough that you can mount them without a spring compressor but it takes alot of force, and they def aren't coming unseated. . . Im leaning toward the trailing arm bushings. . .

If you can mount them without a spring compressor they probably are coming unseated during extension. Or maybe shifting somewhat. The trailing arm bushing would be a good place to start though.

 

[Briansol]

it might not be the suspension at all.

it sounds like a wheel bearing.


jack the car and try to push and pull on the wheel. ie, grab at 9 and 3, and push in at 3 and pull with 9 and vice versa.

if you got wobble there, its the wheels bearing most likely.

 

[welfare]

checked the bearings, they are not moving, when the car is jacked up I cannot make the noise. only when the weight is on the suspension or the wheel (ie jacking on the lower arm or with the car on the ground.
I am going to get a set of energy suspension bushings for the big bushing back there and see if that helps.

 

[blasterman87]

a wheel bearing wont make a banging noise. more of a howling noise when driving, and it will get louder the faster you go. i would guess something to do with springs/struts...

 

[CAFROG]

I was thinking bushings too....but bad bushings get the suspension all loosy goosy
The cluck is bad. I know you've had the tires on and off a lot and proabbly tightneed everything but I would check again.....and think of something you are not checking for tightness.

It is not the springs(being seated or whatever. I have installed over a dozen lowering springs and never never never had to use a spring compressor to get them on. Or OEM's off for that matter. OEM on...yes ou need one. Now onthe install of the springs...they have a bottom out point on the struts (only turn so much before it hits the stopper)

Okay I'm writing too much for what this needs. I would take it all off...check bushings and change the bearings in the hub...then put it back together making sure everything is secure and tightened correctly (we can all accidentally miss something important)

 

[nootrac22]

let the midget out of the trunk?

 

[blasterman87]

yeah, very true we all can miss something.. i forgot to put the lower ball joint bolt on my hatch during my swap, jacked it up to put the shift linkage on and bang.. wheel went sideways..

 

[welfare]

ok, pulled it back in the shop today, tinkered with it ALOT, narrowed what I think is the noise to the main trailing arm bushing, they will be here tomorrow, I will let everyone know if it solves it. or if I find somethign else while everything else is out.

 

[Magana559]

could it be the tires rubbing on the inside? is it when you hit a bump?

 

[welfare]

the tires are def not hitting anything, I have 16x7 rotas with 205/40r16 tires, they dont come close to hitting anywhere, I checked that first.
I might not ba able to get time to pull the car int he shop today, looks likea full schedule, so it might have to wait until tomorrow.
Like I said, i will post anything I find out.

 

[welfare]

Just an update,
I installed the rear trailing arm bushings but seem to still have a banging on 1 side, took a look again and maybe the struts are bottoming out, but it looks like they would have to go almost 3 inches in order to bottom . . . I am orderinga set of top hats just in case, but I might be wasting my time

 

[awptickes]

Put a zip-tie on the strut to see if it really is bottoming out.

 

[welfare]

I dont really think that a zip tie will stay put on that polished part of the strut, it will prolly slide to the bottom and not give a good reading, I apreciate the imput but Im going to get the top hats off ebay, most likely modify them a little since they look a little cheezy on the spring perch part, then see from there, I might have to get a new set of struts after that, if they have been bottoming out for these last 5 days plus however long it takes me to order and recieve the struts; then they will be whooped/damaged. I have warranty so it shouldnt be too much of a problem. Gotta wait a week tho to order the top hats funds are kinda low cuz of all the fireworks I bought.

 

[awptickes]

I dont really think that a zip tie will stay put on that polished part of the strut, it will prolly slide to the bottom and not give a good reading, I apreciate the imput but Im going to get the top hats off ebay,

Just trying to help. I can attest to the fact that the only thing that makes it move is the movement of the suspension. It's a quick and dirty way to see if you actually are bottoming out.

Personally I'd rather check before spending money.

 

[welfare]

Ill give it a rip then, I talked to a guy from KYB about the warranty and he says they wont warranty if the car was lowered more than 1.5 inches he says the shocks will bottom out, I proceded to not give him any of my information and hung up the phone, my warranty is though a local auto parts store, so I didnt wanna screw that up. Either way, Ill tyr the zip tie thing, hopefully it will be nice tomorrow so I can try to get a few things done, its ben raining here in upstate NY for about 5 days. Found out my car leaks too, which pisses me off, gotta break out the seam sealer.
O well.
Have a fun 4th