Deer Killer Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 frak! My swaybar rant thread = justified.. Yep I have the Cusco FSB clunk.. Everything seems tight, and yet again it seem like it's mostly from compression of the passenger side at low speed. I think I know why - the cusco bar is missing some bends if you notice - one of these bends keeps it away from subframe. I hypothesize that under severe stress it's compressing the bushings and making contact with the subframe. Not enough to do damage, just enough to make a noise. The most stress at a high rate of speed theoretically happens at low speeds over large changes in gradient, as at other times the shocks take the force, or the bar moves slowly enough not to make a noise on contact, or even make contact. Thinking of a way to verify this - is there some readily available contact film or something of the sort I can use? repeat - frak.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickeyd2005 Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 I have the Cusco FSB and it doesn't make any noise which to me is odd considering the number of people with problems. Have you considered putting the front of the car on ramps and then having a heavy person sit in the driver's seat or put 300 lbs of weightlifting weights on the driver's floor. Or just putting one side of the car on ramps or 2x10? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deer Killer Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 I think it only makes contact under "acceleration"... I will have to see what I can do.. but it obviously makes noise, and this seems the most likely place. I'm thinking way more than 300 lbs.. perhaps jack up the car by the wheel itself.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsme Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 Have you check to make sure the bar is not moving laterally. Whiteline has locks to stop that from happening. Just make sure your bar is centered. hat ended alot of peoples clunks. I have had my bars for almost a year and no clunk and I have H-tech springs for about 6 months. Racer X FMIC for '05-'09 LGTs, '08+ WRX and '10+ LGT,'14+ FXT, and '15+ WRX TMIC Racerxengineering.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joon525 Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 frak! My swaybar rant thread = justified.. Yep I have the Cusco FSB clunk.. Everything seems tight, and yet again it seem like it's mostly from compression of the passenger side at low speed. I think I know why - the cusco bar is missing some bends if you notice - one of these bends keeps it away from subframe. I hypothesize that under severe stress it's compressing the bushings and making contact with the subframe. Not enough to do damage, just enough to make a noise. The most stress at a high rate of speed theoretically happens at low speeds over large changes in gradient, as at other times the shocks take the force, or the bar moves slowly enough not to make a noise on contact, or even make contact. Thinking of a way to verify this - is there some readily available contact film or something of the sort I can use? repeat - frak.. Jack up the car and put the jackstands under the front control arms. By doing this the suspension is under load. Loosen the sway bar brackets and endlinks and retighten them, maybe even use thread lock. Then see how they do. If you use threadlock you might want to let it set it for about 30 min to set. I had a similar problem and it was loose endlinks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deer Killer Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 what's threadlock going to do? Those things are tight as hell. If they were moving it would have left marks on the bar, and it hasn't.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joon525 Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 what's threadlock going to do? Those things are tight as hell. If they were moving it would have left marks on the bar, and it hasn't.. The threadlock is just for good measure. I thought mine were tight too. Trust me. I didn't want to believe that it was the endlinks. I had the problem for a few days and in the end I said "F it, I'm going to put the stock bar back in the car". While doing so I come to find that the endlinks were loose but not as loose as you would think if it was making the noise for sure. It was ONLY loose when the suspension was compressed. As for the marks on the bar, no I couldn't see the marks on my bar.......until I took the endlinks off. That's when I could see them. The nuts came loose enough to make a noise but NOT loose enough for your naked eye to tell. I'm talking less than 1/4 of a turn. With both ends attached the nuts felt tight. As soon I as took one end off I could immediately feel that the other end was loose. In your case it might not be the endlinks but tell me, what do you have to lose from checking?? By checking you have one more item to definitely scratch off your list of possible sources. You can do what you want though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewScooby Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 Jack up the car and put the jackstands under the front control arms. By doing this the suspension is under load. Loosen the sway bar brackets and endlinks and retighten them, maybe even use thread lock. Then see how they do. If you use threadlock you might want to let it set it for about 30 min to set. I had a similar problem and it was loose endlinks. Thanks a bunch! I am going to try tightening my endlinks under load tonight. I installed the Cusco F&R swaybars last week and I have a slight clunk in the front. I do not have ramps, so I did my install with the suspension hanging. Update---It has been raining today staying above freezing and I have no clunking at all. I think the noise I am getting is from the bushings in below freezing temps. I did loosen and retighten the endlinks with weight on the tires, not sure if that did anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deer Killer Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 First of all your sway bar isn't under load until the two side of the car are different - there is no force difference in the endlinks with the car on the ground! And confirmed it's not the endlinks.. however saying that: ***PROBLEM SOLVED*** problem: bushings suck how badly: hole is too large, is too close to the body of the car, also it isn't beveled at the edges like the stock bushing fix: took a piece of heavy duty PVC rubber ~1.5mm thick and inserted it between the back of the bushing and the body of the car, and tightened the bushings back down.. Cost me ~$15 for about 10ft of this stuff. My suspension is now tight.. (the front at least, lol). I'll test it over some really bad roads tonight, possibly doubling the rubber if necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewScooby Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 First of all your sway bar isn't under load until the two side of the car are different - there is no force difference in the endlinks with the car on the ground! And confirmed it's not the endlinks.. however saying that: ***PROBLEM SOLVED*** problem: bushings suck how badly: hole is too large, is too close to the body of the car, also it isn't beveled at the edges like the stock bushing fix: took a piece of heavy duty PVC rubber ~1.5mm thick and inserted it between the back of the bushing and the body of the car, and tightened the bushings back down.. Cost me ~$15 for about 10ft of this stuff. My suspension is now tight.. (the front at least, lol). I'll test it over some really bad roads tonight, possibly doubling the rubber if necessary. Do you have the version 2, non adjustable sways? Here's what I did, even though I think it only benifitted me by way of exercise! I used the factory jack to lift the drivers side, removed the wheel, lifted the suspension with a floor jack to put a load on the swaybar and loosened/ then retightened. repeated on the passenger side. - my car made noise for the first week after install and then quieted down to same as stock. - last time it was below freezing the car was clunking/sqeeking, I am waiting to see if the noise returns with the cold. - I did not lube the bushings as they are rubber and I was told that was not needed. Front bushing stamped 23, rear stamped 21, both have snug fit. I was swerving all over the road this morning, diving into corners just trying to get the front to thunk/clunk, I'm lucky I didn't get a ticket:lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deer Killer Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 The endlinks are on double ball-joints, it doesn't matter what position you tighten them in if the sway bar fits.. I have non-adjustable ones.. don't know if it's V2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickeyd2005 Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 That's good work. Hopefully, this info will help other people out. BTW, when did you buy your FSB? I don't recall seeing a gap in the bushing. Mine seemed pretty tight. Mine is not adjustable so I think I might have V2. And I agree with you that it doesn't matter if you have the swaybars loaded or not when tightening the nuts on ball type endlinks. However, anyone with poly bushings such as whiteline or MSI should tighten them in the 1G static position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deer Killer Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 Just about a week ago.. There isn't a gap you can see, it fits snugly but not snugly enough.. If you compress the bushing one way, and the suspension goes the otherway immediately it's going to bang into the other side of the mount. Also there is so little rubber it's even possible the bar itself is making contact with the metal under the mount.. Since my bar was used what's easy to spot is that the OEM is tight enough to leave the steel of the bar polished clean, on the cusco it's rusted. It's not just on my car that the bushing hasn't been tight enough on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deer Killer Posted December 23, 2006 Share Posted December 23, 2006 The Fix: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NatesGr8 Posted December 23, 2006 Share Posted December 23, 2006 Glad to finally see a fix. Maybe now i can put my front sway bar back on. I've been meaning to try a similar fix, i was going to put some thin metal behind there to try and tighten it up, but have just been too lazy. Did you mention where you found that rubber? Thanks, Nathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deer Killer Posted December 23, 2006 Share Posted December 23, 2006 Home depot, garage door replacement seal.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewScooby Posted December 24, 2006 Share Posted December 24, 2006 Deer Killer, you da man. I did this today using 1/4 inch thick foam rubber self adhesive furniture pad. I bought the stuff to keep our sectional sofa from sliding on the hardwood floors. Worked great, cut to fit, stick it to the back of the swaybar bushing, and reinstall. I am driving 900 miles over Christmas and hopefully the clunk is gone for good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CombatCQB Posted August 17, 2007 Share Posted August 17, 2007 I had a clunking issue with my whiteline FSB recently as well. But I found that mine is likely due to a lack of lubrication on the bushings and also my Perrin endlinks. Outwardly, the swaybar looked perfect. But when I removed the endlinks, the bar was stiff and won't rotate. I believe this causes the endlinks to shift just slightly at the attachment point and cause a clunk. I cleaned the bushings, wrapped the bar with some teflon tape and packed the bushing with new grease. Like others have mentioned, my Perrin endlinks was at an angle between the control arm and the swaybar. This angle was significant enough that I have noticed scratches that the spacer lock washer was making against the aluminum endlink. The ball joint on my endlinks were also very stiff and I believe they might even be slightly damaged. I've added additional spacers for now to align the endlinks parallel to the swaybar, but spacers should not be the solution since it moves the pivot point further out and multiply the force applied. I'm looking at switching to either whiteline or kartboy endlinks. I also don't think the lock washers are holding well with the stiffer bars. Would a external toothed washer do a better job at preventing the endlinks from shifting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.