imported_alwaysoverkill

Hey guys, got my Buddy Club's installed but its making alot of noise, like any small bump it makes a chunk sound. I'm going to try tighting the collars more with a rubber mallet, but I think the sound is coming from the collars and also the pillow-ball mount. Any other areas to check? All the suspension bolts were tightened and double checked, so all the noise is directly from the coilovers

The Buddy Clubs didn't come with the LCA bolt welded on, so i had to use a bolt, but everything is tight no question about that, except the coilover collars are hand tight so i'm thinking when the spring compresses, it puts a load on the coilover collar and its hitting it hard or something.

more noise is coming from the rear, but there is some front noise as well.

imported_GoldBadge

Try taking a screwdriver and hammer and really tightening the collars up.

My Omni's sounded 'loose' at low speeds and when I put them back in this spring I will be tightening the crap out of the collars.

imported_alwaysoverkill

After driving more, I really think much of the noise is coming from where the pillow-ball mount actually mounts to the chassis. Its tight but it sounds like there is a gap there and the sound is when the car is coming down ontop of the pillow-ball mount. I'm gonna have a closer look tomorrow and lower alittle more too.

imported_tsr_75th

did you grease the hell out of them before you installed them?

imported_alwaysoverkill

no, didn't add any grease. I was going to keep on the grease as I detail the car but these coilovers will not see any snow thats why i haven't added grease. They are on now until late Oct and if it snows now for a day or two...they car will likely stay parked.

imported_Team Rukus

is the noise comming from all 4 of the suspensions?

imported_GoldBadge

I dont know if you have the same symptoms as I do, or not...Mine just sounded loose. It was hard to pinpoint where, but it just sounded loose...no other wa to describe it. Like you, I torqued and re-torqued everything, checked for play, preloaded properly, etc...

It would make noise going anywher eup to about 50km/h...over sewers, cracks in the road, dirve ways...'Clunk - Clunk'

I even thought it could be the cardboard liner in my trunk ot my spare tire, so I tried taking it out...nada.

The only thing I can imagine it would be is the collars not being tight enough. Try hammering them with a screw driver UBER tight.

imported_tsr_75th

most likely the springs hitting your shock where the spring sits. everytime you hit a bump you will hear it cuz its metal on metal contact. use white lithium grease on the srping itself and on the springs seat, as well as the top of the shocks where it touches the shock tower.

imported_hdave

hey can u pls give more info? im really wondering what the problem is

imported_alwaysoverkill

I tightened the hell out of everything, all perches, added some spring preload and tightened the nut on top too, the coilovers are tight as hell but...the clunk sound is still there. driving out of the driveway, and just down the road its clunk, clunk, bam, clunk, clunk. All nuts on the car are tight....i don't get it.

I really believe its the pillow-ball mount hitting the chassis where it connects, but everything is tight so i'm out of ideas with these things.

They are Buddy Club Racing-Spec coilovers. which i'm sure handle great, but i haven't go the chance to findout cause i'm scared to drive it fast with all the clunking, frustrating

I may just go to Honda and order four new top hats and get rid of these ****ing pillow-ball mounts unless I can find a way to shut them up.

imported_tsr_75th

why do ppl ask for help on here and not take the advice? GREASE YOUR COILOVERS!!!

imported_alwaysoverkill

somewhere some metal is hitting and sometimes its hard, very hard. I don't want to coverup the sound by grease. I want the sound gone.

Suspension parts should not be making noises like that, and if they are...then I don't want them on my car. I didn't pay alot of money for good coilovers only to have them make noises, the spring should be able to compress and return without making all these noises, there is a problem somewhere that needs to be addressed before grease is applied as part of maintenance.

I'm very picky about my car with stuff like this, if $2000 dollar coilovers can work without making alot of noise, then I have a problem with that.

EDIT:
Also, called Buddy Club USA and they said that putting some Blue RTV silicone on the top of the pillowball mount so its between the pillow-ball mount and the chassis of the car may help. That there is a small gap there so when it compresses, it hits the chassis with a clunk sound.

I'll give it a shot and use generously, but i'm really not impressed that this problem exists on coilovers that are $2000. If you know there is a small gap, why not shave some material off the pillow-ball so it fits snug, or include a piece of rubber padding on the top of the pillow-ball mount.

imported_alwaysoverkill

instead of following buddy-clubs advice

Actually, i'm going to make a rubber piece about 3-4mm thick to go between the pillow-ball mount and the chassis. This way its metal on rubber and 3-4mm thick won't interfear with anything.

But silicone will eventually come off from vibrations, etc, so rubber is the way to go

then i'll oil or grease the pillow-ball to keep it quiet.

imported_GoldBadge

Good idea...Let us know if the problem still persists.

I made a thread on H-T about mine (same user name)...I got flamed a bit, but someone mentioned they had the same problem and said to tighten the hell out of the collar stays.

Good Luck.

imported_alwaysoverkill

Finally got the clunk under control. I added about 1" spring preload and now the only sounds are the pillow-ball mounts as it should be, no clunks.

Still, its too much noise for my liking, so i'm installing Honda top hats instead of the Buddy Club pillow-ball mounts, since it is a daily driver.

Even still, I was able to finally enjoy the coilovers today on a drive to Parkway Honda and god damn these things allow the car to corner. I don't have the 23mm rear sway bar hooked up yet and i'm on my winter tires and it just plain handles, I love it.

With Azenis RT-615 and a 23mm rear sway bar auto-x is going to be hella fun.


Thanks to all those who left suggestions. I gave it about 1/2" spring preload to start but apparently that still wasn't enough, 1" seems to have solved the loud clunk sound for the most part.

imported_GoldBadge

Interesting.

Thanks for the update. It still doesn't really define what was making the noise, though...I'm trying to think of all the parts that could move and make noise in a coilover suspension setup...

tophat to shocktower
collar to collar
spring to perch
spring to tophat

????

imported_alwaysoverkill

Installed the OEM Honda top hats today to replace the pillow-ball mounts and its exactly as I expected.

No noise what so ever and there is no noticeable difference in responsiveness with Honda top hats vs the Buddy Club aluminum top hats. So in other words, **** the pillow-ball mounts, i'll be rocking the Honda top hats with the Buddy Clubs from here on out. Probably sell the pillow-ball mounts on ebay or something which will help pay for the Honda parts.

Just a heads up if any of you guys have coilovers with pillow-ball mounts and it makes more noise then you like, scrap them.

Oh, and by using the Honda top hats, I can lower the car more too. Before it would be lowered the max at only 2" with 1" of spring pre-load. Now i'm lowered about 2.5" with only 1/2" spring preload and there is atleast another inch or inch and a half the car could go down, which would be tucking alot of tire.

I'll grab some pics soon, but its slammed now and because the coilovers are height adjusted seperately then spring preload...there is still maximum suspension travel, well...atleast maximum that these cam with which is about 1.5-2" max.

the 10K front is also alittle stiff, so I think during winter when I take these off i'll be sending the 10K front back to Buddy club to be re-valved for 7K. so my rates would be 7K/7K which is 400lb/400lb