BrynO

Apologies to anyone who has already seen my posting on the general forum.

Story is.. I have Eibachs fitted and get a lot of noise over the billions of speed bumps where I live, I replaced a worn drop link with the powerflex ones which quietened down the 'crashing', but now I am getting noise over every bump which can be best discribed as like stuff moving around in the boot, muffled but noisy, like the spare is loose (which it isn't!). Replaced the ARB bushes yesterday with no improvement. Crawled all over the car and not a thing loose, only 20k on the clock so I am pretty sure no other bushes can be shot and it drives fine.

Anyone have any other ideas? has anyone else experienced increased noise from the suspension after fitting Eibachs? - is this normal?

StickyMicky

i get this and i still havent nailed it down

ive re torqued everything and removed everything out the back regards boot mat and spare wheel and such and its still there

i think its the progressive springs touching when it compresses

BrynO

I've narrowed it down a bit now, stripped out the boot and back seats and disconnected the ARB from the drop links to rule that out. Noice still there and sure sounds like it's coming from the strut/springs, but only on the passenger side! Puts some weight in the boot (in this case something weighing about, cough, 11 stone) and it gets a bit quieter, hmmmm..

Christian_Driver

I don't have Eibachs, but I do have a Whiteline ARB and solid rear drop links on my RB5. I also get the slight graunching noise when going over speed bumps (I also thought it was the spare wheel or the jack loose). Funnily enough it is also better with a bit of weight in the boot.

Having had a bit of look around, the noise does seem to be coming from around the spring sort of area. Mine is in for a service on Friday, so I've asked the dealer to look into it...

nescoob1

I have just had eibachs and solid front and rear drop links fitted to my MY02 sti and am getting what I can only describe as a clonking noise when going pretty slow over speed bumps but from the front not the rear.

BrynO

Nescoob, may be just the spring moving in the seat when you drop off the bump, there is no plastic wrap on the front ones (there is on the backs), so the coil is metal to metal.
I have got to the bottom of my problem now, apparently the noise is from the strut top, a known issue on 01/02's for which there is a fix through Subaru - adding some 'inserts' at the top of the strut to quieten things down. I am told its a warrenty fix (not for me though). Will be down at the dealers on Wed to see what the cost of the inserts is, I believe they can be fitted without dropping the strut out.....

stellaFella

have you checked allthe bushes in your other suspension links. I had to replace some on my classic which was giving same type of fault you are seeing. If you park on a hill and with brakes on apply handbrake. now when you take your foot off the brake do you get a lot of backward movement? If you do it could be a sign of several worn bushes in rear setup.

nescoob1

Bryno - that is exactly what mine sounds like its doing, when you go over the bump it sounds as if the spring is unseating itself and then reseating and causing a clonking noise, the fix your talking about is that for the front springs or just the back, mines a MY02 which has only done just over 10k so I would expect that all the other bushes should be ok.

BrynO

The noise from the back is different, it's something at the top of the strut, not the movement of the springs in the seats. I have the same as you on the front, but it does not bother me as much. I have read before that the fix for this is to slip on some plastic tube over the first few coils (top, bottom, or both) which will eliminate the noise of spring coil hitting spring coil or spring coil hitting seat. if you look at the top of your rear springs, you'll see they already have this on, not sure why Eibach don't do the fronts as well! Looks pretty tricky to do without taking the strut & spring off, but maybe with a pair of spring clamps on it would be possible without dropping the strut.. one for a winters afternoon in the garage I think....