Just taken the plunge and had full Type25 suspension fitted i.e. 22mm sway bars, anti-lift kit, alloy drop links and AST coilovers. Whilst I am impressed with the handling I am not so pleased with the noises coming from the rear nearside coliover. Everytime I travel accross a bumpy B road, I can hear a sound like someone firing a large ball bearing at the top of the suspension strut housing. I have taken the coilover off and re-fitted, just incase it wasn't seated correctly, changed the rebound setting from hard to soft, fitted 18" wheels, checked for the wheel hitting the arch, removed and re-fitted the sway bar but all to no avail. Is it possible there is a fault with the coilover itself (although brand new). Will be taking the car back to Powerstation but interested to know your thoughts?

 

Are you sure its the strut? Did you fit new strut top mounts or did you use old ones? I've replaced all mine due to them knocking through wear.

 

Mark. I used the old mounts, car has only covered 19000 miles, where do they wear, is there an internal bearing that can't be seen.

 

There is a large internal ball race cast into the mounts. I don't think they can be split either. Jack the car up and see if you can get it to knock by lifting a wheel. Get someone to put there hand on the top of the strut from inside the car to see if it movers at all.

 

Mark, I have gripped the coilover and tugged from side to side but couldn't feel any freeplay, the only thing that moves is the spring slightly. Could it be the piston top isn't secured tightly by the nylon bolt? The sound seems to coincide with the spring unloading after riding over the bump. It also happens when I reverse over the curb exiting the drive (3-4cm drop).

 

Fuji, YHPM.

 

is it the springs need time to settle-unlikely i know--,depending on you car year i know prodrive had to replace strut tops when new springs fitted isit once removed need replacing? back to powerstation and get them to sort it as big money
martin

 

Andy, you have PM.

 

If it is of any help:

I installed some AVO coil overs 3 years/9000 miles ago on my hill climb/road car.
The rear nearside strut sounds just like yours and after checks etc I just put up with it.
I can remember threads about LEDA c/o sounding the same on the same corner!

So, 3 different manufacturers, same noise and the same corner! Maybe the car's bodyshell at that point?

You may consider fitting new Sti top mounts, but my Sti v3 was about 25000 miles old when I installed the C/O and the mounts seemed in perfect condition just like yours.

Check the nut that holds tight the strut piston to the top mount for tightness as it is very hard to get a spanner down into the recess of the rubber top mount.
The nut might also botton out on the piston thread but not allow a tight clamping to the t/m bearing?

Now you know why I just put up with it.

On my AVO's the same corner, the spring moves on the strut sounding like a boinggggg
every now and then! Quality not too good...

Graham.

 

I have had avo`s with standard top`s they rattled (and did not last 6 months !!!!) , non ajustable billy`s with pillowball top mounts , the rattled a lot, now on billy pss9 on standard mounts (well STI one`s, they are harder ) guess what ? they rattle, all ns/r the worst,
AFAIR I have seen a artical somewhere that said it was something to do with the suspension setup itself , if you fit coilovers they will make a noise,
Have a good one
Tim

 

Tim,
thanks for the response, unfortunately this is not just a rattle, it's a noise that sounds like someone is hitting the strut housing with a pointed steel bar at some force and it's getting louder. More worryingly it can now be heard from both rear coilovers. I have every confidence in the way these have been fitted, I have checked every nut and bolt, ride height etc myself but there is definately something very wrong and I have now stopped using the car until it can be resolved through fear of permanent damage or an accident! Are ther any Type25 owners out there that have had good/bad experiences of this kit?

 

Another thought, I have had rear driveshaft nut come loose, did sound like the strut noise and got louder,
Tim

 

Any feed-back from your supplier?
Graham.

 

Will hopefully know more on Friday - will keep you posted, problem is I have lost confidence in the coilovers and should perhaps insist on the car being reverted back to O.E. struts with possibly Prodrive/Eibach springs. Power station offer a "money back guarantee" if not satisfied with the ride, looks very tempting!

 

Gary, Can you ring about your car when you have a moment. I am worried that our conversation about a small knock from the rear suspension, I was due to look at on Friday, has turned into a dangerous “pointed steel bar” type noise that has rendered the car undriveable

I am surprised that you have not called me about this, I only found out about it by chance as I browsed Scoobynet this morning. There is a significant difference between what’s being described above and our last phone conversation. We take any suspension related problems very seriously and are ready to rectify the problem on Friday and will go through each stage of the diagnostics with you in detail

Of the 50 + T25/AST kits we have fitted to new age cars we have only had a handful of noise related problems, most of which have been traced to knocking roll bars or Subrau’s “classic” rear top mount issues We have everything needed to check for the noise from listening equipment, shock dynometer, replacement roll bar links, standard Subaru Topmounts, Group N Subaru top mounts, new Subaru struts and replacement AST struts should they be required.

Kind Regards

Rich

 

Fuji;

You are in GOOD hands from the above supplier!

My dealings with A#O went the opposite direction some years back
Very few manufacturers have the b@lls to sort things in public.

Graham.

 

Fuji

Like 911 I have AVOs fitted, and have a knocking noise from both rear shocks. I've removed them several times and checked for tightness, but all seems fine. The noise lessens a lot after 10-20 minutes driving so I've put it down to something to do with them being cold.

I haven't had any problems dealing with AVO - they rebuilt my shocks at a very reasonable price, but I wasn't too happy that the seals went as soon as they did. Still you get what you pay for and they were cheap.

Matthew

 

New location should make them even better, unless they keep on driving back to Cheltenham to stand outside the Ladies' college all day, old habits die hard

 

I've got ASTs fitted to my MY01 WRX, along with all the Whiteline ARBs ALK etc. If I hit a particularly large bump then I will get a bit of a knock from the rears, I suspect its because there are no "helper" springs on the rears. Other than that the suspension setup is superb, reasonably comfortable on the road and ballistic on track with the damping wound up
Nothing but praise for Powerstation.

 

You have made me think a bit:

Are there bump stop plastic sleeves on ATS's?
Could the harsh noise you have be bottoming out?

I think the rattle I get is the shim pack moving in the strut body.

Graham.

 

Well as the Thread is called “AST suspension Woes” I thought I’d better give everyone an update on the search for the dangerously noisy steel bar type noise lurking amidst our products Apologies for the length

Gary drove the car up to us on Wednesday, we gave him a courtesy car and agreed to have everything corrected by Friday. If he was not happy with the results he would be welcome to have a full refund and his car returned to standard. Either way we needed to trace any possible fault as we wouldn’t learn anything by simply reverting it back to standard.

Nick went up the road with Gary on his arrival but they couldn’t get any kind of real noise from any part of the car (apart from the dreadful racket caused by his Howard Jones Tape ). Only once over a sleeping police man/speed bump could we get any kind of noise and this was with the rear seats out. I later followed the same route but could not hear anything. It was raining on Wednesday morning which can sometimes mask small noises.
We later asked ‘Bat ears’ Litcho to try the car knowing full well nothing makes him happier than moaning about rattles and squeaks Sods law meant he could get it to make a slight noise almost straight away using part of our kerb and yard.
Without boring you with all the details we set about tracing the noise with our listening equipment. As suspected the fault could be traced to the Subaru topmount To be on the safe side we tested the AST shock on the shock absorber dynometer, it was perfect
Why it had started to make a noise? we’re not sure, maybe the fitting of the AST kit disturbed something. Noises are a real problem as they invariably appear when the car is not here and the moment it arrives back they seems to disappear.

So one new topmount later and we have seemed to have cured the noise. Our test route includes a rough area of our yard, drop kerbs, sleeping policemen and even a railway line. The car rides all of them quieter than standard even with the seat out.
So case hopefully closed and a happy customer but then how could he not be after experiencing such a stunning courtesy car

Regards

Rich

www.powerstation.org.uk

 

Professional or what?

911

 

It's true, Im an eighties kid and grew up with Howard Jones and Nick Kershaw blasting out at school discos! A big thankyou to Rich B and his team, particularly Nick who notched up a few miles over sleeping policeman with me and never once doubted what I was hearing. Whether the noise was minor or major is no longer relevant because my suspension woes have turned to suspension wows!! With the replacement top mount and the changing of the rear springs the car sounds and feels as I always imagined a Type25 would. Customer support has been exemplary and the boys at Powerstation have gone out of there way to send me home happy. It's nice to find a mechanic these days who takes a real pride in his job right down to hoovering around the scissor ramp - well done Nick. As for the 306 Cabriolet, I'm not a hairdresser and I don't have the large wad of cash required to keep it filled with petrol - bloody thing drank more juice than the scooby. However it did serve it's purpose and kept me on the road.
If you are considering having any work done on your Scooby then visit the first class outfit that is Powerstation but that was never in doubt was it!!

 

Don't big-up Rich too much.

He'll put his prices up !

(Happy AST user)

 

cheers. gives me a starting point (OE top mount failure) to trace a couple of worrying knocks on mine.