Hi all,

Heres one for ya.

My 98 STI with all but 26K on her has a clunking sound.
1st time I took her back to the garage they rekoned it was the antirollbar links.. which they apparently replaced, car felt stiffer but the clunk appeared again after a short while of driving. second time round the garage say that theyve checked it over and its safe to drive and there is nothing wrong with it, although it sounds like someones got a pair of maracas under it at times!!
Its a sorta clunk from the rear area - before it was front and back, now its more from the rear area and strangely enough when I pull away sometimes I feel something move and a small clunk. Very odd. And Annoying.
Suspension issue? I know it has Ohlins uprated shocks and lowered springs- stiff set up but very good. Any ideas on what this could be? I need to have some ammunition if I take it back a third time. Feels like there is something loose at times, though clunks only when it is bumpy..

Cheers.

 

If the car is equipped with narrow springs, something very common with coilovers, check whether the spring bends a little and thus hits the strut body. If this is the case the noise should be present when hitting a bump and you must hear this more at low speeds.

Good luck.

 

thanks, Im takin her back for a 3rd time this week.. on inspection the springs seem like the coils are touching each other at the bottom, which seems odd, shouldnt there be a small amount of space between them usually?

I guess the only way of sorting it is getting a new set of springs put on?

Cheers

 

Try get some spring isolators. These are small pieces of rubber that go around the spring coil. Tein for instance provides some. Since these are opened at one end, you do not need to remove the springs.

Good Luck.

 

Sounds like a sticking strut too though.
This happened on mine, just as you set off the car feels unsettled as the strut sticks then releases. It also sounded like a drive shaft but once Strut changed it was "A" ok.