The suspension noise of doom

[dinodinojungle]

Alright, this is a long story so bear with me.

I put Koni FSDs on my car in April or so and things have been weird ever since. I have a strange popping when I go down the road, and it doesn't seem dependent on speed. I've done not only struts, but new top mounts, bump stops, control arms, and endlinks, but to no avail. I'm fairly sure the top nut on the struts is tightened all the way, but I can't get a torque wrench on it because the strut has a hex that needs to be held or the inside free spins. I could take an impact to it, but I've read that that can do damage to the shock. I'm a bit worried that my issue is somehow related to the FSDs being longer than the OEM struts -- they're maybe 2 or 3 inches longer and required removing the entire knuckle to install.

I'm pretty sure everything is torqued properly since this is now my third or fourth time getting in to the suspension, but I'm at a loss now.

Is it acceptable practice to load the suspension with a jack in order to torque? I don't really have ramps near me.

Apologies for the ramble. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Enki]

If its happening from the rear, jack the car up, put blocks under the rear tires, lower it off the jack (have the e-brake on, of course) and then loosen/re-tighten the sway links. Both sides. You need to have them under ride conditions when tightened, or they bang around a bit.

There shouldn't be anything else that's banging around unless you've neglected a spacer or something weird somewhere.

 

[Matt@DamondMotorsports]

Did you align the struts with the bearings and top hats during assembly? We actually have a post about this on the St forums, and the MS3 struts are the same way.

One common thing we often see when people assemble struts is that they do not properly align the strut with the bearing and top hat (alignment marks noted in the last photo). Not aligning the strut assembly can cock the spring slightly and lead to premature wear of the strut, the bearing, and the top hat. It can also lead to the spring rubbing the chassis as well, and in some cases the springs can get dislodged and cause all sorts of issues.

And make sure to tighten all the rubber bushings with the suspension loaded or at ride height.