ounkny

This is an informal poll: does anyone experience clunking sounds from their JIC FLTA2 coilovers (not talking about swaybar or endlinks clunking)?

My rear coilovers clunk when hitting medium-to-large sized bumps. This persists even after we have corrected some problems with the installation (tightening nuts on the top, and adjusting the spring preload). They have clunked when set at 3F 5R, 5F 6R, and 6F 7R, so I haven't been able to make it go away by adjusting the damping.

(this was also posted on msprotege, so if you read that forum you're not hallucinating)

AzianDragonz

i'm not sure what you are talking about... is it the coilover hitting the car? i think its just a thing with all the pothols in chicago streets. Stay off halsted cause that street is the worst, i've got low profile tires and the ride sux ***... JIC is what company?

ounkny

There's no evidence that anything's hitting the car. It's hard to tell because I would need someone to look under the car while traveling at a decent clip and hit a decent-sized bump. I think I will have to solve the problem by trial and error.

You're right, the potholes in Chicago really do suck. I don't have much of a problem when I'm on Lake Shore Drive, 90/94, or any of the other major highways. It is mainly an issue with local / city driving.

JIC-magic is the company. FLTA2 is the model of the coilover.

Their website is www.jic-magic.com

Jas00x

From looking at the website, it looks like the coilover does not have a rubber gasket between the spring and the red anodized cap at the top of the spring or the bottom. I have a rip off Ground Control kit (from Ebay), and it has a flat rubber gasket at the top of the spring and the bottom on all 4 corners, and no clunking. Do you have any gaskets on yours? I seem to remember this from a Tein coilover kit, and I think the fix was to add the flat rubber gaskets.

I'm interested in getting a set of these JIC's eventually, so I'd like to hear what you think of them and the adjustability. Do you autocross? Your setup looks like it would be a bad *** STS car!

ounkny

Jas00x, you're right. The top spring perch has no rubber gasket. And furthermore, the top mount (the part that touches the shock tower) has no rubber gasket either, whereas the OEM unit does (the OEM units are sitting in my apartment). A lot of people have been telling me that those upper mounts are responsible for the noise.

But why, then, would the rears make these loud noises (when going over potholes) while the fronts don't? The fronts also lack the rubber gaskets.

I've also read on the Subaru WRX forum a guy that spent something like an additional $800 and tons of time on top of what he paid for his Tein coilovers to try all sorts of fixes, including making rubber gaskets, switching the upper mounts, adding a ton of spring preload, etc. etc. to no avail.

On the other hand, all the P5 owners I've talked to have not had any problem with the JIC FLTA2 (no clunking). This may be a sedan-only problem. I am still investigating this problem.

Excuse my ignorance, but what's STS? Is that a class of auto-x or road racing? Does it allow for all modifications (i know some classes only allow you to change struts, but not springs, etc. etc.)? Thanks.

Aside from the clunking noise, I am extremely happy with the JICs. They are indeed a full-out racing suspension so you will lose ride comfort. But I think it's the best-handling setup they make for the 3rd gen. It also takes a while to setup. When you install them, you have to adjust the ride height and spring preload, then get an alignment. Once all that is set you can adjust the damper settings according to what you're doing (street, race, etc.). Since the dampers are inverted monotube you can adjust them from the bottom of the car by lying on the ground (I just pull one of my floor mats out so I don't get my clothes dirty) and reaching behind the wheel. With 15 damper settings, it allows for a wide range of adjustability. One warning is that the units don't come with instructions. A lot of people have complained about that.

JIC is coming out with another product, the FLTA1, which is a twin-tube design (not inverted monotube) and 5-way adjustable. It has softer springs and so it should be a better setup for the street, while the FLTA2 should be the better setup for the track. And you probably know that Tein makes the SS coilovers for our car too.

Jas00x

yeah STS is a class an SCCA autocross. It stands for "street touring-s". Its a good class for our cars in that it allows a bunch of bolt-on parts, like springs, struts, swaybars, strut braces, as well as Air Intake, Headers, exhaust system, and wheels, basically all the "popular" street car mods. The main thing about STS is that you have to use a Street Tire, where all the other SCCA classes allow you to use R-compound tires. The benefit of this is cost- a set of Falken Azensis Sports (currently the best tire for the class), is about $250, where a set of Hoosier R-Compound tires will run you close to $800 for the set- and they won't last even half as long.
If you are interested in getting into autocrossing, which I highly recommend for any car enthusiast, check out the SCCA website to find a region near you (www.scca.org look under Solo2 link).

As for your coilover problem, I'd take a good look at the upper mount that mounts to the car, sometimes the shock tube can be a little loose and it will rock back and forth. I'm not familiar with those coilovers, so I'm just suggesting troubleshooting some things that I have heard of associated with struts/springs. If the shock tube threads into a shock body (that mount to the hub), check and make sure the fit there is good and not loose in any way-sometimes if you just rotate the shock 90 degrees it will seat better if there is a hole that is slightly out of round. Also, check the main nut at the top of the strut and make sure that it is torqued down enough- I know mine, on the front, like to back out from time to time and it will clunk when the nut backs itself off a few threads.

Did you do the install yourself or have a shop do it?

Good luck,

ounkny

Jas00x: regarding the JIC coilovers, please read this thread if you want to know more about this problem. You will get to hear some ideas that people have, including my own (my screen name is ounkny on that forum too). To make a long story short, I think I have troubleshooted all the components on the coilovers themselves.

http://www.msprotege.com/vbb225/show...threadid=40600

About the STS, it sounds like a good class and my car would probably kick some butt since I have the racing suspension and the BBS wheels. I was excited to hear you talk about the Falken Azenis Sport; they are the best street tire for racing (that fits our cars)? Are they better than the Toyo T1-S? How do they handle rain?

The reason why I ask is that the tires I currently have on my 14" BBS wheels pretty much suck, they are the old Dunlop D60 A2. The only real advantage is that they're quiet and comfortable, but not exactly what Protege owners are looking for. It seems like I can get both the Azenis Sport and the Toyo T1-S in 195/60/R14 and I think that'd be a nice setup for auto-x.

I have read most of the stuff on the SCCA site but did not understand the distinctions between classes. Thanks for clarifying.

ounkny

PS I think it'd be really funny if it was something dumb like the bedliner, as someone posted on msprotege. Like I said, I still have to troubleshoot this all the way.

AzianDragonz

you fix the clunking problem yet?

ounkny

no but taking it to an authorized JIC dealer tomorrow, will update.

TDK

I am having exactly the same problem with my P5. The front coil-overs don't make a sound, but the rear make a 'clunking' sound when going over "some" bumps and potholes.

Ounkny, if you find a solution i very would much appreciate it if you could post it up here.

Thanks,
TDK

ounkny

TDK, although I am not one that likes to share my misery, it is good to have someone with the same problem so that we might work together to solve it, or share information that might be helpful.

I took my car to an authorized JIC dealer to have it checked out. They said there were no install problems, but did reproduce the clunk and said it was not normal (enhanced road noise and noise when going over bumps is normal, but not clunks or banging sound). They removed the rear coilovers and replaced them with the OEM units temporarily, and they should be at JIC soon, where they'll investigate what seems to be the problem.

The turnaround may take a few weeks (because of shipping from California) but I'll keep you updated. Feel free to PM me.

ounkny

According to the rep at JIC, this is what was wrong with my rear dampers:

"Both of the gas pressure was not right, we recharged them."

He also mentioned that there was some rust on the shaft of the dampers. One of them was bad enough that he replaced the damper. This concerns me a little, because I've only had those dampers on since mid-November of 2003. That seems like an awful short time for those things to rust up. Others have reported no problems over a period of 2-3 years with regular cleaning. It seems as though these coilovers will require more maintenance than ordinary dampers.

There seem to be two sides to this rust issue. One is the quality of the coating of the units. Rishie has posted before that their rustproof coating is as good as that used by Tein. I don't know what to believe now. Two is the environment in which these dampers are used. I live in Chicago and there is a lot of salt, rain and snow. Maybe that is what is causing the difference between the Cali users and the Mid-west/Northeast users' perceptions of rust.

*copy of post to msprotege.com*

TDK

Hi Ounkny,

Have you gotten the coil-overs back? Was the problem fixed. Also, who was your contact at JIC for the repairs.

Thanks
TDK

ounkny

I had the JIC rear suspension put back in two weeks ago, and it didn't fix the problem. They still make loud banging noises when going over potholes.

You bet I'm pissed. This problem has been going on for 2 and a half months.

(copied from msprotege.com)

I have a replacement suspension (not coilovers) that should be arriving in a few days. In other words, I've given up on troubleshooting the JICs, and JIC has not found an acceptable solution to this particular problem. The JICs are going to be returned since they don't work properly.