question about a clunk
 

OK, so I put my Eibach's on a couple of months ago, then had my car alligned a week later. After I got it alligned I noticed a slight clunk in the left rear when I hit a bump. Well, after putting off checking it out I looked when I changed my oil this weekend and there was a nut missing on the end link piece. By this I mean the short arm that connects the two rods together on the suspension just inside the wheels. So needless to say, that link part was just hanging there, but it didn't look bent. I know that the guys that alligned my car are the only ones that could have done it, because I only took apart the upper bolt when I put my Eibach's on. I got a new nut and fixed it, and compared both sides and it doesn't seem to be bent anywhere. But I still have a clunk coming from the top of the trunk where the spring bolt comes in from the top. Does anyone know what it could be? I know I should have checked it sooner but I haven't driven the Pro a whole bunch this summer.

P.S. If you are claustrophopic (scared of small spaces, can't tell if I spelled that right) don't ride around in your trunk trying to pinpoint a clunk why your buddy drives your car. It was kind of funny though, he has a neon that's an automatic and I could hear him keep saying "God I love this car, I love this car"

Hello, hello, hello. Is there anybody in there? Smile if you can hear me. Is there anyone at all.

Had to throw in the Floyd reference, sorry.

my H&R's have done this since they were installed... something about maybe dead coils hitting each other or the fact that the oem struts aren't made for different springs. :) might be completely normal until you get better struts.

I was thinking that but I was wondering why it didn't happen on both sides??

I don't have a clunk at all. I've had my H&R for about 2500km already and I haven't gotten any weird noises or any problems for that matter.

I've got the clunk as well, I just haven't really got around to searching for it. One thing I noticed when installing the springs is that due to the shorter height of the spring, I was able to install them onto the struts without a spring compressor, meaning they're not being sprung between upper and lower perches as much, and possibly are clunking on the perches. I get the clunk on dirt roads that are washboarded, very repetitively from both sides.

weird i have the same exact problem. i had B&G springs put in along with a rear sway bar a few months ago and ever since i've been getting the same noise over bumps in the back left. i had mazda look at it recently while they were doing my oil and they said it was my strut, they orderd me a new one under warrenty :) i'll let you know if it fixes it.

I'm gonna take a stab at this.. i've had some problems with my suspension.. and if you guys have read " I MADE A BIG BOO BOO" thread a few months ago then you know what i am talking about... anyways... I know how ground control coilovers and i wish i never ever got them.. i think they are pieces of shit... anyways... there is this metal plate thing ( dont know all the names of parts yet.. hahah) above the bump stop.. that could be the part that is moving when you go over bumps.. i have that all the time..or it could be that springs..

I dont like GC because the adjusters dont want to stay where they are supposed too.. the "O" rings that ground control supply are shit.. they ended up tearing and sliding to the bottom of the struts. My car makes a nasty nasty noise... so we double sided taped the adjuster to the strut... worked wonders for days .. but now i'm back to that noise again.. and new noises arose... though nothing is wrong with it.. its just the adjuster hitting the strut... so one day soon I am gonn have to take it all apart and like wrap everyting in some kind of tubing or something... :(

ANYWAYS... to get rid of the noise in the back you are having.. all you have to do i wrap your springs in some tubing... i havent tried it yet but a friend has done it and he says it worked wonder... hope that helps.. and sorry to ramble... sad part is that alot of people have these problems with the systems.

RIZ... sorry to say.. but i highly doubt that its your struts... i thought that was my problem too... and i had to replace them...cost me $130!!! and that turned out NOT to be the problem.. its just the design of the springs or coilovers.... it fucking sucks!!!

i had no reason to think it was my struts either. but the dealership replaced the left one under warrenty and said the problem was solved. its a little better now.

I have skunks on my ride and I have this clunk problem worse than all of you!!!lol

The coilovers are good for show,performance,handeling, but they suck for the ride. Im taking mine off and launching them of a fucking bridge. My teins should be in by next week, and I also bought new tokiko shocks.

All I can say is do what babygirl said do. And a little axle greese wouldnt hurt where there is metam against metal rubbing like the top perch.

This sucks!!! It's almost embarrasing to have someone in the car!! I just wish I knew how to fix it cause it is beyond annoying.
I might even have to go back to stock!....:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Good choice brother. I think you'll find the ride suprisingly smooth. At least I did with Eibach springs / MSP struts.

Let us all know your thoughts after the install. :)

Sorry to hear ya'll having trouble with coilovers (condom style.) But, the bottom line is they SUCK.

BTW - Make sure you re-install the very easily lost, very thin, plastic piece that goes on top of the strut assembly (both on the fronts, and the rears.) If these don't go back on (like they should,) you'll get GOD awfull noise.

Also, make sure you lightly grease the bumpstops on the MSP struts as well (if you've got them.) If not, they squeak like no tomorrow as well. ;)

Hey if you have some extra can you send them to me???:D
Its just worth a try.

Put some weight on the back. ;)

I have the same problem all of you guys do (clunks, embarassment with passengers, etc). It's annoying as hell.

At first I noticed the noises were just coming from the rear end (mostly the driver's side), but I just moved the brake line and it was fine (since my '02 LX has drums in the back.. gah). That seemed to fix the problem for the most part. But now after fixing that, the pass. side's noises were brought out more. The sound is something like a metal-to-metal clicking noise and occassionally a scraping/groaning sound. I also have almost resorted to going back to stock springs, but who the hell wants to do that?

As Mac said, there is a thin little plastic piece (it's transparent, right?) that goes on the strut that is easily lost or thrown away. Like a dumbass, I threw them all away thinking they weren't important. I don't know if the missing pieces could be the culprit for all those annoying noises though.

I might even have the wrong springs.. lol. I don't think that the Sprints, that were made to fit 90-94 proteges, were meant for my car but when I installed them they fit into the spring perches pretty much perfectly.

Oh yeah, and anyone know what the hell those transparent plastic sheets are called? I need to get some. They're probably like 50 cents each at Autozone or something.

And about the "put some weight on the back" thing... I have two 12's in a box back there and it didn't help any. ;)

Why doesnt anyone want to listen to me?? cuz im a girl and dont know what i am talking about!!! geeze!!! trust me.. those little plastic pieces have NOTHING to do with it....i have those.. and the noise is still there.. there is this metal piece above the bump stomp.. when i take mine apart this weekend hopefully ill let you know exactly where it is. also it could have to do with the shortness of the spring...

Even though it might not make a difference for those with coilovers, the small plastic sheet that I mentioned earlier is listed as #6 "sheet" in the Mazda service manual.

Just an FYI. Also, I doubt these will be available from Autozone, and the likes. Probably a dealer only item.

HTH - Jim

Hello, is there anybody out there? :cool:

It was due to the stock strut bolt does not have enought threads on them once you put your lowering springs on. Check this out. at the following thread.

http://forum.protegemp3.com/vbb225/s...threadid=25438

Thank You!! I will be doing the washer thing tonight! I'm sure that will fix it. Hopefully no more clunk so I can drive around in peace!!

clunk your hearing
 

Yah, i was having the same exact problem when i put my Eibach's on, the car looked BAD ASS, but the only problem was that embarassing squeaking, there are a couple of fixes that you need to do to get rid of it.

1. Take everything apart again, and re-tourqe all the suspension parts to the new spec.

2. In my case, when i put the new springs on it disturbed the factory mounting harware, so i had to buy new spring mounts from Mazda, i found that since the Eibachs broke in the new mounts, there is no more squeakiness, the only problem is that it cost about 150 bucks, and the only place you can get them is from mazda, and they arent covered by warranty.

3. Grease up the springs, the bushings, the mounts, everything, basically once a month i spray everything down like amother fucker!

There three things helped me, and now all i hear is the ocassional squeak when i drive over a huge pothole...and i live in michigan, so thats rpetty damn good!

any questions, feel free to message me or email me!