240 front making weird noise

[zenki240sx]

When I'm going slow and turn the wheels all the way to the left, it makes a short grinding noise. have u guys ever had this problem?

[Yoshi]

grind as in metal on metal?
not a clunk?

[zenki240sx]

actually yeah, its like a clunky noise, around the tires area

[ALTRNTV]

Give us your suspension info, wheel specs, and tire sizes. We can then give you a better diagnostic of the likely problem.

[theicecreamdan]

based on the info I have read here... something is messed up.

[ALTRNTV]

You think? :stupid:

[theicecreamdan]

eh,,, I'm just a little tired of hearing all these "my suspension makes a noise, what is it?" threads that I've read since I joined. A little more information and we might be able to help. or if people put their car on a jack and looked 9 times out of 10 its something obvious.

[ALTRNTV]

Haha, that was just funny how you said "something is messed up."

[Pacman]

Your ball joints may need replacing if you hear a clunking noise (what I believe why my car make this noise).

[publicenemy137]

I got the exact same problem: http://www.zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=82352

I think it's the lower ball joint

[Yoshi]

how in the hell did this get to 10 posts and no one has answered this poor guy??! WTF people, you should ALL know the solution to the infamous clunk.

Zenki240sx: the steering clunk is probably THE MOST common 240 issue.
Clunking happens from one of 4 trouble spots, I'll list them in the order of likely hood of failure. Note that if you have a S13, your suspension joints are as much as 17 years old! These things should be replaced as a part of routine maintinience anyhow, so if you haven't already, start planning.... they are:

-TC Rod bushings. Look at where it connects to the TC brace, are there visible tears, cracks, or oozing goo? sludge buildup around the joint? If so, replace immediately, you can get another OEM one, an OEM arm with a poly bushing pressed in, or one of hte dozens of solid jointed ones from cusco/SPL/etc/etc

-Outter rod ends. these should have a boot over the jointed area, get a firm grip and shaket that thing lke a cheating significant other ;) If you feel ANY more than a mm of play, replace those too, MOOG makes the best ones IMO, htey have a zerk grease fitting too. IF your existing ones have torn boots, replace too, they'll just wear that much quicker.

-Inner rod ends. like above, harder to get to tho... but NOT any less important!

-control arm ball joint. these can take a LOT of abuse in my experience... however, if you've humped a curb anytime, you may check that out too.

If you're low on cash, i'd test from the top of the list and make your way down. If you've not replaced some or all of these, guess what? time to get started, the last thing you want is part failure at speed.... trust me, I wreck a whole car from a TC rod physically cracking in half, resulting in a 60mph half-assed drift into a concrete island (no I wasn't drifting at the time, I did that last minute in an attempt to sacrifice one side of the suspension so that both wouldn't be destroyed on impact).

Good luck!

edit: oh yeah, next time post tech questions in tech! :P

[publicenemy137]

thanks yoshi. I've already replaced the tie rods with Tein tie rods. checked the tension rods, they are fine. It must be the control arm lower ball joint. I have jumped a curb before (resulted in 2 bent rims) Damn I never knew jumping a curb could be so expensive. It's goin to cost me around $300

[zenki240sx]

thanks alot yoshi and all. I already replaced the inner and outer rods. I'll check the TC rod bushings and control arm ball joint.

Do I need to get the car aligned if I changed either the rod bushing or the ball joint?

[Yoshi]

thanks alot yoshi and all. I already replaced the inner and outer rods. I'll check the TC rod bushings and control arm ball joint.

Do I need to get the car aligned if I changed either the rod bushing or the ball joint?

Nope, bolt-on :)

[publicenemy137]

any other ideas on what the steering clunk can be? My t/c rods are fine, no leaks and not worn. Tie rods have been replaced. lca and lower ball joint are in good condition. WHAT COULD IT BE? I got a mechanic to look at it, we replaced the caliper pins (too much play with the calipers moving back and forth) but the clunk is still there! We think it's the spring now on my D2 coilover. any ideas? We took out the coilover and looked at it, tightened everything, but it all seems to be installed correctly.

[hkspeed]

its probably the ball joint. i've replaced my tension rods and tie rods, yet i hear a single cluck (metal on metal) sound when I turn the wheel from time to time.

[publicenemy137]

mechanics checked the ball joint. said it's fine

[axiomatik]

I seem to recall others complaining of clunking noises coming from their D2 coilovers (though I thought it was more of a cold weather phenomenon), that may be your culprit.

[publicenemy137]

yeah, that clunk from the shocks are gone. I got the replacements, so no more noise over bumps. Now it's a noise when steering :(. I think it's the spring rubbing on each other, towards the top and bottom of the spring, there is some signs of rubbing (teflon coat is rubbed off) from metal on metal. Right now I think that is it, going this week-end to put something in between them to see if that works.

[Yoshi]

DOH!
well at least the clunk is gone, glad to hear you found it.
how does the suspension feel now that you've replaced a bunch of stuff?
much tighter? more responsive?

[publicenemy137]

well it does feel better, but mainly just no noise from the coilovers. Also have a slightly tighter turning radius. But the clunk isn't gone, at least not from the steering :(

[publicenemy137]

going to get these:

Suspension Techniques Coils Silencer

Coil Silencers Silence Noisy Coils

Use Whiteline's new spiral coil wrap to silence noisy progressive coil springs. Most new cars use coil spring insulators to reduce NVH resulting from coil bind or contact between "dead" or closed coils. Many aftermarket springs require a progressive design using "dead" coils to meet captive height design requirements. These can become noisy under certain loads making an add-on insulator very useful.

The spiral design lets you insulate the springs WHILE the coils are in the vehicle saving time and money. Each pack contains 1.5 metres of heavy duty plastic spiral wrap which is enough to do 2 springs.

At: http://www.pdm-racing.com/products/suspension.html

should help

[kenshinS14sks]

i don't know too much about the clunking... but if its a "grinding" noise, check your power steering fluid. mine had a leak and it made noise when turning like yours. possible leak points:

either of the p/s reservoir hoses (pick-up and the other), there's also a point that can be seen from under the car ---> a small hose about 4-6 inches long connected to a hardline... also part of p/s . check your fluid first and foremost

[publicenemy137]

kenshin, so you had no PS fluid left? My fluid level is fine. Jeez, this steering clunk is annoying, seems like it could be a million different things.

[reefer1114]

your car farted? bad gas!!!

[kenshinS14sks]

kenshin, so you had no PS fluid left? My fluid level is fine. Jeez, this steering clunk is annoying, seems like it could be a million different things.

i had like...less than half left in the reservoir...it was a slow leak..not like gushing out or anything