Swapped lowered springs in and now have scraping and clunking.

[scott.mohekey]

Hi all, this is my first post, so bare with me if I'm not up to speed.

I just spent the weekend swapping some Sustec lowered springs into my Legnum 25ST, and have since discovered a consistent scraping and clunking sound.

Interestingly, while I was doing this, I found that the stock front struts have been replaced with Monroe Reflexes (I've only had the car for about 3 months). It's also quite obvious that the car has been in a minor crash to the front right hand side, the front right wheel guard is slightly out of shape, one of the the wiper reservoir mounts has been pushed out of shape, while another has been completely broken off, also the front bumper and the metal brace fitted to it were bent out of shape on the right side. Another weird thing is the front brake calipers are completely different to what I believe stock should be, and the front discs are ventilated (not sure if they are stock or not), so over all it looks like there was a bit of a crash and things were replaced as a result of it.

In any case, since I've put the lowered springs in, once I get over a certain speed I get a distinct, rhythmic clunking sound from the front right wheel arch, I can feel this clunk through the accelerator pedal. This clunking tends to go away completely while I'm accelerating or braking, and gets faster as the speed of the vehicle increases. Also, it seems to decrease when I turn right, and to increase when I turn left.

I'm going to jack the car up tonight when I get home from work, so if anyone has any suggestions, they'd be greatly appreciated.

By the way, I'm not overly concerned with the scraping, I'm pretty sure that's guard rub.

[Gly]

wheel bearing or CV

[scott.mohekey]

Even though it wasn't making any noise at all before the swap?

Also, why would the noise go away when accelerating and braking?

[Gly]

the components are at different angles now, more strees, more likely to show faults,

[scott.mohekey]

Ok, thanks. If it is one of the two, what are replacement parts likely to cost me?

[Gly]

new parts

cv round $120 + labour

wheel bearing will depend if you can DIY it and if you get a complete hub,

but bearing only $70 (needs to be pressed out/in) +labour
or
complete hub $150+ labour

still same amout of work needed (1-2 hours) to get the old hub out weather you replace or rebuild is up to you.

[Gly]

oh and have you had a full wheel (all 4 wheels) alignment since lowering,
you need (have to) do this otherwise you'll ware out your tyres prematurely

another thing to look into is camber...

search thru out articles section http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=135

to straighten up the wheels to save on tyre life

[scott.mohekey]

I've not had a chance to get a wheel alignment done yet. I finished putting the springs in yesterday and had to get to and from work today, but was reluctant to drive too far until I figured out what the noise was.

[Paul Beazer]

I'd be inclined to agree with Gly, sounds like CV joints. Have you ever had them regreased? Where the car has been lowered the CV joints will be working at different angles from before so wear will be taking place at a different position in the CV joint. It may be where the wearing surfaces are now there is no grease there?

[scott.mohekey]

Is this something I can do myself without too much trouble? I'm going to have the car up again this weekend to change the brake pads, so if I can do it then it would be good.

[Gly]

depends on your skill leavel and tools,

you need to remove the driveshaft to take the old cv out and/or remove the hub,

[scott.mohekey]

I think I'll pass on that and get the professionals to have a look at it. Hopefully it wont cost too much.

[scott.mohekey]

Well, it turns out that one ore more bolts were not tightened enough, and were therefore allowing parts to have more movement than they should have.

Embarrassing? Yes.