Right rear end knocking/whooshing?

arcder

Active Member
26
8
Hello 9th,

Got a pretty weird problem going on.

So let me give you a little back ground on what is going on and what happen.

This past summer I installed DC racing springs on the stock strut, I know that's a pretty big no no expectantly since I live in Massachusetts and the roads are terrible but let alone that and they where awesome. No weird noises, No Rattling, amazing around corners never hearing the struts bottom out on anything.

A few weeks ago I took the drive down to New Jersey to pick up my Grandmother and bring her back to my moms house for Thanksgiving. While i was in New York, I a level change in the road from hell. I mean this thing had to of been at least 3-4 inches going up, mind you I was on the highway going around 70mph. When I hit this bump, I was literally waiting for my tps sensors to come on because of how violent this hit was (i don't know how I did not crack rims). I've never hit something this hard or have been in a car that did. So I lowered my music listening for any weird sounds, Didn't hear anything at the time because of highway speeds and just going pretty much in a straight line. I got to my grandmothers house about 20 minutes later took a look around the car no cracked rims no flatish tires, everything looked pretty good except my right rear end was sagging, i mean really bad tire tucking. With me being Paranoid from the beginning of the trip I brought my jack and tools with me and took the tire off and took a look at the shock and spring. Spring was still in place nicely, and the strut "looked fine" but i still was pretty sure I blew the strut, because of how badly it was sagging.

So I Start putting my Grandmothers suit case in the trunk and you wouldn't believe how much lower it sank. It wasn't like it was extremely heavy, like 10-20lbs. So at this point I'm pretty frustrated as you could imagine. I couldn't even drive down the street with out the tire like scraping on the wheel well. Now i just feel terrible because i have to tell my Grandmother that she cant take some things because we have to make the care lighter. IE her 30+ lbs of paper back books.

So with the weight reduction it was still scraping but not as bad so I said to the hell with it I'm going home.

On every single little left turn, putting more weight on the right side it scraped so bad. so with 2 and a half hours of that later i finally got home.

A few days of just driving around my town everything got so much worse, my front stunts where absolutely blown, my rear was making a cry that only the devil him self can make, So again i'm like the hell with this and I bought coil overs.


The Install of those went swimming again expect for the back rear right side. You know where the top of the strut meets the mounting point of the trunk? it was sitting at least 2 inches higher then the left side under pressure, to close that 2 in gap and stop the strut from bouncing and smacking on the top of the trunk I added some rubber washers. absolutely solid. But again should of not been needed because the left side was just fine.

I have no idea what the hell is wrong with this side of the suspension, every time i hit a bump i get a Knocking sound and every time i take a turn i get a whooshing sound. The coil overs are not even slammed. Its pretty much sitting at stock height. If i am able to get a video of the sound ill post it up. But for now I have no idea on whats going on and whats making the sound.

I will post pictures of the tom hackery I had to do to the right strut to make it fit and make it secure.

Would appreciate any input.

Thanks
 
Could the bump have bent your mounting point on the rear right? I imagine an impact of the magnitude to blow out all of your struts could have potentially damaged the mounting location for the suspension components. This could be causing you to have some adverse suspension geometry which could create a knocking noise, potentially from suspension binding. The wooshing noise is a little more concerning though as in my experience a whoosing is generally attributed to a bad wheel bearing. I would take the wheel off on the side the noise is coming from and make sure the brake rotor isn't touching the backing plate as that causes noise too. If that isn't it I would free spin the wheel to see if you can replicate and isolate the noise you are hearing. Whooshing is a noise that would be caused by something that rotates so I would start there and see what you can find out.
 
Thanks for the reply,

I actually had my dad and hes a pretty big dude, pretty much had him jump on the trunk and it didn't make the knocking noise. It's only when i drive.


And by the backing plate do you mean that dust protector thing behind the rotor?
 
think he's talking about the top of the strut mounting spot - into the trunk. Is that metal "bent" upward? You said there was a 2" difference from one side to the other......
 
The metal is not bent at all, it looks the same as the left. but right when it goes under pressure it shoots up.

I installed the other side correctly so i doubt it is how i installed it.... its only 2 bolts one on top and one on bottom..
 
The top end of the strut that goes in to the trunk. when you put the tire back on and you put the wheel on the ground the pressure of the car literally moves the strut up where its mounted in the trunk. this is only on the right side... not on the left.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the reply,

I actually had my dad and hes a pretty big dude, pretty much had him jump on the trunk and it didn't make the knocking noise. It's only when i drive.


And by the backing plate do you mean that dust protector thing behind the rotor?
yes the dust cover.
 
I'd check out these vids posted in this thread to see if this helps your adjustments
http://9thcivic.com/forum/threads/e...reload-on-a-rear-multi-link-suspension.12726/


Thanks for that video webby,

But that is pretty much what i did. on both sides.

Like i said some process same step by step, and something is wrong on the right side. that is making the strut as a whole pop up threw the mounting points.

when i get home i will post a picture of the left side that is correct, and the haggard *** right side.
 
What coils did you buy? I'm having a hard time understanding what exactly your looking at on the strut going up. Any way you can get a pic up? Is it possible you have another bad strut that just happens to be new? But the part that I'm really puzzled about is why your tucking/sitting lower on the right side. Your shock carries no weight of the vehicle if the design is 2 parts in the rear like factory. All weight is supported by the spring/lower control arm. You haven't jacked up the rear end on jack stands and look under to compare both sides. Your tire wearing funny at all? Pulling at all or had an alignment check? Also spin up your rear tires as fast as you can, you should be able to hear a bad wheel bearing or feel the roughness through the suspension. A hard enough hit could cause a ball in the bearing to indent a race.
 
What coils did you buy? I'm having a hard time understanding what exactly your looking at on the strut going up. Any way you can get a pic up? Is it possible you have another bad strut that just happens to be new? But the part that I'm really puzzled about is why your tucking/sitting lower on the right side. Your shock carries no weight of the vehicle if the design is 2 parts in the rear like factory. All weight is supported by the spring/lower control arm. You haven't jacked up the rear end on jack stands and look under to compare both sides. Your tire wearing funny at all? Pulling at all or had an alignment check? Also spin up your rear tires as fast as you can, you should be able to hear a bad wheel bearing or feel the roughness through the suspension. A hard enough hit could cause a ball in the bearing to indent a race.



So Actually what happen was the upper strut mounts where blown. causing the strut to have travel up and down left and right everywhere.

Bought new ones and its perfect again.
 
Back
Top