Dropzone rear springs rattling

ryan7o7 · Jan 2nd, 2005, 03:28 AM

There is some rattling coming from my rear suspension. I have Dropzone lowering springs and everytime im not on a smooth road, there is rattling coming from the rear. I checked to make sure the spring is seated right on the shock grooves and it is. I was thinking it might be my shocks have worn out, but i dont know. There is only 50k miles on my '98 200sx. Or i was thinking the spring might be upside down, but its alot of work to flip it around so i dont want to do it if thats not the problem.
-How my springs are installed:
On the dropzone springs there is like a rubber sleeve type thing (it is clear) and it goes over one side of the spring where it touches the shock, my sleeve is on the bottom. Any suggestions on what to do to stop rattling??

shift_of_legend · Jan 3rd, 2005, 10:37 PM

The stock rubbers should prevent the noise. If not then cut a garden hose and slide over the fisrt two coils on each end.

I would definately bolt it off and inspect it though.

How do teh dropzones feel?
What shocks are you using?
how much do they lower the car?
Is the front still higher than the back?
What are teh spring rates?

**chimmike** · Jan 3rd, 2005, 11:30 PM

that's what you get for buying CRAP springs.

how many times have we told you not to buy s*it products ryan707? hmm? how many hundreds of times? And you don't listen.

dropzone crap and obx crap. Really smart dude. You're just so smart.

ryan7o7 · Jan 4th, 2005, 06:16 PM

the springs have the rubber padding already on both sides. Wouldn't it be my shocks making the rattling noise??

ryan7o7 · Jan 6th, 2005, 01:38 PM

by the way im pleased with my obx stuff, but has anyone ever had this problem. Im thinking it has to be the shocks, but i dont know. any help??

BII · Jan 6th, 2005, 05:25 PM

You really do get what you pay for sometimes...

whitestallion10 · Jan 8th, 2005, 02:54 PM

So if you buy cheap springs, they will rattle?? That doesn't make any sense, why would they rattle??

ReVerm · Jan 8th, 2005, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whitestallion10

So if you buy cheap springs, they will rattle?? That doesn't make any sense, why would they rattle??

If you buy cheaply designed springs or springs that were made with poor quality control, they will not seat properly or have insufficient free length. Both will cause rattling. In the case of "sleeve-over" coil-over conversion kits, the sleeves can also contribute to the noise.

BTW: If your dampers are rattling, they are dead. As in, they should not work at all (they should either be completely seized or full of slop). Your mounts could rattle, but that's rare. There's very little that could rattle in a macpherson strut mount unless one of the mounting bolts are loose or one of the rubber bushings inside have been completely flattened. And that doesn't happen very often.

ryan7o7 · Jan 10th, 2005, 12:14 AM

Well for some reason its only coming from the rear drivers side. I first thought it wouldn't be seated right like you said, but it is. Im not sure why it makes that rattling noise.

ReVerm · Jan 10th, 2005, 12:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryan7o7

Well for some reason its only coming from the rear drivers side. I first thought it wouldn't be seated right like you said, but it is. Im not sure why it makes that rattling noise.

Does the spring come loose at full droop? That is, when you jack up that corner of the car using the side rail (and not the rear beam) until the wheels comes up off the ground, can you move the spring at all with your hand?

**chimmike** · Jan 10th, 2005, 12:26 AM

if they aren't even seated right or they don't look right, I can't imagine the spring rates are even close to spec on any of them.

which makes them DANGEROUS.

hence why we have the stickies on CRAP SPRINGS all over this forum.

ryan7o7 · Jan 10th, 2005, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ReVerm

Does the spring come loose at full droop? That is, when you jack up that corner of the car using the side rail (and not the rear beam) until the wheels comes up off the ground, can you move the spring at all with your hand?

Yea, you can move it when car is jacked up. Only a little and you have to move it hard.

ReVerm · Jan 10th, 2005, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryan7o7

Yea, you can move it when car is jacked up. Only a little and you have to move it hard.

That's a potential cause for the rattling. You can tie the spring down to the struts with zip ties to hold it in place. Where this won't help you in terms of safety, this will stop the noises that could come from the spring unseating at full droop (it happens a lot more often than you might think, especially on the street).

ryan7o7 · Jan 11th, 2005, 01:24 AM

ok. i'll try that tomorrow, and i'll let you know the results.

ryan7o7 · Jan 16th, 2005, 11:50 PM

zip ties didn't do anything. Yesterday i was looking at my springs because i was trying to figure out why it only rattles from one side, and i seen that part of the bumpstop is missing. I dont know how that happend but i must have lost it during spring upgrade. So, i bought new shocks. They are not installed yet, but today when i was driving i noticed a new noise. Its a squeeking noise, that is very very annoying. It only happens when i make a left turn and it sounds like its coming from the rear. Any ideas on what to check??? thanks