Hey all,

I have a rattle in my rear suspension after lowering it with Tein springs.

I raise the suspension up until the car slightly lifts up before tightening the suspension for preload.

My fronts are fine but the rear has a rattle/clunk when i go over slight bumps.

I preloaded the rears as well, but didn't preload the upper A arm since i didn't need to loosen it up to take out.

When preloading the rears, do i need to loosen up the upper A arms as well before preload or should i leave it alone?

Need help solving this rear rattle/clunking as it was perfectly fine before lowering

Thanks

 

"I raise the suspension up until the car slightly lifts up before tightening the suspension for preload."

The suspension should be tightened with the vehicle under "dead weight". Which means take it off the jacks with no one in the car. If you are lifting the car during the final torque process then your set-up will not perform (i.e. "ratttles", etc.). If you think about this logically you can see that with the car raised you tighten the crown nut to the proper torque. But the minute the weight of the car is introduced then the nut looses all torque. The suspension is now "loose". With the car off the jacks the weight of the car compresses the suspension.

Utah

P.S. Key Step- After you have enjoyed your suspension for ~200-500 miles go back and retorque EVERYTHING.

 

That is a yes. Lowering the car changes the angle of the control arms all bolts should be loosened and retightened with car on the ground. Jost it a couple of times and rool the car backward and foward to make shure everything is leveled.

 

my car is bone stock 07 and it clunks...

i would be worried about the rattling. something is loose... and from what i understand, i believe you do not have to preload springs, but coilovers only.

go to honda-tech.com and search preload. there's good information there...

 

I'll try to preload the suspension again with the wheels on and ''dead weight''.

Is it possible to tight the control arms with the wheels on? any tips/tricks?

Thanks for all the help.

 

You can put it on jack stands and jack up the lower control arm untill it is almost coming off the jack stands then tighten.

 

My 06 did this with in 1k miles from new, turned out to be a blown shock with oil pi$$ing out of it.

 

I'd presume that is what the OP did

It is the way I did mine but others are suggesting it needs torquing up with the car sat on it's wheels

 

so can we 'REALLY' torque our 17mm bolts on the upper a-arm with the wheels on and sitting on ground? or can we just put it on jacks and raise the arm?

My gap is still there after lowering and driving for a day

i'm so sad

 

To clarify:
1) This thread is discussing rear suspension rattle on a new Tein install.
2) When all is put in place and ready for torque. Place a jack under the lower A-arm and raise until the safety stand is just cleared. Torque the flange bolt to 47 lbf-ft.
Note: The Helm Manual now says to tighten the flange nuts on top of the damper (located on top of the shock tower) to 36lbf-ft. With the car still in the jacked up position.
3) Experience has shown us on some aftermarket suspensions this can result in a not completely torqued tower flange nut. This may cause the noted rattle and has been observed on this suspension before (specifically Tein RA). The compression of the spirngs effectively unloads under bump loads. One can recheck the torque after lowering the car and see if it is near the 36lbf-ft baseline.
4) It is a better practice to lower the car at this point and torque. This provides a more accurate torque of the tower flange nut as it is in the actual preloaded driving state.

If you are at the 36 lbf-ft when lowered and you still have a ralttle then you need to look further (i.e. broken shock).

Utah