suspension popping?

well guys ever since i lowered my 94 accord lx on sprint springs on thanksgiving, my strut towers make this hisdeous popping noise whenver i put the car in gear, or hit the braks abruptly. does anyone know whats going on here? has it happened to you? my friend said its just settling, but it been almost a month now and its still doing it. i personally think its my stock struts that im riding on for now. until i save up enough money for some tokicos or kyb's. someone help. i poseted this on purehonda a week after i did it and got like two responses.

You have checked the bolts for proper tightness, right?

well i tightened them down really good. i tightened them once with an impact wrench, then came after and hand tightened them. theres only about 4 bolts to tighten.

Are you sure the springs are sitting snuggly on the base of the strut and that the top of the springs is as well?

yeah, they are sitting right in the little cutout things snugly. the sound comes from like the strut tower.

Yea I had a popping sound in the back when ever i hit a bump just right. It went away after i replaced the shock with Konis. I think the trouble was that the spring was to stiff for the shock so on a hard bump the spring would rebound and the shock would let the car raise up off the spring then fall back making the Pop-Clunk sound. Hop these helps

mine makes it when i put the car in gear, like in the morning i'll put it in reverse to back up my driveway and when i put it in gear. and then when i put it in drive, it does it. it also does it when i stop abruptly. or today it did it when i took this corner really hard after i leveled out.

Well the sound you might be hearing is your shocks hitting the bumpstops from the drop.

Reducing your shocks travel will a drop like that eliminates its abilty to dampen the spring so it sound like you have a noise comming from your shock towers, when you kinda are.

Other than that does this happen when the wheel is straight?
Also are you sure it is not your tires hitting your fender walls?

yeah, it makes it all the time no matter if the wheel is straight or turned. i happens at like a stop. when i put the car in reverse or drive it makes the noise like right as the car starts moving from a stop. or if i hit the brakes abruptly.

1.) Try pushing down on one end of the car, is it easy to puch down, can you push it (you have to push hard) after you push down does it pop up with little or no movemnet or does it bouce up? How far can you puch it down, can you push it down more that 5-6"?
If so and it is boucey, probably a blown shock. Also if that reveals nothing

If you have a jack, put on the parking brake.
Jack up of of the front wheels slowely.

See if it creaks when the wheel is lifting off the ground?
when it is off the ground push on the top and bottom of the wheel (not left and right) push in and out, does it creak? If so it may be a wheel bearing.

Also with the wheel off the ground grap the shock and pull it left and right, does it creak? the spring may not be seated in the hat well or the shock may not be seated right. How does the lower fork on the shock look? Tight to the base of the shock?

well i jacked it up and tried moving it around and it didn't creak at all. it creaked when i lifted it up and when i lowered it down. i guess we'll know if it was the shocks if the sound goes away after i get new ones.

lube your bushings.

the car is lower than stock. it's now using more stroke of each moving assembly in the suspension, some limits never reached before while at stock height. this can cause some rotating components to squeak, creak, or pop.

Originally posted by drift
lube your bushings.

the car is lower than stock. it's now using more stroke of each moving assembly in the suspension, some limits never reached before while at stock height. this can cause some rotating components to squeak, creak, or pop.
which bushings should i lube? any specific ones on the suspension? such as the ones on the sway bar? or just lube all of them?

Originally posted by brads94accord

which bushings should i lube? any specific ones on the suspension? such as the ones on the sway bar? or just lube all of them?


lube all of them on the suspension... if some are makin the noise, then all of them probably are dying from some grease.

what should i use to lube them? i have a tub of valvoline bearing grease in my garage, would that work?

well i lubed everything up with some silicon lubricant stuff and it didn't do anything. anyone else have and suggestion as to what the problem might be?

Along with the numerous other suggestions...check your tie rods and ball joints. Sometimes add strain to the system can cause not so obvious problems to become...well...obvious.