Clunking ohlins

[Apexeon]

Installed Ohlins, lowered, now when I go up a driveway diagonally there will be a sharp metalic pang/knock on the side of the tire going up first, followed by another metalic pang/knock on the other side.

Then, if I go over a pot hole or something that moves the suspension, both sides will do the sound again together, and stay silent until the next driveway....
This only happened afterwe lowered the car, previously was driving for 2 weeks on ohlins and no sound.

My mechanic double checked everything is looks good.

Curious what thoughts others have.

[swagon]

Originally Posted by Apexeon

Installed Ohlins, lowered, now when I go up a driveway diagonally there will be a sharp metalic pang/knock on the side of the tire going up first, followed by another metalic pang/knock on the other side.

Then, if I go over a pot hole or something that moves the suspension, both sides will do the sound again together, and stay silent until the next driveway....
This only happened afterwe lowered the car, previously was driving for 2 weeks on ohlins and no sound.

My mechanic double checked everything is looks good.

Curious what thoughts others have.

I'd had Ohlins on the car for a couple weeks before I started hearing a muffled metallic clunk.

Lifted the car up in the air and by manually moving the steering left and right, we saw that the whole Ohlins coilover body, including the spring adapter, moves by circa one milimetre against the OEM top mount. This results in these clunks which when driving, are very loud in the cabin.

My car has been lowered by roughly 10mm since the beginning.

Adjusting pre-load did not make much of a difference. I am not able to move the shock if I grab it by the cojones.

After a track day where I experienced zero issues, it seems to have settled and is now clunking less frequently... no idea. But I am going to have adjustable top mounts installed anyway.

[b_w.]

Do you have the plastic shims / washers that allow the spring and assembly to rotate without binding?

[Theruleslawyer]

Originally Posted by swagon

I'd had Ohlins on the car for a couple weeks before I started hearing a muffled metallic clunk.

Lifted the car up in the air and by manually moving the steering left and right, we saw that the whole Ohlins coilover body, including the spring adapter, moves by circa one milimetre against the OEM top mount. This results in these clunks which when driving, are very loud in the cabin.

My car has been lowered by roughly 10mm since the beginning.

Adjusting pre-load did not make much of a difference. I am not able to move the shock if I grab it by the cojones.

After a track day where I experienced zero issues, it seems to have settled and is now clunking less frequently... no idea. But I am going to have adjustable top mounts installed anyway.

Sounds almost like they forgot washer (9) If you did, you wouldn't be able to fully tighten the nut (10) probably. Even if its there and its not torqued properly it can cause clunking. Preload wouldn't help as if there is room to move, it will.

In general I'd take a wheel off and verify the whole stack is assembled correctly
https://www.ohlinsusa.com/files/ohli...MI_BMSMR40.pdf

I've seen a few messed up installs from 'professional' shops on here.

[FaRKle!]

Is the noise coming from the front or rear? If it's the front, are the end link faces pointing in the right direction? I've seen more than a few times where shops put the left strut on the right side and vice versa which restricts the movement of the end links...

[Junnn]

Do you have camber plates? If yes, I will suggest you to check the monoball bearings in the pkates first. If not, I guess maybe you can check the sway bar endlink. When you lower the car, you put extra load on the endlink and it will compromise sooner or later.

[KeoniM3]

Apexeon - did you ever resolve this issue?

[swagon]

Originally Posted by Theruleslawyer

Sounds almost like they forgot washer (9) If you did, you wouldn't be able to fully tighten the nut (10) probably. Even if its there and its not torqued properly it can cause clunking. Preload wouldn't help as if there is room to move, it will.

In general I'd take a wheel off and verify the whole stack is assembled correctly
https://www.ohlinsusa.com/files/ohli...MI_BMSMR40.pdf

I've seen a few messed up installs from 'professional' shops on here.

To update on this. It was the re-used OEM top mounts, apparently.

First time they looked at it, end links were found loose. OK. Knocking solved somehow.

But now I was getting horrible creaking noises when steering. Then the occasional knock would appear again.

As the wheels were turning left to right, the front spring would get stuck in one place and then suddenly move, causing the knocking noise. This is apparently a rather common issue when re-using worn top mounts on F8x - mine had been removed twice. The bottom half of the top mount under which the spring adapt sits has got bearings in it and it would not move freely anytime steering lock was applied.

Now with brand new OEM top mounts, it's all dead quiet. Lesson learned, always buy new top mounts. I just forgot to do so.

[Theruleslawyer]

Originally Posted by swagon

To update on this. It was the re-used OEM top mounts, apparently.

First time they looked at it, end links were found loose. OK. Knocking solved somehow.

But now I was getting horrible creaking noises when steering. Then the occasional knock would appear again.

As the wheels were turning left to right, the front spring would get stuck in one place and then suddenly move, causing the knocking noise. This is apparently a rather common issue when re-using worn top mounts on F8x - mine had been removed twice. The bottom half of the top mount under which the spring adapt sits has got bearings in it and it would not move freely anytime steering lock was applied.

Now with brand new OEM top mounts, it's all dead quiet. Lesson learned, always buy new top mounts. I just forgot to do so.

How many miles did you have on your top mounts? My camber plates reused the bearings. Nothing unusual on mine yet. About 25k on those bearings. Probably wouldn’t hurt to clean and lube them though.

[swagon]

Originally Posted by Theruleslawyer

How many miles did you have on your top mounts? My camber plates reused the bearings. Nothing unusual on mine yet. About 25k on those bearings. Probably wouldn’t hurt to clean and lube them though.

59k miles. Original suspension was totally fine besides the odd clunk that I think was the infamous strut clunk.

I was debating whether to buy camber plates, decided to stay OEM but did not order new OEM top mounts and the shop did not remind me either. Then all had to be taken apart the second time to install softer Ohlins springs and yet again, it did not dawn on me (or the shop) to order top mounts.

I'll be writing my (mixed) thoughts on the R&T in a separate thread.

[mbb2000]

I'm having the same issue and can't seem to fix it. I've replaced the top hats which did nothing and I've replaced the end links. I'm starting to think it's just a poor design in the coils with no fix.