Slpr04UA6

It is definitely weird. Cause I can hit a normal size bump in road, no rattle. Then hit small undulations, and I hear it. This is only the rear, nothing up front. I just need to spend some time trying to isolate what arm is causing it, and if it isn't an arm, then buy some new shocks. I really like the Koni's so I don't know what way I would go.

Chad05TL

Same with me too. No noise on smooth roads, even slow rises and dips in the road there was no noise.. But small quick jabbing bumps, like uneven sharp surfaces or a quick joint, would cause noise. Truthfully, I think the larger bumps were also making noise that was unusual or "extra", you just cant tell it so much because it is normal to hear a thud when you hit bumps it the road on all cars. So, some of the thud is normal. And that thud will mask some of the unusually clunky-rattle noise.. Thats why it is more noticeable on smaller quick bumps because most cars do not have a loud thud on small bumps. But I noticed even the larger bumps are quieter(not eliminated because that's impossible) after I replaced the shock... That's why I know about it..

Chad05TL

maybe I should revise 1 comment. I said "since new" the Koni's rattled. I probably should change that to , "within 2 weeks" they rattled. That's why I never suspected them. because they were new! I mean how could they be bad? haha

Also note: I have not changed the passenger side koni shock yet. I will do that next Saturday morning. and I think about 75% of the noise is gone. I am confident the drivers side front shock was worse than the passenger side. Why? I have no idea.

Slpr04UA6

Pretty sure the upper arm has a ball joint. I have heard they can go bad, but don't know how to tell/diagnose.


https://www.acuraoemparts.com/oem-pa...dXRvbWF0aWM%3D

Chad05TL

yes the upper arm has a ball joint! I agree. But I was referring to bushings only.. a "bushing and ball joint combination".. We dont have those..

The ball joint in the rear upper arm does not have a bushing in it. It is only a ball joint. But I will send you $1 in the mail if that ball joint is bad. haha

how many miles on your car??

1 side of the upper arm has a bushing but the ball joint side of that arm does not have a bushing.. Either way, those items do not have a lot of resistance on them. Most the support is on the spring. but there is a twist action on the hub itself .. the upper arm hold it in place.. But I dont think those ball joint go bad that often. But try it.. its only $100 bucks. haha

Chad05TL

Just as a reminder I wanted to mention that on the rear I did have to install a rubber gasket between the body and the top hat. I did that + remove the konies and it made a big difference. I think the gasket also was required on the rear but as for the front the rattle was coming directly from the koni.

Chad05TL

In fact I think on the rear, when I removed the konis it was just 1 step of many ON THE REAR. The last step that cut out the noise was that rubber gasket. But on the front there is no more noise immediately after changing the konis and I made no other changes in that step.

Slpr04UA6

I'm sitting at 74K.

I'm not goin to talk bushings and ball joints. It may not be bad, and I'm going to try to diagnose it before replacing, with SPC. I've just put off ordering SPC rear upper arms, for awhile. I want a lil less neg camber in the rear. (At -1.7deg) now.


I also have type-s bushings in the top hats.


Thanks for the input. I truly hope it's not the Koni's.

Chad05TL

Ya if you plan on replacing those upper arms anyway, you might as well try it first.. But at least you got 35k miles out of the koni's or maybe less before they started rattling, if in fact they are the source of the noise.. Oem shocks last about that long, 30 or 35k.. And they do not have a means to make them tighter(non-adjustable). I tend to think that the tighter you have them set, then the faster they will wear out. But as for me, my front ones and rear ones rattled since almost day 1.

I agree, I doubt your bushings and the upper arm ball joint is bad in the rear.
As far as troubleshooting, you need to make sure everything is tight.. On the rear, if the top nut is loose, the sound will be more evident on the inside than the outside.

I do not have the type-S bushings installed anymore. The noise was worse with those installed. And plus the softer bushings were better because the type-s bushings in the tophat did not make my car handle any better. It just made more noise and I suppose you may feel more road surfaces and feedback.. Both of which I do not need. So i took them off and I have no regrets. These eibachs are the stiffest eibachs I have ever owned. Plus, I could barely get the spring compressors ON and OFF the spring because the coils are so close. I have never had eibachs like that on other cars. I had to literally pry the coil with a large 24mm wrench to spread the coils enough to get the spring compressor out from between the coils. So needless to say, my car rides plenty firm without the aid of type-S bushings in the top hat. In fact, with my new inner and outer tie rods and new front ball joints, and these stiff Bridgestone S04's, the car handles very sharp. And very sure. In fact, i'm looking to buy some softer running tires like the new "Continental Sport", which is the DW replacement tire. It rides the same as the DW but handles better. So cant lose.

I bought these Megans They are great. The nuts on them turn very smoothly. Nice paint , glossy and smooth. High quality.
Megan Racing

BROlando

If the Konis were rattling, I don't think it was piston/valve noise you were hearing. That doesn't make much sense. It may just be the type of spring seat they use. The non-welded seat may rattle after some use, under some conditions.

If one found a way to isolate the actual seat, you may be able to do away with some of the rattle.

Or...buy ground controls instead of lowering springs.

Slpr04UA6

^glad you posted. Wanted your opinion.

are you referring to the spring seat above perch? Or at top hat?

BROlando

^The metal cup that the bottom of the spring rests on.

Its held to the shock via nothing. There's a c-clip that stops it from slipping down the shock body. But its not actually HELD to the shock body.

The stock seats are welded to the shock tube.

Koni yellows are widely used on street cars with stock-shaped spring footprints and soft assed street springs. But, honestly, by design, they seem better suited to using coil sleeves with flat bottom springs and customized rates.

Slpr04UA6

Interesting, never thought of that. I have the Koni SP3's with 5 perches, and am running H&R sport springs (seconds to lowest perch up front/lowest perch in the rear). I would think the weight would keep that somewhat seated on the c-clip, but I don't know enough about suspensions. I do want to figure it out tho, it's been bugging me lately.

Chad05TL

based on my experiences, you will have to put your hands on the car to find out what is going on. And putting a hand to it is the only way to learn.
Or you could go to the person who installed your current setup.(assuming you did not install the Koni's yourself)

BROlando

Its just a theory. Maybe the seat is clanking on bumps. I'm sure never comes unseated.

He also just now got his noise to go away. There's a chance it was just because he just handled everything and moved the noisy component a bit. We may hear that his noise comes back in a few weeks.

Chad05TL

Oh my gosh I just replaced the right side front shock this morning and it was rattling too. The car is so much quieter now it's not even the same car anymore. I've been living with this rattle for 3 or 4 years but only probably no more than 20,000 miles because I only have 88,000 miles on my car and I think I got them installed somewhere around 65 but I would have to check. But regardless that is a long time to go with a rattle on your car that you cannot find. Not only that but the KYB and eibach combination is really a good performer for this sedan Or any sedan IMO.. I think the KYB is actually a higher-quality shock than the Koni because the koni is a universal shock for the TL and IMO any shock that's designed to get really firm it's just most likely going to blow out sooner. At least I cannot explain why they were bad from almost the beginning like within 2 weeks of new and I have never had these things on firm setting , I only rode with them about a quarter of the way up from the soft setting. So I have no idea why they rattled.. complete waste of time and waste of money and a lot of elbow grease trying to figure out what's wrong. So My 2 cents.. if anyone has koni shocks and cannot find the rattle then I would urge you to replace that shock. And again I never suspected them because they were brand new. So again in my opinion if you got 35000 miles on those koni shocks and then I would count yourself as super lucky and move on. I know I am shocks only last about 30,000 miles.