swoosh

iTrader: (5)

here, check this thread:

https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-tires-wheels-suspension-97/isc-coilover-issues-892049/

swoosh

iTrader: (5)

Well I did preload my rear's quite a bit to reduce any spring travel....the front being heavy, I had luck with allowing a little spring travel....I have never been to a track and just spirited driving on all season tires in my 650lb lighter car....

my rear I have it at 165mm (preload mentioned was 180mm) the fronts I have them at 170mm (again the preload mentioned was 180mm)....

if am going for long trips with the wifey, I turn the dampening down to 18 all around....city driving am at 26 all around....

I love the ride quality (yes it is rough but I love it) and I love how I can corner sooo easily...


Here is the G meter in the car and how she sits:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44051364@N00/10928756774/http://www.flickr.com/photos/44051364@N00/10928756774/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/44051364@N00/, on Flickr


I cannot go lower upfront unless I mess with the preload, but I can go plenty low in the rear....

ISC is sending me something to test out and I will create a thread with the differences/installation/etc


http://www.flickr.com/photos/44051364@N00/11460693464/http://www.flickr.com/photos/44051364@N00/11460693464/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/44051364@N00/, on Flickr

twigglius

iTrader: (6)

Anil is correct, nothing is blown. I feel your frustration though. I have not said anything yet but after reading through this thread over the holidays I decided to offer some thoughts.

I want to start by mentioning that the crew at ISC NA have been aswesome when I have had to deal with them directly. Josh (XLR8 Performance) has also been wonderful to work with over the years. Great guy and business owner that I have primarily purchased almost all of my mods from, going back many years.

These coils have felt great on the road since I "helped" Anil install them back in September. The rebound on them and the overall feel of the car is much improved over my Tein SS Coils. The car corners very solidly and I can push through corners at a much higher rate of speed than before.

My problem is that they do clunk... But it's only on certain types of bumps/road surfaces. All nuts are tightened all the way down. The preload has been checked and double checked several times. The coils are NOT blown, I know that. On bumps that protrude from the road my car goes over them like a champ. The car feels glued to the road. On bumps that depress in the road i almost feel the opposite. I almost always hear a loud clunk and the car jumps/drifts to the side briefly. The left rear seems to not clunk on any of these recessed bumps, the left rear clunks occasionally, the right front does pretty often and the right rear does all the time.

I have owned many sets of springs, shocks, coils, combos over the years. I have not experienced this type of clunking since back in highschool when I had ground controls on my accord but had the collars so far down, the clunking was from the spring banging on the perch. When I hear the clunking it makes me feel like I am driving a $2,000 1989 civic, not a car that I paid $30k for and have kept in great shape since I took delivery on (12/26/05 - happy 8 years b-day).

I have gone back and forth several times in my head and debated selling them for Tein SA's. I have never had noise issues like this with any Tein product unless I hit a giant pot hole with my car. Again, there is nothing physically wrong with the coils, they just make noise and it bothers me. This is just my since this has been on my mind.


The views and comments above are simply my experience. They have no reflection on Josh, XLR8 or ISC NA. They are simply my opinion and do not reflect the views of others. Rebroadcast of this requires expressed, written permission fromn the NFL.

Butter type-s

I have my set for about 7 months and I'm in the same boat as you guys. Lots of noise coming from the front and rear over bumps, had adjusted and verified the suspension and everything it's fine. I agree with Twigglius, it does make the car sound like a 2,000 civic.

swoosh

iTrader: (5)

what RSB/FSB are you guys running?

I hear clunks only when I hit a depressed bump from the front (mostly all the bumps I have hit are on the right hand side, beats me)....but I dont feel the car moving around, she is always planted....

also I see a little trend with the sides, front right and rear left....Chris, we set your preload to the specified 175, maybe you should try 180 which will increase spring travel and absorption....maybe that will help?

Butter type-s

I'm all stock type s RSB/FSB. I was in the preload of 180-182 when I first installed the coilover, but after reading few threads of people having problem when not running it at 175, I adjusted them to 175. I also feel like my springs are really compressed, few of the bottom coils are touching with no cap.

swoosh

iTrader: (5)

^^^ weird since the rear springs (maybe it was the front), are tiny....at 180, they are barely compressed

Butter type-s

Sorry, yes my front are compressed a lot. The rear are barely compressed, but that damn noise coming from both front and rear its driving me insane. I find myself just blasting the radio not to hear the noise its making. I will try to see if adjusting them back to 180-182 will make the noise disappear.

Ride It Low

Damn that thing is sexy!!! LOL

swoosh

iTrader: (5)

twigglius

iTrader: (6)

Oh and progress RSB on stiff.

twigglius

iTrader: (6)

swoosh

iTrader: (5)

when we install the package you have sitting in your house, we will able to find out more as to WHY you are encountering the clunking...

twigglius

iTrader: (6)

Can't I just like Ferris Bueller? LOL

swoosh

iTrader: (5)

you cant just like him....you can like like him though


/offtopic

Excelerate

iTrader: (1)

I wish you two were closer to me as I could help you diagnose the noise. We've installed a bunch of these locally and the only time we've heard a clunk noise is when a customer installs it themselves and the top nut is loose, or they adjusted the coilovers incorrectly, or didn't pre-load the spring correctly. The other thing to check is sway bar bushing, sway bar end links, that all hardware is properly tightened. Also the rear bolt that holds the bottom strut housing on the rear of the suspension: does it fully seat the housing? In other words is the strut housing tight up against the bushing/collar that the bolt goes through?

swoosh

iTrader: (5)

^^^ I installed mine myself and I dont have any clunking

I installed for Chris and when we went for a drive, there was no clunking but maybe we didnt hit bumps like he usually does...

also I am running progress RSB on stiff with energy greasable bushing and moog end links...

silvrbreez

What would you suggest the correct steps are for this part? Obviously a coilover nOOb question, but after getting all four corners installed in about 3-4 hours on Monday, getting these coils adjusted was the most difficult part. Everything was torqued down to spec and the installation itself went very smoothly, but whenever I loosened the lower lock nut and then began to thread the body down farther into the seat to fine tune the ride height, the upper nut would thread upward and the spring would compress beyond the recommended preload setting making it gradually harder to thread the body down. I eventually just loosened all three nuts, get them where I wanted them, and then readjust the preload each time I wanted to tweak the ride height. Car handles great now and no noises on initial test drives or since, but I was hoping it'd be easier to adjust the height on these instead of having to adjust the preload each time as well.

And here's to hoping I don't develop any odd clunks like some of the other guys on here appear to have developed.

twigglius

iTrader: (6)

Everything on the coils has been properly adjusted. I have checked the top nut a minimum of 10 times to be sure. It's all the way tightened down.

The only thing I have not checked is the Sway bar bushing and end link but that still would only explain the rear of the vehicle. Unless you are suggesting the front sway bar as well, which is still stock.

I had my car aligned 3 weeks ago and the tech at Firestone suggested that I need new rear trailing arms, not sure if that would have anything to do with this or not but again, this only addresses the back end, not the front.

Butter type-s

At my end every was also checked, alignment was done about 2 months ago, no suspension parts needed to be change so I'm assuming my bushing are good. You only address the issue two members, I'm in New Jersey 2 hours drive and I'm willing to take a day off from work and drive up to Connecticut, what would be the service charges?

silvrbreez

Here's mine

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmb-photography/11823237585/http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmb-photography/11823237585/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/bmb-photography/, on Flickr

Taken on Saturday after my alignment. Currently sitting approx 25" ground to fender all around.

Excelerate

iTrader: (1)

Here's a helpful video on how to adjust them.


There is also some helpful info here:

http://iscsuspension-na.com/installation-2/

SC SUSPENSION N1 COILOVER DO NOT COME PRELOADED FROM THE FACTORY. We recommend a preload of 5mm on all corners of the suspension. To set this, you will need to compress the spring using the large gold collar. Simply tighten this up until it stops spinning. You can then take a measurement of the spring. This should yield you 0 preload. From here you need to compress the spring an additional 5mm.



A quick way to be able to know the length of your spring is to look at it. On the spring is a series of number. Example, 18008. This means the spring is 180mm with an 8kg spring rate. The first three numbers are the length. You may also see 200, 140 etc.

If you add 5mm of preload to a 180mm spring you will have an end result of 175mm. This is the proper preload measurement.

Once you have finished setting up your preload, make sure to tighten the smaller locking gold collar against the large collar to keep your preload from changing.

Does your car seem too bouncy? Is your car too stiff or bottoming out easily? Check the preload!

I hear a clunking coming from my coilovers when I drive them on the street, what could it be?

Welcome to the world of coilovers; a more complex strut with components designed to be adjustable which in return can cause noise if/when things get loose. Noise can happen from time to time whether it is a 500.00 or 5,000.00 coilover. Sounds are often caused my some part of the coilover becoming loose over time.

Things to Check:

1) Top 19mm Nut: This top 19mm nut secures the shaft to the top plate/ pillowball configuration. Over time it may become loose and cause a clunk when going over bumps due to play. How do you fix this? 1) Take a 19mm wrench and place it onto the 19mm nut. 2) Hold a 5mm allen key tool in the actual shaft of the coilover (make sure to unscrew the little dampening clicker on the top of the strut and place it to the side). 3) While holding the shaft still with the 5mm allen key turn the 19mm wrench clockwise; this will tighten the 19mm nut and mate the shaft/pillowball assembly tight. This can be done in about 30 seconds per strut, while it is installed on the vehicle.4) Put the dampening clicker back on.

2) Check your adjustments: If your preload is incorrect you will get noise, make sure it is to spec (check preload adjustment article above).

3) Check all other Parts: double check your collars, mounts and anything that can become loose.

If you're sure the installation and pre-load is spot on then check the following. All sway bar bushings should be checked. End links commonly cause clunking issues. Compliance bushings should be checked. Sway bar bushings should be checked.

Please email me at sales@excelerateperformance.com

ebelp

^That's a classy video right there. Whoever created it is a genius.

That's good info that Josh just posted. That should cure 99% of people's issues.

twigglius

iTrader: (6)

I watched that video before Anil and I installed the coils. Not sure what kind of car those coils are on but I can tell you this - the coils on my car are not nearly that easy to adjust. you would have to be Ronny Coleman to adjust them by hand. I have to use the wrench on the upper collars to move it 1/8 of a turn at a time and use tremendous force to make it happen.

Josh, I DO need compliance bushings and I am getting that taken care of. However, I will offer this. I needed compliance bushings when I had my 97,000 mile Tein SS's on my car as well and did not have this clunk/rattle thing going on.

I am also going to pick up some greasable energy bushings for the Progress bar to see if that makes any difference at all. But the noise sounds like it's coming from the top of the strut area and not underneath the vehicle.

Another thought I have on why this may be happening. The Tein coils have a rubber grommet on between the spring and the top hat, and if I remember correctly these do not. Possibly that is a contributing factor.

silvrbreez

I'm 99% sure those are on ebelp's Type S. I didn't have near that easy of a time on mine either though. And my threads were soaked in WD40. Maybe it'd get easier over time.

Double check yours. Mine had a rubber grommet/seat on both the top and bottom of the spring. It's a little tough, but the pic below tries to call it out in a far away pic I took during my install.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmb-photography/11856133914/http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmb-photography/11856133914/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/bmb-photography/, on Flickr

silvrbreez

/\About this.../\
I made some additional adjustments on Friday and it went much easier this go around. I guess it got easier after driving on them a bit if that makes any since. It still wasn't as easy as in ebelp's video, but I was able to do it by just loosening the bottom lock nut and wrenching the large top nut under the spring to get the height I wanted. I could only turn it by hand for about an 1/8" of adjustment or so before I needed to pull out the wrench and finish it off. Some corners were easier than others, but none of them could be done solely by hand.

ebelp

Yeah, that video is from when I had the ISC's on my TL. At that time, the threads were not greased and the coils had been on my car for several weeks. I do go to the gym regularly, so maybe that has something to do with it.

twigglius

iTrader: (6)

The gym? Shit, I'd have to install a robotic arm with hydraulics on it.

ebelp

swoosh

iTrader: (5)

Twiggy, I think I checked yours and it had the rubber grommet....i know mine had it...we will check it again when you get here....


great instructions Josh...

elkev

i have a question... the oem top hat fit on isc coilover?? because i really suspect that my clunking is coming from the top hat... and yes my 19 mm bolt is thight and my pre load is good ...

lilbatman636

twigglius

iTrader: (6)

@elkev you might be on to something. The noise does sound like it's coming from the top of the frame. Also the noise is more of a chatter than a clunking. I will have more info after this weekend. Swoosh and I are taking the fronts apart and installing new shafts. Will report back Sunday or Monday.

swoosh

iTrader: (5)

yeah I will be installing a new shaft in Chris on Friday night into Saturday morning....

ebelp

You guys should also be checking your ball joints, bushings and swaybar endlinks. Failure of any one of those will cause constant noise.

twigglius

iTrader: (6)

Much hilarity! I truly LOL when I read this.

ebelp

Dibs on sloppy seconds?

twigglius

iTrader: (6)

Highly unlikely. You don't even jock me on Instagram. lol

jess2htx

iTrader: (1)

hey swoosh where did you get your eyelids for your headlights?!?!?! they look so good on them.lol

swoosh

iTrader: (5)

WOW...did i just get your first post?

Thanks a lot buddy....the eyelids are painted on the inside of the headlight lens...