[maxium]

Hey guys, after a few days of rain, my 96 developed loud popping, clicking, and creaking from the front passenger side. My front suspension mods are, Tokico blue struts, lowered with eibach pro kit, and 18x9 Fr500. New parts are, lower ball joint, outter tie rods, hubs, sway bar end links, brakes, and rotors.

The noises are most noticeable when crusing on the freeway on slightly uneven pavement (not pot holes or pavement imperfection, just when your wheels are ever so slightly going up and down). The noise differs from creaks, to clicking, to loud popping. I've tried lubing every moving part in that area with silicone and or grease. I've tried loosening the control arm bolts and struts bolts then re-torquing them while on level ground. I've checked almost every bolt/nut down there. At this point I'm thinking, top strut mount, broken coil on the spring, or perhaps the ball joint is slightly moving in it's hole?

I've spent way too much time on this with nothing to show for so if anyone could provide some insight/theories, I'd appreciate it.

[3valveStallion]

Alotta guys with your generation have had this problem after lowering or modding the suspension. If youve eliminated that it could be the outer tie rods, balljoints or even k-member- I think its the steering rack, check those bolts and re-torque those, should fix it

[maxium]

Interesting. I forgot to mention that those steering rack bushings are new and tight. But perhaps I will loosen them and re-torque those to see what happens. But the sound does sound like it's coming more towards the wheel well..

[3valveStallion]

forgot to mention that you might need to shave of .100 on the rack tubes (bolts) Ive heard that might fix it, its the steering rack bracket that causes it, I believe

[ReverendDexter]

Could be binding with the swaybar. There shouldn't be any resistance to rotating the swaybar in it's mounts, if so, you can take out the bushings and sand them down a bit so they don't pinch the bar.

Also, if you lowered the car, are your aftermarket endlinks shorter than stock? The bar should be level with the car at rest.

[maxium]

Hmm, the sounds I'm hearing are pretty obnoxious. The taps are pretty light, but the pop I can feel through the pedals. I'll try taking off the bushings and greasing them up (because I'll try anything at this point) but wow, that would be pretty crazy if those bushings made that much noise. Also, what would you use to cut those steering rack sleeves? Just a hack saw?

[3valveStallion]

I would recommend a metal lathe, turn off about 0.100 or a bit less than 1/8. Although there is no reason you cant do it with a hacksaw or bench grinder, those will work as long as you keep your cuts square

[maxium]

Just wanted to update. I installed new poly coil spring isolators and maximum motorsports aluminum steering rack bushings. I also greased the sway bar mount bushings. So far everything is tight and no sounds are heard. Hopefully it stays that way...

[maxium]

DOH. Creaking is gone. But the tapping sound is still there.. sigh

[war1ock]

Check your brake pads. Someone before i got my car did a brake job and forgot to put the silver metal shim behind the pads so everytime i would hit a slight bump or dip i would hear a clicking or tapping. $12 hardware kit later everythings quiet.

[maxium]

Thanks for the suggestion. I checked my brake pads and they have all the hardware one them. These were one of the first things I checked. I even changed out the pads and rotors just in case (since they were low anyway). What I've done now was circle my control arm bolts and motor mount bolt with white out. I want to see if there is any play in them. What is odd to me that I just noticed is that the car won't really tap until it's gotten driven on a bumpy surface for awhile. Ugh, this is ridiculous..