About one month ago I had the Megan coilvers installed on my 04 MCS. At first it was everything I'd hoped for: Firm, level ride and awesome cornering, yet rather smooth over bumps really.

Had one small incident after a week or so where the rear top nuts came loose, but was easily fixed and again clunk free...

Then, about two weeks ago I started getting a very small creak from the driver's front. At first I ignored it & figured it was the dashboard rattling or some plastic creaking somewhere.. It's been getting a little bit worse, and now does it over rather small bumps or even imperfections in the road such as frost heaves.. It also makes this noise when lowering the drivers front from a jack. Noise seems to be coming from the top of the strut tower on the drivers side.

I thought it might be some spring noise, so I tried the nylon wraps around the coils, but no effect. Checked tightness everything I knew to check; swaybar, swaybar end-links, top tower mounting bolts, the camber plate bolts, the top strut nut... Nothing was even a little loose.

I took it back to the installer, who checked tightness of everything related. He assured me everything was safe and told me that the noises I'm hearing are just a fact of life with the pillowball mounts. I can deal with some rattles and noises (hey I drive a MINI right?) but this one seems a bit on the excessive side.

The more I think about the fact that this is a metal bearing that's likely causing the noise, the more I want to get in there to clean and lube the thing (but I'm not sure how I might get at it). I'm starting to think that I'm hearing a dry and crunchy bearing in there.

This is definitely getting in the way of my pure enjoyment of the new handling.

Anyone here had similar experiences or have any other suggestions I could try?

 

are you 100% sure its not an end link?

When i installed my konis, it sounded exactly like you described it. And i went under there to check multiple times and couldn't find anything loose. The end links have a way of being a little loose but not showing it, and if they are loose they certainly make a lot of noise.

 

It's just the joy of coilovers, as much as I like the ability to do adjustments & setting up my suspension for any given track, in the day to day driver world I felt KONI SPORTS (yellow) were the way to go. Fact is coilovers can be noisy, tricky & time consuming to set properly. Somethings you live with..... :impatient

 

No noise here except for my teeth rattling when I set the dampeners too stiff.

 

Wow.. I thought I was the only one.. I had my Koni Coilovers installed a couple months ago and they creak like a mother now. Mostly I hear my rear end creaking. (no jokes please ). I've also got a UUC sway bar. I jacked it up yesterday after picking up some spray Lithium grease. I can't really tell if the problem is the sway bar bushings or the top spring/strut perch. The top of the spring sits in a nice rubber boot in the perch which I'm wondering, might be the cause of the massive squeaking. I tried to lube everything up as much as I could, without getting too messy and without actually removing the coilover to disassemble it.

The car will squeak regardless of the kind of road imperfection or transition. It seems to be more noticable at slower speeds, especially driveways and speed bumps, and especially anything off camber. I'm trying to rule out the sway bar bushings as I've had them re-lubed a couple times without any change in squeak. The squeak seems too pronounced to be a 19mm bushing.

Has anyone had this problem and solved it??? (not necessarily with just the Koni's)

Mine are the silvers..

 

just a note....i meant koni yellows (just so people are aware)

 

that could be very annoying...

 

It could be.. and is... Thank god for Harmon Kardon and my Ipod!

 

Well, I can only be 99% sure because I'm not real experienced at this stuff --yet. I know that I couldn't get a wrench to budge on either of the end link bolts. I also had the shop that installed it check these things, so I'm fairly certain it's not the end link that's loose.

It's curious to me because it's only doing it on one side, and quite predictibly, but not at all on the passenger side. It's making me think that something is not quite right...

If it groans this much when its working right, how will I know if something goes wrong??

 

you may be completely right about the end link. It's just something to look out for. I couldn't get mine to budge using wrenches and my dealer said it was tight enough....but after experimenting i know that it's the source of the noise. (which still hasn't been fixed yet, cause i can't get it much tighter.....so i'm just gonna get some endlinks from my sponsor which have a different attachment method)

 

Rich, sorry for changing to topic but how do you like the Koni Coilovers, besides the creaking ? I think you're one of the very few people running those Coilovers, how do they compare to stock, other springs, shocks etc? I'm looking at replacing my M7 springs/stock shocks on my 05 MSC with the Koni's as I want a slightly firmer ride with better rebound control...

Marcel.

 

Interesting. What experiments did you try to assure yourself that this noise comes from the end link? The bolts on mine were tight, but the rod itself could rotate a bit in the rubber bushings, like it looked like it was supposed to. It really didn't seem like the noise I'm hearing would be generated there. Sounds more metal-on-metalish, or as if the frame of my car is cracking...its rather unnerving.. not sure I can get used to it.

What type of connection method does this other end link you mentioned have? I'm interested to hear your theories.

 

Hey Marcel,

I like them... (I'd be curious to see how you like your M7's) The Koni's are a bit firmer than stock "sport" package suspension and far better rebound, even on the middle setting. The rears are pretty much set.. as you've got to compress the shock completely to adjust it. I've been playing around with the fronts and it makes a noticable difference in under/oversteer. I've got it about a 1/3rd the way up from softest. If I put it on full soft it tends to oversteer more, primarily because of the rear sway bar being larger than stock. I think if you had a stock bar you could put the fronts on a much stiffer setting. The shocks themselves are great! I've never had a bad experience with Koni shocks.

One thing that I'm not a big fan of (not that it's that big of a deal) is that my front lower perch is at the very top of the threads.. so the very minimum you can lower the front is a little over 1/2"-ish. The rear has a bunch of thread left. Being specifically made for the Mini, I would have thought that Koni would have used a slightly longer spring in the front and been able to keep the spring rate the same. But, I guess the only things really specific about them are the mounting tabs and the valving.

One other things is that the top 3 coils on the rear are fully compressed. I'm not really a spring expert but I would think that having them compressed wouldn't be the best design and would remove the progresive-ness out of your "progressive" springs. I've ran Koni Coilovers in a previous car and I remember there being a clearly progressive rate which gave a much nicer highway driving experience. These Koni springs feel much more linear. What you might want to do, if you feel like playing around, is use your M7's with these coilovers. I'm not sure of the stock vs. M7 vs. Koni spring length is.. but it's worth a try.


As soon as I can get rid of the squeak, life will be great!

 

Rich,

My experience is the same as yours. I have the Koni's and my fronts are about a 1/4" from the top of the thread. My rears have about a mile and a half.

I went from H-Sports to the Koni's and the ride is softer with the Koni's. I'm going to put the H-Sport springs in with the Koni's and see how the ride is. I'll let everyone know how it goes after I experiment a bit.

Nyle

 

thanks for the feedback...

I like my M7 springs but there is room for improvement - the 05 stock shocks are not the best match for these springs; it's like the shocks are a tad too "soft" causing occasional bounching, I would like to be able to adjust the rebound. Instead of only getting Koni yellows and see what happens maybe their coilovers are a better choice with their springs being better matched to their shocks and the option to perfectly dial in the height of the car. Not sure if the M7 springs will work with the Koni coilovers. Question; when you say the front lower perch is at the very top of the threads in my book it means you have reached the maximum lowering, you state the opposite. What is the maximum lowering with these Koni coilovers?

 

Hey CoolDaddy,

Sorry.. I should've been more clear. When the lower perch, holding the bottom of the spring, is at it's highest point on the threaded colar, the car is as high as it can go, meaning, closest to stock height. Basically, when you lower the perch, you lower the car. Below is the quote from Koni regarding the height adjustment...

Here's a link to set on MiniMania's site..

http://new.minimania.com/web/Item/NM.../InvDetail.cfm

Let us know if you have any other questions.

 

The key to solving suspension squeeks is to have the suspension "loaded" when the bolts are tightened. Usually you put eveything together hand tight when the car is up on the jackstands and do the final torques when the full weight of the car is on the suspension, or on the ground. This will solve 99.9999 percent of squeek issues. This applies to swaybars as well.

 

DOH!.. sometimes it so easy to overlook the obvious. So obvious, I guess I just tried to think too much. Thanks Homer, we'll give it a try..

 

I have the same problem with mine, but it really only does it over bumps so for now I can live with it, the upsides of the cornering and the look make up for it.

 

Ipro,

Yuo

 

Ipro,

You have received a lot of good input. Your noise source could be a lot of things.

I have solid mono-ball top mounts for 2 years. Every so often my drivers side strut grinds and groans horribly. It sounds like metal on metal. I was once absolutely convinced that either my mono-ball had failed or that the springs were rubbing on the sheet metal of the body. Neither were true. The source of my noise is the rubber gasket that mates the spring with the spring perch on the strut. Thorough lubrication of the interface of the rubber gasket and the spring perch and the interface of the spring with the rubber gasket totally eliminates the groaning................for a time. I've repeated the lubrication process a 1/2 dozen times and every time the groaning goes away...........for a time. I am using SAE 90 gear oil as a rubber lubricant.

Consider the possiblility that the horrible noise is simply the friction between the rubber gasket and the spring or spring perch.

Maybe there is a more effective rubber lubricant that I could use. Would appreciate the input.

Hope that this helps you,

John Petrich in Seattle

 

Thanks John!

I really feel that the symptoms I'm experiencing are very similar to what you've described. It does sound (to my inexperienced ears) like a crushed bearing or a crack in the body or something nasty like that. I've noticed it does this less on wet days or right after the car wash.... leads me to believe that it may be an issue concerning lube on this spring gasket as you've described. I'd tried spraying some motorcycle chain wax up there, but I don't think I got it really good. I will try the gear oil.

 

Ipro,
I hope that lubrication is the answer.

What I have recently tried is to work some Never Seize thread lubricant under the rubber, on the strut and on the spring side. Remove the wheel, use a thin, but blunt screwdriver blade and turn the wheel from side to side to get full coverage. The strut is quiet for the present. Only time will tell.

This trick worked for years on my old British car suspensions, that would cry out after the rains, etc. Adding some of the lube oil might dilute the Never Seize just enough so that it penetrates a little deeper under the rubber.

Let me know how it goes for you,
John Petrich in Seattle

 

Well, it seems that my creaky noices have gone away for now...on thier own.

Haven't had a chance to get under there since I originally posted about this, but it seems like it healed itself..

I speculate that it was my attempts at lubing--finally worked its way into the spring perch area completely & now rides creak and trouble free! I'm fully loving the setup & will love it even more once I swap out for some 15" wheels & real-life tires. (the 16 by 205/40 azenis have been a little on the harsh side on our rough city streets & coilovers...)

Perhaps it was just part of the settling in process.. I hope it doesn't come back!

 

Hey Fellow Creakers...

My creaking is gone!.. The problem?.. it was the rear sway bar. They had to remove it completely, wrap the bushing contact points in teflon tape, lube it up real good, and mount it back up. It did fix the problem compltely.

The suspension is as quiet as a church mouse. No creaking.. No groaning and now that the suspension has had time to "break-in", it's fantastic. Ride quailty is very good, handling is great, althought I still teeter-totter a bit on sharp driveways. I find myself listening to the intake and exhaust now.. and not focusing on the creaking rear suspension. I just hope it lasts!