23109VC

Hi everyone.

I posted about a problem with shock know a few days ago and received several responses that were very promising. The best one was about the updated part - a small metal collar that Honda had shortened slightly that installed near the top of the shock tower, under that big donut rubber bushing. So being all excited to fix my shock knock, I ordered a pair of those new collars.

I get my car all taken apart in the back, cutting my knuckles in the process (not that bad) and what do I find????? The Honda part is not compatible with the Koni shocks. The diameter of the Koni is bigger than the stock - that threaded upper part that goes through the donut.. it bigger on the Koni. So the part supplied by HOnda wont even fit over my Konis.

I thought about cutting off some of the Koni'scollar to make it shorter, in hopes that might fix the problem, but I had no idea if it would work, or how much to cut off. The length of the collar that came with my Konis was almost the same length as the one that I bought from Honda. I should have known this ahead of time, but I had someone else install my suspension, so these small details, I wasn't aware of....

anyway.. any of you guys have konis and also have shock knock? I'm serious, it is EVERYsingle bump I go over I get a clunk and it sounds bad. I almost am starting to wonder if I should tak emy car into a shop or a suspension place and see what they suggest because it sounds so bad. I don't want to go to the dealer because they are all idiots and besides. I"ll just get the same poo-poo they always say "I knowwhat your problem is, you have aftermarket suspension.." or they'll simply say they don't do work on non Honda parts... so it's either to a private shop that specialized in suspension and pay $$$ to diagnose... or one of you guys has the answer and saves me!!!

hellp!!

pter

Ask HRC about this.
For his Koni installation, I think he orderred new Honda bushings and used the Koni collars. I believe they called Koni and asked them about the shortened collars, and they said that the collars could be cut shorter.

HRC

Sean,

sorry to hear that you were mis-informed about the *new* honda collars and how they were supposed to solve the knocking problem.

i've posted this to you before, but you didn't get it. the knocking isn't koni related, as i had this problem the moment i drove off the lot with the car. i told you that i replaced the *bushings*(or whatever they are called) with new bigger ones from honda(someone already posted the part #'s) when i installed the koni's and have had 0 problems since.

i suspect however, that your knocking was not related to this(although you may still have a problem), but related to a loose rear swaybar bracket. however, if you do start getting some noise, the fix i mentioned above should do the trick.

btw, legal minds do work well with cars...

d

23109VC

HRC-

I did fix my problem which was related to the sway bar.

When you went to Konis, you said you change the bushing to a bigger one... do you mean the rubber bushing, that looks ilke a black plastic donut, or do you mean that little metal tube that slides over the top of the strut and goes down under the plastic/rubber donut?? I noticed that the Koni is larger in diameter than teh stock shocks as far as the top of the shock, the part that sticks up into the trunk and is threaded at the top for teh nut to screw down onto... that part... the Konis are larger in diameter so the Honda piece I ordered wouldn't have fit even if I had wanted to put it on. I also noted that the one I ordered from HOnda which was supposed to be the *fixed* one was the same length as the one currently on my Koni...

did you change something else when you isntalled yoru Konis or did you just use what Koni supplied??

at least for now, though, my problem is fixed. boy was it annoying!!!

HRC

Sean,

i didn't replace the collars, i used the ones supplied by koni. i replaced the donut-like bushings and that was it.

d

98lude

I started having the shock knock the very day i put in the st sway bar. they tried tightening the sway bar, but it didn't help. i am going to try and replace the black donut bushing, and see if it will help. hopefully, it will work..

ywwong

Please help me....... After I put on the aftermarket suspension... there is a metal tapping noise from the back of the car whenever I drive on the rough road or when the car tilts to one side or another. (turning) THe noise isn't always there but it is annoying enough.

THe noise sounds like the door hinges without WD-40..

If anyone has any suggestion what I should look for.. please let me know.

23109VC

it might be your sway bar brackets have come loose. Mine did. I had teh sway bar in FIRST. then I had the konis installed and then my sway bar loosened up. and it was not THAT loose.

ANY free play, and it will clank like a ******!! Mine only would wiggle about 1/4" at most.. not that much to the eye, but you could hear it!!

I tightened it up and it's gone.

It could also be the shock knock problem... I dunno.

mine was the sway bar mount. if you can't find the problem, taking it to a suspension specialist, they can probably findt eh problem and tighten it up...

98lude

I am very close to giving up. I removed EVERYTHING from my trunk and lower the back seat just so that i can hear the sound properly. it is not the spoon stb, neither is it the st rear sway brackets. what else can it be? sometimes, i could just bounce the rear of the vehicle to get the sound. it sounds like as if the 2 shock bolts on top are not tighten at all. however, the shock are tight, the black bushings looks good ( i replace them anyway). does anyone has any ideas?

this is what I have related to suspension

koni yellows
ground control
spoon stb ( front and rear )
ST anti-sway bar ( rear only )

23109VC

hmmmmmm.

sounds like you've tried the obvious stuff. If your sway bar is tight, and the Spoon STB is tight.... it has to be the shock or spring. Is the spring seated properly? How about the perch on the koni, does it look ok visually?

try jacking up your car, takign the rear wheel off, and just wiggling stuff to try and find something loose. the other thing you could try, I did this, is have one person drive your car around (not too fast) and put the rear seat back down flat, and pop the trunk up, and GET IN the trunk and have the person drive over bumpy pavement and see if you can hear the noise coming from your shock tower.

I noticed that my top shock tower appeared to be moving up and down and was not tight. I cranked it down and added a couple washes on top of the rubber bushing and that seemed to help a little.

my real problem was the sway bar, but you could have the shock tower loose at the top and when you hit a bump, the shock is moving up and hitting something.

if all else fails, take your car to a suspension shop. don't go to the dealer. they'll keep your car all day, not figure it out and then tell you your problem is aftermarket suspension. they are idiots. go to a shop that KNOWS suspension problems, they can fix it.

ywwong

haha. exactly... 2 times to go to dealer to check it out.. the conclusion is.. "aftermarket suspension"... I said.. "i know, but can you tell me why it is happening?" and the guy came up with some dumb answers.

Do you think I should go to Midas or Car-X? just to let them mess around with it?

98lude

i kinda did that, my lowering the back seat and drive, but i still can't locate the problem. my last solution will be that with the sway bar in, it creates extra downforce that causes the ground control springs to lose contact with the top of the shock tower, thus the springs rubs/hits against the sleeves/shocks. i am going to try raising up my car and see if it helps..

oh, btw, i brought it to a speed shop whose mechanic are reputable and really knows what they are doing.

23109VC

that's possible. I don't have GCs so I don't know if that is part of the problem or not.

sorry I couldn't be more help. I know how annoying these probs can be. good luck.

98lude

thanx anyway. i raised up the car to almost stock height, and no it did not solve the problem. the more i listen to it, the more it sounds like something rattling loose. however, my mech and I checked everything and they all seems tight. from the volume of the rattling noise, the stuff must have at least 1/4" free play.

hyperrevsports

You should remove the sleeve to the Coilovers and take out the O-rings that should be around your damper/shock then get Duck tape and apply it to your shock aprox in the center of where the sleeve would rest. Wrap it until the sleeve slides snugly over the tape. This should take care of the rattle which I believe is being caused by the sleeves chattering against the damper/shock as stated by 98lude. I'm almost sure this will solve your problem if not it could be a lurking Troll.

Peace, Erwin


[Modified by hyperrevsports, 10:02 AM 5/19/2001]