Creaking noise after installing vertical links?

[wildcatgoal]

Same with me as Jbailer. I've had Steeda Ultralites which are very low in the back, no issue. I don't see how lowering it makes a difference, the geometry at the vertical link remains the same (otherwise the link wouldn't fit). Less spring rate with stock springs, that's for sure.

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[5ABI VT]

Same with me as Jbailer. I've had Steeda Ultralites which are very low in the back, no issue. I don't see how lowering it makes a difference, the geometry at the vertical link remains the same (otherwise the link wouldn't fit). Less spring rate with stock springs, that's for sure.

Its not the geometry at the vertical link bolt to bolt but the lower control arm in relation to the top control arm. As you go lower the delrin wont allow the bushing to deflect causing some binding in travel at the upper or lower arm causing the control arm bushings to squeak.

There is movement in the upper and lower arms and proof is in that sometimes when undoing the bolts to install vertical links it requires some prying etc to line them up to the holes. I feel thats the issue. Oem vlink bushings will deflect but delrin ones wont and as you go lower my hunch is it gets worse:shrug:

Id have to guess im .5 -1" or more lower than the ultralites but i guess it depends which ones. my steeda adj camber and toe arms could also be contributing to the issue not sure

 

[wildcatgoal]

Your Steeda camber and toe arms have spherical bearings, if I'm not mistaken. Those don't deflect and noise related to a bearing, which is more often noise from somewhere else being transmitted on account of there being no rubber to absorb it in said bearing, tends to be a knock or clunk. A creaking sound is not typical of a spherical unless something isn't installed right or the bearing itself is borderline failing, which I highly doubt is the case given the quality of those parts and they can't possibly be that old.

If there is an issue with a Steeda part, SteedaTech is who you want to talk to directly.

That said, if you ever have installed Energy Suspension (poly or delrin) parts on your car, especially in high movement pivot points (which vertical links are not), it is crucial that they are lubricated properly or they do squeak.

With the Steeda links, one thing I think many people skip is back buttering with lots of lube the washers and tapered spacer that make contact with the delrin (which should also be lubed) on the Steeda links. Some also try to put the vertical links in upsidedown - the larger diameter needs to be up top. Most often folks don't have a torque wrench and just tighten as best as they can, which opens the possibility for ever so slight movement of the bolt, especially over time. In other cases, installation was frustrating (Steeda's links are tightly toleranced and therefore not always the easiest things in the world to install) and consequently the lube was rubbed off in the process.

 

[Gibbo205]

This is not true at all Gibbo. I drive my car all year round with snow, salt and everything. I used the grease that was provided according to the instructions and have had them on my car for over a year and 20k miles. I've never re-lubricated them and have never had an issue.

Of course its true, it bloody happened to me!

Don't argue with facts!

Lucky for you, here in the UK after around a month creak, creak and more creaking. Stock verticals links in, creaking gone.

Changed out to spherical bushings 100%, no more creaking a year later.

There is also tonnes of post from people on this forum with delrin vertical links, same issue, they have to re-grease them or fit spherical or poly bushes, fixes the issue. I have no intentions of re-greasing stuff to keep the car quiet!

Great that you had no issue, but just because yours is fine does not make others wrong, so seriously don't be so narrow minded and accuse people are lying.

Spherical vertical links have zero issue, whereas some people do indeed get issues with delrin based links from all the brands not just Steeda.

 

[jbailer]

Of course its true, it bloody happened to me!

Don't argue with facts!

Lucky for you, here in the UK after around a month creak, creak and more creaking. Stock verticals links in, creaking gone.

Changed out to spherical bushings 100%, no more creaking a year later.

There is also tonnes of post from people on this forum with delrin vertical links, same issue, they have to re-grease them or fit spherical or poly bushes, fixes the issue. I have no intentions of re-greasing stuff to keep the car quiet!

Great that you had no issue, but just because yours is fine does not make others wrong, so seriously don't be so narrow minded and accuse people are lying.

Spherical vertical links have zero issue, whereas some people do indeed get issues with delrin based links from all the brands not just Steeda.

I could turn that right back around at you though. Just because you and some others may not have installed them correctly doesn't mean there is an issue with the part. There are lots of people that have installed them with no noise. So which is more likely, some of these pretty solid parts cause noise or some people just didn't follow instructions well? So who is being narrow minded?

 

[SteedaTech]

Thanks everyone for your input. We have this customer issue resolved.
Steeda takes pride in engineering their products, when installed correctly they do not make noise. Furthermore, on installation it is important to coat every mating surface with the grease supplied in the kit. We have had customer's use petroleum base grease which is not recommended when you service these parts.

Any questions feel free to contact Mike D

954-960-0774

 

[Gibbo205]

I could turn that right back around at you though. Just because you and some others may not have installed them correctly doesn't mean there is an issue with the part. There are lots of people that have installed them with no noise. So which is more likely, some of these pretty solid parts cause noise or some people just didn't follow instructions well? So who is being narrow minded?

They were installed 100% correctly and torqued correctly, with energy lube applied to all mating surfaces as per both BMR/Steeda recommendation.

Your making assumptions, where you are incorrect and wrong.

So I wonder how many free Steeda items or how much rebate/payroll your on per year from them?

Seems like the same crowd of people coming running to defend their Steeda heroes every time someone has an issue with Steeda and how the product is perfect and how it must be down to end user installation error.

I've rebuilt engines, installing a set of vertical links is not that hard, but when I had the issue I even took the car to a shop to confirm the issue which they did and confirmed delrin and no install issue to blame.

 

[wildcatgoal]

Alright gents... Gibbo has squeaks. That sucks. Can it be resolved? Yes. Is he going to resolve it? No; he got BMR vertical links instead. Such is life.

But let's chat about the sphericals. There is a risk, whether serious or not, for knocking over time from the black aluminum spacers sitting in a steal bearing race of the BMR spherical bearings. These two metals are different strengths and and I get concerned about galvanic corrosion of the aluminum since it'd be the anode in that case, let alone wear of the OD of the aluminium spacer (although not much rotation here, I'll say). Well, hopefully never an issue. I'll even say probably won't be an issue for most. Nevertheless, why not just use a steel spacer vs. using dissimilar metals? That confuses me. Anyway, aside from my own concern on that issue, I think the idea of a spherical links are a good option.

 

[Enzo]

Well just for the heck of it I did swap out to the stock vertical links yesterday since I still have em. Noise still continued. I also cleaned up the spring area. I had tightened the rear brakes and rear control arm and the noise went away but came back after some driving. I also recorded a video simulating the noise at a stand still by pulling up the ebrake and turning the wheels all the way to the right and left.

 

[Gibbo205]

Alright gents... Gibbo has squeaks. That sucks. Can it be resolved? Yes. Is he going to resolve it? No; he got BMR vertical links instead. Such is life.

But let's chat about the sphericals. There is a risk, whether serious or not, for knocking over time from the black aluminum spacers sitting in a steal bearing race of the BMR spherical bearings. These two metals are different strengths and and I get concerned about galvanic corrosion of the aluminum since it'd be the anode in that case, let alone wear of the OD of the aluminium spacer (although not much rotation here, I'll say). Well, hopefully never an issue. I'll even say probably won't be an issue for most. Nevertheless, why not just use a steel spacer vs. using dissimilar metals? That confuses me. Anyway, aside from my own concern on that issue, I think the idea of a spherical links are a good option.

If I get any issue with spherical will let you guys know, but a year on, 8000 miles of driven in all kinds of crazy crap UK weather, rear-end of car is complete silence.

I am fitting KW Clubsport soon, so I shall inspect the vertical links and all other suspension components for visual signs of wear or issue.

 

[wildcatgoal]

The noise doesn't happen when you DON'T pull the e-brake and execute that test, right?

 

[wildcatgoal]

If I get any issue with spherical will let you guys know, but a year on, 8000 miles of driven in all kinds of crazy crap UK weather, rear-end of car is complete silence.

I am fitting KW Clubsport soon, so I shall inspect the vertical links and all other suspension components for visual signs of wear or issue.

KW "Clubsport"- is this different than V1 or V3s?

EDIT: Nevermind, found them. Those look pretty schnazy. Let us know what settings you end up liking the most.

 

[Gibbo205]

KW "Clubsport"- is this different than V1 or V3s?

Its the flagship kit.

So you have:

V1: Dampers with progressive springs for street. Height adjustable!
V3: Dampers with progressive springs for street. 2-way adjustment, height adjustable.
Clubsport: Revised dampers, linear springs, street/track. 2-way & 3-way adjustment plus height and KW top mounts included with camber/caster adjust etc.

Made sense for me to get 2-way Clubsport, as in UK I got a good price of £2100 delivered and I prefer linear spring setup and I've being in two S550 now with Clubsport kit and in short it is bloody amazing, the body control is like a race car, perfect, but the ride quality though firm is super well damped which actually makes it ride better. That was at stock settings on both S550 too, of course you can tweak the rebound and compression softer/firmer as required.

I've got the KW Clubsport in my M3 too, which is a dedicated track car but I also now drive it daily because the car rides so well and is so comfortable which considering it has bucket seats, a roll cage and weighs around 3000lb is really impressive.

Just really always find KW stuff blows me away but they do a great job of matching spring rate to damper very well.

 

[5ABI VT]

I will say more shortly when im on break but I believe there is a difference in alignment when going from stock to billet links especially Delrin because of the deflection the stock bushings in the links when mounted up. My conti dws wore out in 12k miles after going to one of the best 4 wheel alignment guys in the area.. that ive gone too for decades. No burnouts, just daily driving to/from work picking up kids from school etc. Only change... I pulled the delrin links for noise and put stockers back in :frusty:

Again I do not believe the links are where the noise comes from. I believe because they do not allow any deflection it is causing other joints to creak. Yes the steeda stuff is great and I specifically bought the adjustable toe and camber arms so that my alignment would be spot on and my tires wouldn't wear.. go figure:rant:.. but again I now believe the stock links back in post alignment are the cause.

The steeda camber arms do have delrin on the inner side. They are next on the list for me I will pull them and grease them (have energy lube- dam its sticky) and will try it there to try and narrow it down. I will also check my alignment with the stock links and steeda links since they take only 5 mins per side to swap now that im fast at it.

just wish it didn't snow 25 cm

 

[Enzo]

I will say more shortly when im on break but I believe there is a difference in alignment when going from stock to billet links especially Delrin because of the deflection the stock bushings in the links when mounted up. My conti dws wore out in 12k miles after going to one of the best 4 wheel alignment guys in the area.. that ive gone too for decades. No burnouts, just daily driving to/from work picking up kids from school etc. Only change... I pulled the delrin links for noise and put stockers back in :frusty:

Again I do not believe the links are where the noise comes from. I believe because they do not allow any deflection it is causing other joints to creak. Yes the steeda stuff is great and I specifically bought the adjustable toe and camber arms so that my alignment would be spot on and my tires wouldn't wear.. go figure:rant:.. but again I now believe the stock links back in post alignment are the cause.

The steeda camber arms do have delrin on the inner side. They are next on the list for me I will pull them and grease them (have energy lube- dam its sticky) and will try it there to try and narrow it down. I will also check my alignment with the stock links and steeda links since they take only 5 mins per side to swap now that im fast at it.

just wish it didn't snow 25 cm

I have all my suspension components swapped out. There is nothing left to replace. I think it might be something not lubed probably. I will apply some grease when the packets come in and see if they make any difference.

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