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Odd clunks after changing Sway Bars & Springs

NightmareMoon

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What's going on with THIS
1680188059849.png


Looks like not enough of that tab corner was chopped off and its propped up on the swaybar end and not letting the tab sit flush with the swaybar. I'd bet that's the source of your clunk, the endlinks shifting because there isn't good clamping force.
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mavisky

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Will I need to completely drop the subframe to get it to align correctly along the lines of what @galaxy said above?



I'm not sure I follow which bolts you're referring to here, nor how I could do so with the tire on and loading the suspension with the car in the air? If you had an example or something that would be very helpful.

While I'm doing this, would it be worthwhile to change the endlinks or no? I doubt it's a cause of my issue, but I would rather go through this once.
You don't have to remove it completely, but I would suggest lowering it down to the last few threads on each bolt. Then you can remove one bolt completely, insert the alignment dowel, and then tighten that bolt 3-4 rotations before moving onto the next. Once all dowels are inserted tighten and torque in the star pattern I mentioned previously.

In regards to the lower control arm bolts, you mentioned that at one point you loosened the bolts to remove the springs that way. You would have loosened the following highlighted bolts.

1680190219020.png

1680190260140.png
 

mavisky

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What's going on with THIS
1680188059849.png


Looks like not enough of that tab corner was chopped off and its propped up on the swaybar end and not letting the tab sit flush with the swaybar. I'd bet that's the source of your clunk, the endlinks shifting because there isn't good clamping force.
Good catch. that tab had to be ground off on my factory setup to allow the swaybar endlink to be tightened properly. Yours may be doing all sorts of weirdness with that installed like that.
 

Muligan

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I agree with the above comments - that tab either needs to be cut off or bent flush in order to allow the end link to have sufficient clamping force.

I simply put the bracket on mine in a vise and flattened out the bend, as noted by the dark-ish line on the bracket and the orange arrow.

Bar and End Link 2 (3).jpg
 
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Deadly0ne

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Ok great - I'll go for the low hanging fruit of fixing that tab first. I've already ordered the alignment dowels from Steeda, but if that fixes the issue, I'll wait until a future date to throw those on.
 

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galaxy

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Ok great - I'll go for the low hanging fruit of fixing that tab first. I've already ordered the alignment dowels from Steeda, but if that fixes the issue, I'll wait until a future date to throw those on.
Nope. Don’t wait. You’re is the worse alignment I’ve seen in a while. I’d go ahead and do it all. Those are fairly straight forward, easy instal. Should take you an hour. The only downside is needing an alignment after.
 

NightmareMoon

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Nope. Don’t wait. You’re is the worse alignment I’ve seen in a while. I’d go ahead and do it all. Those are fairly straight forward, easy instal. Should take you an hour. The only downside is needing an alignment after.
I mean, he can fix his tabs while he waits for parts to ship from steeda. Anyway its up to him. I agree the subframe was pretty whack. I've never seen one that bad either. Not even sure how the heck those subframe bolts threaded in straight.
 

Epiphany

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I like to disassemble things.
...that tab either needs to be cut off or bent flush in order to allow the end link to have sufficient clamping force.
I concur.
 

Tb8983

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I'm in the process of doing all of this now. This is my 3rd s550 chassis I've gave the steeda make over too. I had a cluck the first time when I did all the work on my ecoboost mustang. Turned out to be an endlink. Tighten it up and was good to go.
Currently waiting on the caster plates to get here from steeda to do the front end of the car.

20230319_125846.jpg
 

tj@steeda

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Great choice on the plates up front - they are awesome & definitely an upgrade!

Keep us updated on the install!

TJ
 

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Deadly0ne

Deadly0ne

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Bent the clamps out this weekend and took the car for a spin, clunking seems to be gone. I still ordered the IRS subframe bushings and IRS supports from Steeda, and will throw those on at a later date to just make sure everything is good going forward.

IMG-4967.jpg


IMG-4966.jpg
 

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I have the same clunk after doing a bunch of suspension work. I haven't been able to identify the problem because I didn't know where to start since I changed so many things. I've changed the wheel hubs, and end links to whitelines, and it seems to have gotten worse after I did my end links. The sound did go away for a couple weeks after I first swapped the end links but then came back. Maybe I need to retighten them. Anyone have torque spec for those? Should I use locktite on them?
 

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@Deadly0ne dont overthink it. You did right. Just get the alignment dowels. As much as yours is visually off, you need all four bolts loose so that the subframe is free to move around so that it can be centered with the dowels installed. Trying to do one side at a time will not allow it to move to center. Yes, you will big time need another alignment.
If you put the centering kit in It's worth getting the bush support kit while your at it.
 

NightmareMoon

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I have the same clunk after doing a bunch of suspension work. I haven't been able to identify the problem because I didn't know where to start since I changed so many things. I've changed the wheel hubs, and end links to whitelines, and it seems to have gotten worse after I did my end links. The sound did go away for a couple weeks after I first swapped the end links but then came back. Maybe I need to retighten them. Anyone have torque spec for those? Should I use locktite on them?
torque specs are in the sticky thread at the top of the Suspension subforum here.

if the stock bolt had any blue thread locker on there then go ahead and reapply some blue toctite, I can’t remember offhand.

endlinks are the most common clunk (but not the only one)

You have to use an allen key to hold the bolt still until the nut is pretty close to the target torque value (for the rears). For the front you need a wrench on each side to apply torque iirc.
 
 





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