[Shotimes] Front springs installed - noise?

[Ron Porter]

You really should have replaced the endlinks at that time, but no big deal,
as it isn't that tough to do now. Do those first.

If you are lucky that will be it. If not, it could be the cut Moogs. Did you
grind the cut coil to have a better fit in the seat? If not, that could be
it. May have to be something that you live with if you don't want to pull it
apart again.

For the record, most folks here would NOT suggest cutting coils off springs
for lowering them. I know the Forum folks would do that when they try to
save a buck (same with using the Monroes versus the recommended Konis or
Tokicos), but there are trade-offs with those approaches.

Ron Porter

-----Original Message-----
From: shotimes-admin@autox.team.net [mailto:shotimes-admin@autox.team.net]
On Behalf Of Jack Dalzotto
Sent: Sunday, November 27, 2005 12:27 PM
To: Shotimes@autox.team.net
Subject: [Shotimes] Front springs installed - noise?

Hello all,

I finally replaced my front springs and struts last Friday.  I went with 
Moog cargo coils and monroe sensatracs, based on what I read at 
shoforum.com.  The old coils were in bad shape, the passenger side was 
broken, the first coil on the bottom was separated completely.  The 
broken end was within 1/16" of the tire!  I ended up cutting 1-1/2 coils 
off the top of the moogs, to get the ride height correct.  Without 
cutting there was at least 4 inches of space from the tire to the fender 
lip!  Now after cutting it looks correct, from center of rim to fender 
lip is measuring 15.5"

Question is, now that these are installed, it drives fine on smooth 
roads.  It seems nice and tight.  But, when I go down snow covered 
roads, which are very rough, I get some noise from the front end.  It 
sounds like a clattering noise, hard to explain, but it only does it 
when I get up to speed where I'd think the wheels were hitting small 
bumps making the spring/strut work pretty fast to dampen everything.

My brother who is a mechanic mentioned it might be the swaybar 
endlinks.  They were very hard to come off, mine are originals with 
110k.  Would worn links make noise like this?  Everything else seemes 
tight.  The only parts I disconnected were the swaybar links, strut 
pinch bolt, and I disconnected the control arm from the subframe.  
Everything was torqued to spec when I put it back together.

I hope it isn't the cut moogs and sensatracs making the noise, I didn't 
read anything bad about them in that respect.  But, my luck, it wouldn't 
surprise me.

Any ideas where to look first?

Thanks!
Jack
95 ATX
Front end: Getting better
Back end: Saggy
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