INSANE suspension rattle!

[n00bkiller944]

Okay, maybe it is not that insane but it is driving me up the FREAKING wall. I have isolated this noise the the right front tire. Unless I am hitting a bump with that tire I do not hear a noise. The noise to me sounds like a rattle, exactly like when Swaybar Endlinks go bad. However, I had been putting off doing them for a while thinking the noise was just that. Fast forward to about 3 weeks ago.

I put in brand new front Mayle Endlinks, the old ones were obviously bad and I was super excited to get the new ones in. Bolted everything up and test drove it... Damn rattle is still there!!!!! So now I am confused, but convince myself its my OBX catback knocking into the exhaust bracket. Took that down today and drove it without the bracket. NOPE! Still there and still only rattles when I drive over bumps with the right front tire. Sometimes the noise is loud and prominent over every bump and sometimes it is much quieter and only happens over big bumps... :(

So far I have:

New Front Endlinks - 300 miles on them
New Lower Control Arms - 1500 miles on them
New Ball Joints - 1500 Miles on them
New Outer Tie Rod Ends - 1500 Miles on them
All OEM Volvo except the Mayle Links.

Any advice on WTF this rattle could be?

Thanks!!!

[Seamus]

Take a look at your brake pad spring clip thing. Mine loosened up after about 1000 miles and caused a REALLY annoying rattle in the back

[n00bkiller944]

Just bleed the brakes yesterday and everything looked great... :(
But good idea I will get under it today and check again, Happy Thanksgiving all!

[RichS]

In my cause, rattle (actually a knocking sound when traveling over bumps) was caused by a failed lower strut mount. For some reason, the upper strut mount 'separated' 18 months after replacement. It was replaced as well. Rattle gone.

[n00bkiller944]

And the culprit was the spring seat. I'll post pics to show how badly they failed.

[n00bkiller944]

New on left v. old
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/2858/img0771ee.jpg

New

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/4162/img0766ep.jpg

Old

http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/6759/img0769h.jpg

All new

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/5836/img0777nd.jpg

Ballin'

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/6053/img0778ou.jpg

[howardc64]

Wow! Never seen one that bad!! Mine starts making noise with just hairline fractures less than 1/2 of the circumference. But I do have like 10 sets of speed bumps near my house for daily testing :)

One thing to do is to check that cross nut (part 7 in the diagram below) again after a few days. Between my 2 P2s 4 strut replacements, 3 out of 4 had compressed further (space now exist between the spring seat and the cross nut) after putting the strut assembly back in the car and having car's full weight on it. An easy way to tell is the gap between the washer (part 4) and strut mount's (part 6) plastic rotating center piece is smaller than before or none existent (maybe like your picture (blurry and hard to tell) and other post reassembly pictures I've seen online). Here is the diagram

http://www.eeuroparts.com/Main/DiagramPopUp.html?http://data.eeuroparts.com/Images/diagrams/lg_9be04513-3cee-4f57-982a-d2c8aa0980a1.GIF

I have a pretty beefy snapon spring compressor like the one below and the spring was definitely compressed and floating during my reassembly. Not sure why it compressed further after it was back in the car. Interestingly, there wasn't any noise even when the cross nut was loose by 2-3 full turns.

http://y1.yzimg.com/s3/media/get/key.000fa6dsqn4ga1e4/size.640x480

Luckly this is pretty easy to remedy and no need to remove the strut assembly again. You can just take the top nut off while holding the shaft still with a torx bit. The spring remains compressed by both car's weight and the cross nut. Even if there was a gap between the cross nut and the spring seat, the weight of the car will keep the springs compressed. Just tightened the cross nut and put the washer+top nut back.

Actually, I wonder if your old spring seat's center got destroyed because the cross nut was loose?

I actually learned a lot about how this strut assembly functions while doing this. The strut/spring/seat assembly actually have no bolted on connections to the strut mount. It is essentially floating. The spring seat and the strut mount is basically attached purely by weight of the car and the friction between the 2 components. The washer+top nut's job is to prevent the strut assembly from falling out of the fender (if the LCA can bend far enough to allow it) I haven't studied other car's strut assemblies but this one is quite an interesting design :)

[n00bkiller944]

Wow thanks for the tip. I will check the cross nut again in like a week after I have driven like 100 miles. Thanks again Howard!

[howardc64]

By the way, avoid over cranking that cross nut too tight and make sure you counter hold the center shaft. VIDA calls for 70nm torque and 25nm for "Spring Strut In Body" (I guess this is when the car's weight is on it?). You can feel the rubber material of the spring seat resisting the cross nut as you tighten.

Also counter hold the center shaft when tightening the top nut. If not, it will also put a lot of stress on the center of the spring seat.

Just my guess based on my understanding how this strut assembly works. Looking at your old spring seat. I wonder if the center broke as it was stressed by either cranking the cross nut or top nut too tight without counter hold. The center appears to have had a lot of downward force and it also appears to have rotated independently from the seat. Just a thought

[n00bkiller944]

Just my guess based on my understanding how this strut assembly works. Looking at your old spring seat. I wonder if the center broke as it was stressed by either cranking the cross nut or top nut too tight without counter hold. The center appears to have had a lot of downward force and it also appears to have rotated independently from the seat. Just a thought

The seats were stock from my 05 with 75k on it. Neither nuts have been touched since they were installed new on the car. So idk i think you may be right that the cross nut got loose and then allowed movement to slam through the seat. But they assemblies had not been touched...

[Ars Gladius]

25nm for "Spring Strut In Body" (I guess this is when the car's weight is on it?).

"Spring Strut in Body" refers to the (3) bolts on the strut bearing that hold the strut assembly into the strut towers.

Both the cross nut and the upper retaining nut, must be tightened to 70 Nm