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Egz

· Inheritly Sinister
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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Well, Bigfonsz and I just spend a couple hours putting in my H&R 1.5s and Eibach Dampners. Couple of small snags along the way (like removing a bolt that we should have). Well, its back together, and looking nice (I gotta finish up the rear dampner another time, the garage closed), but...When driving, I has hearing a crunch/scrunch/squeek like noise when going over small bumps and such. Think this is becuase of the suspension settling in, or maybe we missed something? Or is it becuase its stiffer than stock...

Just looking for ideas, or if it was normal. Next, alignment.

BTW - Thanks to all that helped so far.
 
#2 ·
Nice set-up, im getting the H&R's soon. I know they settle to about 2.0/1.9, but with the dampers addeed(Eibach) how much lower is it? is it more than 2.75? I just dont wanna go low to **** up my camber!
Image
. Also how much did u pay for it all. (how hard is it to do ur self
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)
 
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Discussion starter · #3 ·
I took some pictures as I went, and I'll post those in a couple weeks (on a new roll, thats why).

The fronts, which are complete, dropped I think from a 4" gap to a 2" gap. The rears, which just have the springs right now, dropped I think from a 3" to a 2.25" gap. The dampners sure clean that up a little more.

Installing wasn't so bad, its about a 2-2.5 hour job total, assuming no mistakes are made. The fronts were kinda tight to free up, and the rear struts are going to be hard to finish, as I have to remove interior parts. If you have access to a lift, a spring compressor, and a friend, its not a bad job.

Was about 200 for the springs, and 315 for the dampners form NewEdge.
 
#4 ·
Egz, I've done several lowering job's so far and haven't experienced any noise at all from any of them, you shouldn't either. If your having any noise at all have a reliable shop take a look at the installation, there may be a problem and with your front end and steering it could develop into something seroius. The first thing I'd look at is to make sure the end's of the coils are properly seated into the upper cup and lower perch, the end of the coil should be butted completely into the end of the pocket, if not then you may be hearing them (the springs) slipping on the seat's during coil bind.
 
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#7 ·
ukcuhp - did you trim your bump stops when you lowered the car? the noise you could be hearing is the stops hitting since the suspension has less travel (using stock dampners). this also makes the car handle funny when going fast around corners.

do a search for "calling all suspension gurus" there is a lot of information on this topic.
 
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#11 ·
I dont forsee light driving like in a parking lot to cause the suspension to bottom out. Its possable the rear/front sway bar may be squeeking with mild imperfections in the road. check for fit, I know the front can be a pain.

Can you reproduce the noise by rocking the car while its parked? get a extra set of ears to help too.
 
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#12 ·
In all the drops I've done on Focus' so far I haven't experienced any noises at all and I've done them in several flavors including complete kits to a mix of stock dampers and various manufacture springs, with or without trimming the bump stops, and heven't experienced any bump stop (bottoming out) except for severe cases where the driver just went too fast over a speed bump or found that sudden pot hole in the road, and generally speaking, the roads here in Spokane are probably some of the worst I've driven on throughout my travels here in the US. My (gray) car has trimmed bumpstops in the front and untrimmed in the rear with progress springs and Eibach dampers and I haven't experienced any bottoming out problems or noises. Speaking of noises, I do have that annoying "click" from the KW's on the rear of my black Focus as many of you have experienced, so that is my only exception to "Noises"
 
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#13 ·
This is what I think... We might have put the rear sway-bar on to tight... and that might be why it's making the noise...

If you want we can go over the install again sometime soon and take somemore time to look things over better... ( we where being rush )

the car looks better and with time it will handle better... Later
Image
 
#14 ·
I have energy suspension bushings on my rear sway bar. They were quiet after i installed them but there is a slight creeking noise. I only hear it with the window down and driving slow. I lube them now every once in a while.
 
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Discussion starter · #15 ·
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Bigfonsz:
This is what I think... We might have put the rear sway-bar on to tight... and that might be why it's making the noise...

If you want we can go over the install again sometime soon and take somemore time to look things over better... ( we where being rush )

the car looks better and with time it will handle better... Later
Image
<hr></blockquote>

Thanks for the install help again.

At lunch, I'm going to go put in the rear dampners, and while I'm down there, I'll try loosening the sway bar bushings. I'll also see if I can squeeze my fingers in and try to trim the front bump stops without removing the front parts.

Any other ideas I should look for?
 
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Egz
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