It's probably your strut bearings. Did you replace them? They are pretty notorious for wearing out fast, and when they do they make clunking nmoises over bum,ps

 

Yes I did. They came with the kit

 

end links. I have had to replace them on a friends 09 sedan with FRPP kit shortly after the kit was installed. That was also 2 years ago and it had peanuts for milage. Check with weight on car if there is play in the endlinks. Only other thing i can say is, make sure that top nut on the strut is tight, they can be a pain to tighten all the way your first time if you haven't done it before

 

I replaced the end links thinking it was the issue aswell.
The strut bolt was a major pain in the ass but I'm fairly certan its on tight

 

verify that there is not any more that bolt can go down. Another way to check it, is to have the car sitting, hood up and on the upper rad support that the headlights bolt to, push that down and try to bounce the car. you will be able to visually tell if it is not tight at this point by watching it. You should also get a clunk if that is the case still too when compressing suspension. You can also have some body stand on door sill and try to get the car to move if you have a second person.

Otherwise, there really isn't much else to look at. As you saw it isn't an overly complex

 

I do hear a clunk when I push the car down on the fender. How do I visually see that it is loose exactly? Your saying by watching the top strut bolt while pushing up and down?
How do you tighten it while it's on the car? Will the strut just spin? I was fairly sure I tightened it good before I installed it but it's possible that it's not all the way down I guess

 

Moved to the right forum

 

Obvious, dumb question, but have you gone over every bolt and nut in the suspension and checked torque? I had a similar problem when I installed my springs, shocks, and struts, turns out the lower shock absorber bolt on the rear was slightly loose and was making a horrendous noise.

 

you will see the strut move in the mount because it is not tight. while they are on the car, throw an impact to it and if your lucky you can get it to tighten. My first bout with this was when my car was 2 months old and putting in a pro-kit. First time doing suspension of any sort and that was the same issue i had. when in the car, and compressed the weight somehow held the shock from spinning so i was able to tighten up in car.

other option, which i deem as the ghetto option, is to throw a pair of vice grip's on the shock's shaft, super tight and rotate until it is against something to brace them when tightening, and of course hit it with an impact or whatever you have. This is my last resort when doing this type of stuff but it works every time other methods don't. just don't put the vice grips on low on the shocks shaft as they will potentially leave grooves so do it up high where that part of the shock wont enter the body if you can so you don't damage anything.

 

Thanks buddy. I used the vice grips method when tightening them.
I opened the good and moved the car up and down. I could see the top of the strut moving slightly. I'll think of a way to tighten it but it will be really hard because there's no more room and the stud is already threaded so deep onto the nut that even a long socket isn't deep enough for me to get my wrench on it.

Also, will tightening this throw off alignment?

 

had the same problem when i installed my eibach kit, then ended up tightening the top nut on the strut so tight I tore my brand new top strut bearing haha so just be mindful of that (or don't use an impact)

 

Hmm I wonder of this could be my issue? What happened exactly and how did you figure out it was your strut mount?

Today I tried tightening the strut bolt more. They turned a little less than 1/4 turn with alot of strength. Noise is still there

 

Anyone?

 

maybe removed that side that is making the noise and check it. I have never heard of ruining a top bearing from over tightening, because there is only so many threads and the nut bottoms out, stopping that from happening.

Pull it out, check it over and re install and make sure noise is not there any more. There really isnt much that could potentially be wrong

 

The whole setup is brand new from Tousley including the strut mount. I did however notice that the top cap on the spring of the frpp kit is different than my stock one and I believe so is the strut mount.

 

Is the coil cap seated in the bearing correctly? Are you sure you didn't mix up the two front springs?

My front left wasn't seated correctly and the bearing would pop

 

Also, not sure what you mean about the two front springs? Is there a left and right?

 

I believe it is. How can I check?

 

Hey guys, before pulling the trigger and removing the front strut assembly I figured I would triple check and tighten the lower strut bolt again. Although I am sure it's on really tight, I didn't use a torque wrench.
How many ft lbs should I tighten the front lower strut mount bolt to?
Thanks

 

How many ft lbs should I tighten the front lower strut mount bolt to?

66 ft/lbs.

EDIT: I just realized you have an 09... that has a larger bolt that requires more torque, and I don't have a manual for it. I'd estimate it to be around 80 ft/lbs.

 

Also, here is a pic of the top strut bolt. Does it look right to you guys?

 

well, to me, it doesnt look as if the 3 nuts holding the mount are tight enough. Thats how mine look with a strut bar across there.... i dunno seems like they are not in all the way

 

Did you check the top of the mount? Some Ford mounts have an arrow indicating which way faces forward. And believe it or not some indicate LH or RH. Just something I was thinking about reading through the thread

 

Hmm maybe someone can chime in here but I didn't see any arrow or LH RH markings

 

Springs are the same from side to side.

 

Ok thanks. I'm 99.9% sure mines torqued that much already.
At this point the noise is driving me crazy and I think it's worse with the cooler weather.
I'm contemplating, even tho the whole setup is brand new buy new strut mounts, strut bearings, top strut mount bolt and lower strut bolt and basicly try to start over again.
Not sure what else I can do
Gonna need another alignment again

 

Any chance you can get a picture of how the spring is sitting on the strut?

The strut mount is different from your stock one, it's the only way to make an FRPP suspension work on your car. It's been done many, many times without issue.

It would also help if I could see how the top of the strut is assembled but that would require removal.

 

Thanks Steve. I know I felt the bottom of the spring on the strut last week when I had the wheel off and it was still seated perfect on the strut. Right up to the tab sticking up.
Maybe it's possibly the top is off? I'll try my best to take pics of it by this weekend. Even remove it if I have to

 

Very possible the top is installed wrong, I've seen it happen before and it would be easier to do in your case since you didn't have the same setup coming out to compare the new setup with.

 

Yeah. I remember how I put the spring in and I just followed the shape of the top hat. I'll see if I can find any pics on here to compare

 

Not sure if this helps or not but I just dug up this pic I took after putting the strut together, before putting it in the car

To be honest. I have a feeling it's the 06-07 spring hat hitting on the strut tower. In which case I don't know what my options to fix this would be

 

That strut "looks" right, The bearing is seated properly and it's all bolted down snug.

If it's the upper spring perch hitting the strut tower yous would be the first one I've heard of with that issue. :dunno:

Should be easy enough to tell, just drop the strut and look for rub marks.