I recently installed the neuspeed/bilstein combination.I am very pleased with the results, but I have noticed a problem. A spring clunking sound occurs when I go into a steep driveway on an angle...at first it wasn't happening all that much but know it is more common and is occuring on less severe entraces(eg parking garages/driveways)...
Does this mean that something is not installed properly or is it just effect of the normal spring operation? I had the car aligned after the install and they said everything appeared ok...
thanks in advance...
alex
99.51.8t
p chip
neuspeed race/bilstein

Alex,
Have the shop that installed your suspension look at it again. Something is loose somewhere and they should be able to fix it at no extra charge.

Paul

Alex,

Did your springs come with the thick plastic tubing that covers the top 3 or 4 coils?
Check to make sure this tubing has not worn/slipped and allowing the coils to contact each other.

HTH,
Bert

I had a clunking noise on my 99 when I first installed the suspension, (Jamex). I turned out to be the shock. They had to take it out and rotate it. There is some kind of notch in there.

Good Luck.
Cary B.

Right turns clunk on the right rear and left turns clunk in the left rear. Always when going up or backing down an incline. Its not coil bind and the installation is likely fine. I was originally running the Neuspeed sport springs with the Bilstein shocks. Rear shocks were on the lowest perch.

After having the installation checked and double-checked I elected to swap out the Neuspeed springs for H&R but keep the shocks. The problem disappeared. We were never able to figure out what was causing the sound.

My only guess is that given the torsional twist on the frame as one wheel/tire goes up the incline while the back is still at street level that some unexepected movement was happening. Cars with aftermarket swaybars reported no noise or a reduced sound when I was investigating this. To top it off, not all cars with Neuspeed springs exhibited the sound.

Sean
97 1.8Tqm RIP
99.5 1.8TQM<ul><li><a href="http://www.seansa4page.com">Sean's A4 Page</a></li></ul>

The sound you are hearing is the coils of the spring rubbing against each other. This will cause a rattle. Honda makes a part that was being installed in FACTORY springs when a rattle occured. It consisted of a small rubber piece that was placed between each coil. To see if this a problem for you, sit on your car and bounce it up and down and see if you hear a slight rattle outside. A temporary solution is to spray the coils with WD40 (very temporary)

Just like Sean G, I had the same exact problem. I went to my installer about 3 times trying to solve the problem. The noise eventually disappeared after a month or two. I believe what was happening was that the spring was compressed enough that some of the coils were contacting each other and with the torsion applied when turning into a driveway, the coils rubbed sideways with each other and thus the SPROING!!! As the coils get scuffed up and the paint rubs off, the noise will eventually stop. You could try some lub, and I'll bet the sound will go away, at least for a little while, and it'll delay your spring from settling in.

Drew

Sean and I had similar setups and, not surprisingly, similar experiences.

My rear shocks were set to use the groove second up from the bottom. I also used the next higher groove up front 'cause I wanted the drop to be less than the advertised 2 inches. I'd get the same boinging sound but mostly from the right rear when it became unloaded.

I also switched to H&R Sports and the noises went away. To their credit, the Neuspeed springs seem to work better when used at full drop. Several other folks in the NorCal A4 Club have had no problems when lowered the full 2". Is that how yours is set up? Or, did you use a higher groove? I was told by Neuspeed that it wouldn't damage the suspension but it still bugged me.

HTH, Jim

Hm...I'm getting worried about all this because the rear end makes a strange noise even with the OEM setup. If it's doing that now, what will it do on Saturday when I get my H&R sport springs and Bilstein shocks installed?