just got a progress/illumina setup 2 saturdays ago. now i understand there will be some noises while the springs seat and whatnot. but i'm getting some very loud pangs from the middle of the car. definitely feels like the springs are binding and then after so much tension being released. replaced the strut bearings so :shrug: its enough to jolt the car a little. and only happens at low speeds ie. parking and re-aligning myself.

another thing: i've ben trying to diagnose this empty water jug noise coming from what seems to be the steering/pedal area. just replaced endlinks and swaybar bushings just for kicks and hopes of the hoise disappearing. still there. clunkity clunk once in a while. would there possibly be any plastic panels in there that may have come loose? swaybar and all suspension components seemed tight when i checked.

 

do u have them in the right side up.....and do u have isolators on the spring

 

the more bunched up coils should be on the bottom of the seat. and yea i got spiral wrap form top 2 bottom 3 coils on all springs. and i re-used the isolators off the oem springs. only thing i think was forgotten are the gaskets/red paper but this couldnt be from that.

 

u have them upside down i think

 

um that'll really suck.

 

did you make sure they were seated right on the strut? or are you sure you tightened the center nut all the way down?

 

You said you replaced the strut bearings? Did you install them, correctly. This sounds like cassic bearing problems that clunks at slow speeds. Check them again.

 

most of the work was done by a few esteemed orger's i left it in their hands. i'm just a novice, so who am i to walk around and ask if they torqued it down to spec, right?

 

his springs are upside down....bunched coils should be up top so they compress when the car is on the ground...if they are upside down the bunched coils hit each other while driving

 

 

that's what i thought. man. now i gotta fix it quick before i fck somethin up.

 

i got the same problem too

 

struts/springs should make no noise when settling.

As for the water jug noise, when do you hear the noise? when breaking? turning? etc...

 

cruising, hitting bumps, intermittent. sometimes it'll be quiet, and then i'll say to myself, wow it went a..<clunk>..way

 

yea ur bottom coils compress first when driving....they are upside down...the rears are cake...no compressors needed

 

ok, two opposing things were said in this thread...one person said that the bunched coils should be at the bottom, while another said they should be at top. Which one is it?

 

DID U SEE THE PICTURE......that was taken from Custom Maxima...and every install i have done and seen has them at the top

 

yea, I saw the pic....but that didn't absolve the confusion when the opposite was stated previously. But thanks for the response.

 

We're talking the front only. B/c reading the FSM the rear bunched coils go on the bottom.

 

i am like 99.9% sure they need to be on top....thats the way i put them on both setups on my 98...my setup on my 96 and on my brothers Miata and no noises....when the car is on the ground the top coils that are closer togehter will compress...but when the suspension compresses on the road the bottom ones compress...so if the bunch ones are on the bottom they will clunk on the road

 

wtf MULTIPLE POSTS LIEK WHOA.....stock springs are not progressive rate.....the stocks have a flat spot for the top mount thats it....other than that they are evenly spaced like linear springs

 

Got you. So for clearity saks we're saying the the bunched up coils on both the front and rear suspension need to be on the top mount?

 

i dont recall my fronts having bunched up coils(depends on spring) but yes they go on the top mount.....front and rear

 

KabirUTA and i have a LOT of fun in about 6 hours to flip the springs right side up. trouble is i gotta sober the fck up. happy friday ya'll

KabirUTA: one of the illest most "got his **** together" people I know altogether. if you wanna give stuff away. he's the guy to give it to. sorry in advance if i wake u up too early and ur grumpy as fck my dude.

and __________ we got some talkin to do. esp with the other plans i had with my car ie. 3.5 ........ cmon man

 

damn i was drunk off the hook writin that.

update: springs and bushings. pretty much everything was placed upside down. issue resolved with kabir. who else would wake up at 8am on a saturday to help some kid fix his suspension.

 

were you guys drinking when you first installed them?

 

LOL everyone else was drinking. the person doing the work wasn't.
spring pinging is worse than before. happens every left turn. and intermittent turning right. sounds and feels bad. !!!! so tempted to go oem again...

anything connecting the steering linkage that would wear out and make vibration through the pedals?

 

dont the springs have an arrow or some directional marking to let you know which way to install them?

Maybe this is an assumption but if your springs say "progress" on them. you should be able to read it that way with the spring installed on the car. If its upside down you have the spring on the wrong way.

examine the springs for any letting or directional instructions to assist in making sure its on correctly

 

nope the progress springs i got from AuToMaX_95 have no markings. just small gray stickers indicating rear and front and they're both on opposite sides of the springs. :shrug: the spring plucking noise wasnt apparent the first week, gradual, now its every left turn.

 

put more wrapping around the springs.

 

Holy drunken install man!

 

yea Progress Tech. Springs only gave front and rear marking.....sounds like top mounts arent right.....

 

I think you're all crazy. "The bottom coil compresses first"???? The spring doesn't know which way is up or down when it is getting compressed. The coils with the widest spacing will always compress first (whether it is on top or on the bottom) because that is the lowest spring rate section of the spring. I agree thought for our cars that the tighter coils should go on top because it fits the perches a little better, and the label is ususally right side up that way (for aesthetics). Our springs are a constant diameter with no flat end, so they really don't have an up or down.

The problem you are having might be the same one I had with my rear dust boots. The boots kept popping over the lip on the bumpstop and over the lip on the shock body and would make this clicking/popping and some times bendy-straw noise. I cut slits in the boots (at the ends) and zip-tied them in place = no more annoying noises.

 

do u read...i said the bottoms compress first....but if u notice when the car is on the ground...the top closer coils pretty much touch