popping when hitting light bumps

[1 old racer]

Slowly but surly I have been developing a thumping / popping noise in the front end of my mustang when going over small imperfections on the road. Now it has gone from every once in a while to almost all the time. Since I dont use my car as a daily and I haven't done a track day in over 9 months I dont think anything is worn out. The car has just over 30k on the clock with about 15k on the current suspension set up. I am running Ford Performance Track spring, struts, shocks with Steeda adj swaybars and endlinks, and Steeda bumpsteer endlinks with Camber bolts with a camber setting of 1.9 deg. Just checked every nut and bolt on both front and rear and every thing was still to torque specs. The only thing I am leaning toward is the strut top plate. It is stock and I do store the car up in the air for prolong periods while I am doing something under the car . Thoughts????

 

[S550AZ]

I had a similar noise and it was my front strut nuts. They had loosed and every time I hit any bumps I got a popping noise because the strut rod was moving up and down inside the strut mount. Worth a try checking it.

 

[blacksheep-1]

Yep, go back and nut n bolt everything, pay particular attention to the strut/ spindle bolts. Also make sure that the springs are seated in their pockets. Sometimes I have had to round off the ends of the spring wire so it doesn't dig in to the perch.

 

[1 old racer]

just to make sure I just went back and re checked the springs and strut nuts. they are all good. This really has me baffled

 

[EF1]

Are you sure it isn’t the strut mounts?

 

[biggsy]

If you have the steeda end links with grease fittings on them then I would check the lower part of the strut for a dent. I had steeda end links and noticed a popping sound when turning out going over bumps. I could see where the end link was contacting the strut. I replaced with SPL end links and then whiteline since they don’t have a fitting.

 

[DaveW]

I don't think it is the case here, but throw factory torque specs out the window on end links, especially aftermarket ones, if you want them to be quiet. I get them as tight as I can with a12-14" wrench and every time I go less than that, I get the car back.

DaveW

 

[1 old racer]

Put it back on the lift and removed the wheels. rechecked everything, rotated the steering wheel from lock to lock checked the springs to make sure they are in their perch. Everything looked perfect. Put the wheel back on, lowered the car and torqued the wheels. took her for a quick drive and no popping or thumping. Weird. I am thinking that the springs slipped out of position when the car was in the air when I was working on it last week and during the latest steering back and forth in the air it popped back in. It is just a guess. I am just glad its gone.

 

[dragoon]

Put it back on the lift and removed the wheels. rechecked everything, rotated the steering wheel from lock to lock checked the springs to make sure they are in their perch. Everything looked perfect. Put the wheel back on, lowered the car and torqued the wheels. took her for a quick drive and no popping or thumping. Weird. I am thinking that the springs slipped out of position when the car was in the air when I was working on it last week and during the latest steering back and forth in the air it popped back in. It is just a guess. I am just glad its gone.

I’ve had that with our old track car that has coil overs. After it was lifted & put on jack stands to do post track inspection, the coil overs would “slip” out of their mounting and relax out of “center”. I would have to make sure they there “centered” after wheels were installed. I found the hard way once when there was a horrible sound of the coil over popping back to where it belongs under load.

 

[1 old racer]

I wanted to tank you guys for helping me get to the root of this. I must admit I have never had this happen before, and this cant be good for the struts. Now I am going to figure out a way to make sure this doesnt happen again. I had a old sand rail that had limit straps to keep this from happening. Maybe something like that... I need to think this out

 

[xr7]

Would this be where you want to use a very low rate spring under the main spring on the coilover? I don't recall the name for these. Once the load is on this spring compress' completely and basically becomes a spacer.

 

[dragoon]

Would this be where you want to use a very low rate spring under the main spring on the coilover? I don't recall the name foe these. Once the load is on this spring compress' completely and basically becomes a spacer.

Yes, they’re called assist / helper springs & they are suppose to keep the main spring engaged under neglect load. My main spring came up 1/2” short because you order them in 1” increments according to desired ride height. I ordered 6” while 7” might have worked but you have to figure in spring rates and the 6” ones put me in the zone I wanted. I have JRZ RS2 on the old track car. First photo is installation with really beat up (track) calipers. Second photo is later on with refurbished calipers set up for the street after car got retired from the track.