JohnM

If the rear wheel has play in a direction it should not have then the anti-roll bar cannot be the source of that, would sound more like some or all of the rubber bushes in the suspension arms have given up the ghost - not so unreasonable at 90k miles, I guess (the bushes in the front A arms of my 993 are being replaced next week after only 66k miles).

johnfm

JFK

initial wheel wobbling is don ewith the car on the ground. Even fully loaded, there is a nticeable play & clunk at the left rear that isn't on the right.

It requires alot of effort to do - I was knackered after about 30 seconds each side. But it is definitely there.

I will have them concentrate on all mounts & bushes tomorrow. What is weird is that they put the original springs back in today & there is no change. But, this clunk wasn't there before they put the lowering springs in.

Both me & the mechanics are stumped at the moment.

DJF1

Just so you dont feel alone... I have the same problem! I upgraded my suspension to H&R coilovers and the sound comes from the right rear.
my mechanic is equally buffled with this noise, it has nothing to do with bushing and all since it started doing it the minute we installed the suspension. It only does it when there is a sharp bump or similar, under normal potholes and undulations there is no noise and having taken the car to the track twice there were no handling issues.
I suspect it has something to do with the lowering itself and plan to look at it as soon as I return home.

Good luck!

Bob Haase

I've got to be honest here, everybody... I have been seriously considering lowering my C4, but after reading this post, I'm wondering how many out there have had problems after doing so? I don't think that this requires a poll or anything (maybe it does), but are the looks and handling really worth all of the troubles? Are we talking 10% of the cars lowered have problems... more? less? Can others offer insight?

Jon... looking forward to seeing yours up close and in person soon. <img src="graemlins/wave.gif" border="0" alt="[byebye]" />

johnfm

Guys, as an act of desperation, should I take the car to a trsuted non-porsche mechanic for a diagnosis?? He may be able to sort the problem out by applying logic - unclouded by in-depth porsche knowledge . What do you think?? (he syas, desperately clutching at straws!!)

horst

John has the health of the CV joints been checked??

johnfm

Not yet. Things were OK before th elowering springs tho. Is it possible that a change of 25mm in ride height could affect these??

joey bagadonuts

I would encourage you to seek full refund and head to the best Porsche shop in town. I would think that a non-Porsche garage would only add to the confusion.

I would also look for a shop which handles weekend racers because suspensions are coming off and on these cars with great frequency. These shops specialize in such mods (along with rebuilds, exhaust and brakes) so they've heard every rattle and knock imaginable due to the beating these cars take at the track.

I think such a shop is your best bet for rooting out this problem. Just my 0.02.

johnfm

Joey

the frustration is that the shop in question does a lot of race prepping and is not a 'small' independent. They had 4 cars on the ramp this morning and another 7 in the lot awaiting attention. To make matters worse, they took me for a drive in a 92 C$ that they did last week. Same job, ie springs only (kept original dampers)

This C4 was lower than mine and exhibited no unusual clunking at all. If my car had turned out this way, I would be grinning ear to ear. They are looking at the whole thing again today - I found another tell tale diagnostic last night. If I grab the left rear wheel arch and try and lift the car up & down, I can hear the obvious clunking. Car is stationary, hand brake on or off makes no difference.

If I do the same on the RHS wheel arch, sound is either not present, or subtle but coming from the LHS suspension.

I will let you all know if I get a solution. If you don't hear from me for a while, assume I've thrown myself under a bus!!

joey bagadonuts

Man, this IS quite a puzzle.

I can understand your frustration because you've obviously taken steps to ensure a smooth install, yet the outcome was well-short of the mark. Hang in there and stay away from the bus lanes--I'm sure this will all get sorted soon.
<img src="graemlins/drink.gif" border="0" alt="[cherrsagai]" />

horst

Since lowering your car, the CV joints have assumed a somwhat different angle. Have them checked.

johnfm

Captains log

Startdate 20.09.02

Extremely pissed off at this stage.

car in shop 3 tiems this week - still no solution. Mechanic unable to trace source of bump - though able to eliminate springs & struts.

Next week will be checking CV joints & trailing arm thing.

If still no solution I will take car to OPC, get it fixed, pay bil & then give bill to current garage.


Aaaaaaaggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh <img src="graemlins/c.gif" border="0" alt="[ouch]" /> <img src="graemlins/c.gif" border="0" alt="[ouch]" /> <img src="graemlins/c.gif" border="0" alt="[ouch]" /> <img src="graemlins/c.gif" border="0" alt="[ouch]" />

The C4 they did last week is PERFECT. about 20mm lower than mine all round & no bumps. SAme springs, kept original dampers!! <img src="graemlins/crying.gif" border="0" alt="[crying]" /> <img src="graemlins/crying.gif" border="0" alt="[crying]" />

tonytaylor

Johnfm,
Give Colin Belton at 9 Meister (ex 930 motorsport) a ring before taking it to OPC -whenever I`ve had problems they have always fixed them first time and their rates are cheap.
Only problem is that they are usually busy so you may have to wait, but I guess there is a reason for that.
(just had mine lowered etc and its perfect!)

johnfm

Car is with garage right now (10.15 Thursday morning, UK time). They are checking drive shafts and trailing arm. They say they have exhaustively checked struts & mounting points & sway bar.

Hopefully this will be the last shop visit.

Jeff Curtis

First of all, Jon, I may be deciphering your swaybar story differently than intended...but your swaybar should have free movement, up and down, just not side to side.

If your front and rear swaybars don't have "bosses" -or- otherwise described as recessed areas that would keep the swaybar bushing from allowing the swaybar to slide from right to left and so forth...you'll have to install a set of hose clamps on either side of the bushings.

Also, and no kidding on this on, obtain a tub of swaybar bushing grease from Performance Products, it's thick, it's nasty...use latex gloves.

I can send you pics of my setup, when the links are detached from the swaybars, I can move them freely, up and down, with little effort.

I also have washers underneath the bushing retainers (collars, I call them) so they don't squash the bushing so much, causing the swaybars to bind.

As I go to several track events, I check the swaybars from time to time...as of last week it had been about six months since greasing up the bushings and my front bar had a significant amount of resistance when I tried to move it. <img src="graemlins/cussing.gif" border="0" alt="[grrrrrrr]" />

...so I disassembled everything, cleaned the old grease off, with brake-clean...that's all that would take it off!! Then I gave the bushings a fresh glob of grease and reassembled...swaybar moves up and down like a champ! <img src="graemlins/jumper.gif" border="0" alt="[jumper]" />

Okay, I apologize for the sidebar.

Johnfm, I would seriously consider checking out the wheelbearings...if you're getting a clunking sound when attempting to "wiggle" the back end of the car from right to left (you know, like shakin' it baby!?) <img src="graemlins/roflmao.gif" border="0" alt="[hiha]" /> ...a clunking sound may be indicating that you have a fair amount of play in your rear wheel bearings as it is pretty much the only component that would allow side to side movement.

...aside from high cornering stress at the track that would cause your trailing arms to toe-out...that's due to rubber bushings at the attachment point.

Hey, it's just a guess - this "cyber-troubleshooting" business is nuts!

Certainly, as always, let us know what you, or "they" find.