Rattle on bumpy Roads, out of ideas

[Mr Footlong]

That was it, thanks.

[yorkrs6+]

Clunking problem there regardless of ride height, unit 20, and current chap both say rack and sub frame all ok.
Which leaves engine or gearbox mounts, but unit 20 did all this and these are also said to be ok.
Hence I'm stuck in a rut...
Before the springs were replaced, Steering wheel feedback was as follows. If you hit any kind bump - you felt it in the wheel. I drive the same route to my office every day. DRC is typical car feel, pss9 no chance, complained to unit 20, said everything was recommended setup, i noted ride height was 10mm lower and remembered same thread from Footlong, and suggested Grizz raise it 10mm on front and drop rear as it looked higher, and problem was 20% better.
Then took it to Motorsport company for 2nd opinion as i got fed up! They made some new springs bases on pss9 ride height and calculated required spring weights to fix my problem and have more or less sorted steering wheel gripes, and they too noted that ride height was a contributing factor to steering wheel feedback. Ie shuddering from bump shock waves etc. something you take for granted in everyday driving!

[chunky79]

I think we are at the position where we need to be in the car and witness said fault. With a fault like this, most comments are just pi$$ing in the wind as the knocking could be coming from somewhere totally random. The fact the you have had so much work done to the front and rear of the car kind of proves it in my opinion. My be worth mentioning if you are North, south, east or west so someone could have a listen for you .

[Shoppinit]

^^Definitely.

I'm guessing, and it's only a wild guess, that Yorkrs6+ is based somewhere near Yorkshire.

[chunky79]

^^Definitely.

I'm guessing, and it's only a wild guess, that Yorkrs6+ is based somewhere near Yorkshire.

Ah, so down sarf then.

[Mr Footlong]

Sure as hell beats oop north, shudder.

[Shoppinit]

Bump:

I'm interested in your spring upgrade, can you tell me any more about it? Who supplied, etc. Are you running the PSS as high as they'll go?

[yorkrs6+]

Shop - i will pm you their details and you can discuss it with them all you like, they can tell you chapter and verse on the issues with the pss9 rs6 kit and why the front bilstien spring kit supplied with shocks was not designed for uk B roads, more autobahn/A roads. Basically max ride height setting on pss9 with the supplied springs doesnt provide enough movement for the springs to absorb low and high speed bumps properly, so the chassis and other components end up absorbing some the impact that springs would otherwise absorb. They spoke to bilstien to check the springs supplied were the correct ones for the uk (which they are) and were amazed that nobody had complained to bilstein about the ride quality. I guess if you have had knackered DRC anything would be better, or if you might live around good road surfaces. but venture anywhere like west yorkshire or north yorkshire, where road surfaces rarely get fixed, and you soon notice.
Anyway If you drop the ride height any lower than the plus ride height the problem just gets worse and worse.
Shop your welcome to have a full blown geeky conversation with Olly about it. you can then post it up. I can't be bothered. I just know it has made a 90% improvement - but without separate rebound and bump rate adjustments they can't tweak it enough to get it 100% - so I'm stuck
90% - sucks, I wanted 100%.

[mavada]

right flange axle...

[MaQQu]

I absolutely agree with "yorkrs6+". I also use PSS9 and suffer from rattle even on small bumps. I have tried 18" wheels but it does not help much. Adjusting the damper stiffness settings on the dampers won't also help. I have found out that when damper stiffness is set to softest 7, the rattle is even worse. At the moment I have set the damper stiffness to 4.

[Mr Footlong]

Not meaning to be awkward but I could have sworn that there are only settings 1-6 on my PSS9?

[Shoppinit]

You're not awkward... Just wrong. Don't forget, a 9 is an upsidedown 6...

[Shoppinit]

Shop - i will pm you their details and you can discuss it with them all you like, they can tell you chapter and verse on the issues with the pss9 rs6 kit and why the front bilstien spring kit supplied with shocks was not designed for uk B roads, more autobahn/A roads. Basically max ride height setting on pss9 with the supplied springs doesnt provide enough movement for the springs to absorb low and high speed bumps properly, so the chassis and other components end up absorbing some the impact that springs would otherwise absorb. They spoke to bilstien to check the springs supplied were the correct ones for the uk (which they are) and were amazed that nobody had complained to bilstein about the ride quality. I guess if you have had knackered DRC anything would be better, or if you might live around good road surfaces. but venture anywhere like west yorkshire or north yorkshire, where road surfaces rarely get fixed, and you soon notice.
Anyway If you drop the ride height any lower than the plus ride height the problem just gets worse and worse.
Shop your welcome to have a full blown geeky conversation with Olly about it. you can then post it up. I can't be bothered. I just know it has made a 90% improvement - but without separate rebound and bump rate adjustments they can't tweak it enough to get it 100% - so I'm stuck
90% - sucks, I wanted 100%.

Yes please, I might be interested in the springs since I find that the PSS9 bottom out too easily.

Why not go for the KWv3? You can tweak them to your heart's content, bump and rebound, etc. I'm sure someone will have the billies off you since they are relatively new.

I still that you are confusing 2 issues though. OK, you're not happy with the ride, but the rattle is a separate issue. You shouldn't be getting a rattle no matter what the suspension unless something is broken, nay?

[yorkrs6+]

Yes there are two issues, the knocking which is something mechanically a miss
Steering column/wheel vibrations from chassis/road surface feedback as a result of suspension setup not working at its optimal. Kw would possibly fix my issues, but I've had variant 3s before and they needed resetting every 6 months (ie wind rebound rates back to stop and return back to correct setting) - this constant tweaking is fine on fronts but a pain to do on rears. Too much faf. Had hoped pss9 were the ticket. It's just more expense to change and I had expected Unit 20s recommendation to be on the money. In fairness MRC and this forum also said the same, which is why I'm so amazed it was so wrong. I don't believe I have unrealistic expectations, and I did my homework.
anyway ive possibly used wrong selection of words trying to describe my wows.
There is definite knock as the car goes up a speed bump, but not on the way down, similarly that knock becomes a knocking when car is thrown harshly from left to right / vice versa on a really bad road surface or significant elevation. It is not there all the time perhaps 5% of any journey, sometimes less. like i said it takes the car to be unsettled, or a speed bump. If theres no b roads you wouldnt know it was there. equally it one of those noises that you hear that you don't want to hear - and that's the issue. In a quest to get the car back to 100% - this is like looking at a key mark all down one side of the car. Everytime you look at it, you aware that it has been spoilt. That's what happens when I drive it. The experience is spoilt.

Loose arb would be a good example, but these have been checked, unless there's something that has been overlooked. Top suspension mounts are also a possibility - all comes back down to trusting what unit 20 and my other chap are telling me. They've checked everything... Can't find it...

[ahoooga]

Not going to re-read the whole thread again, but for the price, why don't you put it thru an MOT to see what they can find in the way of front end play ?.
I would think that's the cheapest starting point to find any wear or loose component issues if there's doubt of any kind .
Use a local garage where you can watch them do the test, and drop it out you have a knocking noise of some sort. They'll find anything after saying that .