I have JICs, jimlab bushings, volk gtc (18") and have all kinda noise when I go over bumps....

Do pillowballs make that much noise? Springy, like a Motel6 matress (ask me how I know tee hee)...I have been told that my rear pass JIC is leaking and the strut makes the noise. I have zerks on my bushings and lubricated them (as best as I could) and did not change the noise. Very embarrasing since I have spent so much money on my car.


Thanks

 

The JICs have metal pillow-***** which replace the stock rubber mounts. They do transmit more vibration.

You have stiff coilovers, 18" wheels, and urethane bushings and you're complaining about suspension noise? If you wanted a quieter ride, you should have kept the stock rubber mounts and bushings, as well as softer springs.

As far as one of your shocks leaking, just jack the car up and look yourself. It's pretty easy to tell if it is.

 

Suspension noise can come from lots of different places. In order to find the noise, you will have to jack up the car, and start wiggling things.

Use jack stands.

 

noise like ryn said is going to be there. urethane bushings usually come with a lube to put on the contact surfaces especially the swaybars.

 

Well, I had no idea it would be THIS noisy....sound like my chassis is coming apart! Makes my car sound cheap. I am going back to stock bushings.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

Mine sounds like a newlyweds four post bed. I have to douse the entire undercarriage with a garden hose before I drive it. Lasts for about 150 miles and then I have to do it again. I have tried every spray on lube I could find, but nothing lasts for more than a day. Ear plugs or go stock?




















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As rynberg said, you've pretty much done everything you possibly could to ensure that you'd have a noisy car. We need a better description of the noise to try to diagnose what could be causing it.

Those who installed zerk fittings with my bushings typically don't report unlivable noise problems, but they will obviously transmit more road noise than stock bushings. Your JICs have metal pillow mounts where they bolt to the body, so they're going to help transfer road noise also. With 18s, I'm assuming you've got very low profile tires, so again, you've eliminated the sidewall that would soak up some of the ride harshness.

Does the noise sound like clunking or squeaking? Have you checked the condition of your pillow bushings in the rear suspension? Do you have aftermarket sway bars? The urethane bushings that come with them will need to be lubricated periodically, or you end up sounding like a UPS truck.

Sorry to hear about your noise problems, but we need more information to narrow it down to something. I suspect that if you replaced the bushings, you'd still have a considerable amount of noise. Perhaps you need a louder exhaust?

 

I have seen Urethane sleeves to put over the springs for both top and bottom to prevent this noise.

(WEIRD) maybe im not picky but in like 5 cars and 5 different kinds of racing sus, I havent ever heard any annoying squeeking..

 

Thanks for the feedback without criticism...jimlab's bushings are very nice...in fact, car sticks to the road like a condom

Just went too far with my mods on this one (not a track car). I am getting some arms from Fritz, removing my current arms and running the car to see what changes. While I have my current ones out, I will inspect the pillowballs for degradation.

I do not want to discourage anyone from buying these bushings.

My car sounds springy...it is by no means "clunky"...more like metal on metal over bumps like pushing up and down on a cheap mattress. Highly suspect that new pillowballs will help my problem.

On my fronts, I have stock swaybars with Davids Breslaus widefoot swaybar mounts on suspension techniques urethane bushings I have brand new mazda end links...rear sways are stock.

I also have k2rd toe lines and trailing arms in the rear. I have both front and rear on "8" clicks and have 265 rears (18x9) and 235 fronts (18x8) (badly wish I could go wider in the fronts). I will be buying new pillow ***** for both front and rear from Ray at Malloy but will for the sake of trouble shooting, replace the car rears first. Run it. Then evaluate before buying a set of fronts. My car greatly overestears with this setting. If my tires are not warm (p-zeros) I will spin it easily.

Thanks

 

Some comments:

1. If you are hearing a metal-on-metal sound, make sure that the top of the coilovers are not rubbing against the top of the shock towers.

2. Your car should NOT be oversteering at all with your staggered tire-setup. In fact, the car should be slightly balanced towards understeer. What are your alignment settings? Has the car been corner-weighted?

 

could be lots of thing do some test and try to isolate where the sound is coming form and let us know to give a good answer

 

Thanks for the feedback...

The mazda dealer said that I need new shock bushings? and some plate? that the metal spring is rubbing and not seating properly. I bought the coilovers, removed the stock ones, and bolted the JICs up...thats it. What could be rubbing? Mazda says I need a special part from JIC (bigger shock bushing?) Hell I dunno know?

Wish I had a good mazda expert near me...rotorsports in NC but hardly experts.

 

Mazda has no fricking clue what they are talking about! The JIC essentially removes all of the stock parts!

You don't need to go to a rotary shop for this, try to find a GOOD suspension/racing shop in your area to check things out.

Check my 1. suggestion though, because I had the "mattress squeak" action pretty bad and it was the front right shock was coming into contact with the side of the opening in the shock tower.

 

cover8: On a stock car w/ stock suspension, there is a thin rubber (I don't know the technical name) "insulator" where the spring meets the perch. If you didn't replace it with the new suspension, that can be a source of "knocking", squeaking noises.

 

The JIC coilovers don't reuse any Mazda suspension parts.

 

It rained the last couple of days and severly reduce the noise in the suspension...

Not quite sure what that means....about bad pillowballs...or rubbing springs.

 

Closure for those that might be searching...It was my JIC dampeners...the pass rear was leaking fluid and so was the drivers front....unbelievable! brand new not 20k miles ago and 2k bills and 50% failure rate...I wonder if any body else has had quality problems with JICs...looking back should have gone with hks or apexi...


Btw, each damper cost $300 each OUCH!!!

 

I have JIC SF-1's and they make a whoosh noise over every bump. I was told from day one that this was normal for double piston shocks. Supposedly GAB and Tein's make noise as well, but I don't know if it's the same. I've never removed mine to test if they are leaking.

 

This noise is a snapping cracking noise not a woosh...i know what that noise sounds like...mine do the same (the ones that work)

 

My suspension was driving me nuts making loud "creaking/squeaking noises". It sounded like that cheap heat sheild metal was rubbing on something. I jakced up my front left wheel and wiggled, pulled and raised and lowered the suspension with a jack.

It turns out that it was my brake dust sheild was rubbing on something. Noise is gone now.

 

Nylon 6/6 absorbs something like 3 to 10% water. It could swell the nylon bushings and any slop could be taken up.

I don't drive my car in the rain so wouldn't know.

 

1.2-1.5% for a 1/8" thick sample over 24 hours. Significantly longer for thicker material.

 

I guess your both right...

Nylon 6/6 is listed on my spec sheet of having 1.4-1.5% over 24hrs. Long term 6.7-8.5%. ASTM test D570.

I don't want to pay to read the test conditions so if someone has copies of the test it'd be great to know if that is immersed in water or just atmospheric humidity absorption, etc...


Jeff

 

Either submerged or in high humidity conditions.

 

Nylon is hygroscopic...