Problems with (new but) creaking front springs?

[larsmhh]

Hi!
I did have a major restauration on my DeLorean (#1550) this spring/summer. The workshop did also change the front springs and since that I have a creaking, crunching noise when the front springs are getting compressed. I think they might be a little too thick in diameter, so they maybe scratch in the upper part on the frame support!?
There is only about 0,19 inch, maybe a little less to the front and rear vertical frame housing. Is this ok, is it too small? I don´t have any idea.
The sound is louder when I am stearing and the springs are getting compressed, i.e. when driving on a ramp in a car park. I do not hear this sound when driving just straight on. It is a sound like plunking on a thick guitar string.
I can take a photo tomorrow, but I first of all wanted to know, if you know about this issue... I did not find a description using the search tool.
Maybe somebody does have a picture, how it should look like...

Thank you very much!!!
Best wishes from Oldenburg, Germany,

Lars.

[David T]

Try some silicone spray on the spring perches. There are rubber isolators and the springs tend to move around a bit, spraying some silicone allows them to move around without making noise. Also spray the sway bar bushings, steering bushing, upper and lower control arm bushings. Make it part of your annual grease job along with greasing the ball joints and tie rod ends. Don't forget to grease the speedometer drive. Inspect all of the rubber boots and covers too.

[DMC-81]

Hi!
I did have a major restauration on my DeLorean (#1550) this spring/summer. The workshop did also change the front springs and since that I have a creaking, crunching noise when the front springs are getting compressed. I think they might be a little too thick in diameter, so they maybe scratch in the upper part on the frame support!?
There is only about 0,19 inch, maybe a little less to the front and rear vertical frame housing. Is this ok, is it too small? I don´t have any idea.
The sound is louder when I am stearing and the springs are getting compressed, i.e. when driving on a ramp in a car park. I do not hear this sound when driving just straight on. It is a sound like plunking on a thick guitar string.
I can take a photo tomorrow, but I first of all wanted to know, if you know about this issue... I did not find a description using the search tool.
Maybe somebody does have a picture, how it should look like...

Thank you very much!!!
Best wishes from Oldenburg, Germany,

Lars.

Hi Lars,

It shouldn't bind or creak. Here is a picture of my restored front suspension with lowering springs.

http://dmctalk.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=47211&d=1478572329

I guess you can't see it in the picture, but my springs were the same diameter (i.e. not oversized) as OEM and they fit in the upper and lower perches. I understand that some installations creak if you don't get the lower coil overlap seam orientation right. I was advised to put that seam on the outboard side, in the middle.

As for lubricants, the upper rubber isolator was waxed originally. I chose to refresh that wax ( remove the old wax with hot water, clean the rubber with soap and water, and pouring new (hot liquid) canning wax. On the bottom perch where it is metal on metal, I was again advised to apply a liberal coat of axle grease. These lubricants are longer lasting.

These techniques seemed to work as my suspension has been silent ever since.

I hope this helps.

[larsmhh]

Hi and thank you for your quick response!

As I offered, I took some photos this morning and wanted to share them with you. Here they are (from the right front suspension):
[ATTACH=CONFIG]61118
[ATTACH=CONFIG]61119
[ATTACH=CONFIG]61120

As you can see, there is not much space to the front and rear part of the vertical frame. I used some white color on the rear side to see, if the springs scratch on the frame, but I don´t see any damages to the color.
I will grease the upper rubber isolator this evening and I will rotate rotate the springs as described.
Hopefully the noises will be eliminated...

I will report about the progress.

Kind regards,

Lars :)

[dmcnc]

Are you sure the sound isn't coming from your front extension sway bar bushings? Those usually get noisy when they're not properly lubricated.

[larsmhh]

Hi!
No, I am not sure about the origin of the noise. But as the springs do not turn with the suspension when steering it may be a problem with something, that is moving when turning the steering wheel.
I will lubricate the bushings with a "dry lube" spray I have at home which is made for lubrification of bushings and (especially) polyurethane bushings.

Hopefully this will work. What about the gap between the springs and the chassis? Is it too small or something like "usual"?

Thanks!

[dn010]

Here is my guess - what is the condition of your lower control arm bushings?

[Hill Valley PD]

Very timely thread. My front end is creaking when compressed, and the passenger side clacks when going over any road imperfections. My entire suspension was done in 2013 by MC MW with the Eibach set up before I got the car and maybe a few thousand miles ago. It recently went to to MW after there was a scrapping/rubbing sound from passenger side that would go away when the brakes were applied. That has been fixed with an anti-rattle kit. My front passenger wheel hub had a bolt that backed out causing it to be uneven, which caused the noise. I am curious to see where this thread goes. Maybe post a video of what it is doing?

[dn010]

When I had noise issues over any little bump in the road, my lower control arm bushing was shot - the rubber was pretty much all pressed out of the bushing and this allowed everything to move around. Check your bushings, should be pretty easy to see the condition of them.

[Hill Valley PD]

DMC MW concurs and suggested to check the bushings as well and recommended greasing the front end. I've been working late the last few nights and haven't gotten the chance. I should know tomorrow because my mechanic buddy and I will look at it together in the afternoon. OP, did you ever figure yours out?

[hippieman9]

Stock springs or lowering springs? I had a creaking issue when I installed new shocks and springs last year, ended up being the orientation of the spring. The end of the coil on top should be facing the wheel.

[Hill Valley PD]

Stock springs or lowering springs? I had a creaking issue when I installed new shocks and springs last year, ended up being the orientation of the spring. The end of the coil on top should be facing the wheel.

Mine has both performance spring and shock set by Eibach purchased from DMC in 2012 and only about 3-4K miles ago. My mechanic buddy and I looked at the front suspension today, and everything "looks" good, Top of shock isn't hitting tub or anything, no leaks, bushings all look good, no play in the sway bar. However, there is a noticeable knock/clack when I push down on the front end coming from passenger side. It may be coming from the shock itself, but we aren't sure. Going to go the greasing and siliconing route first since I have no idea the last time that was done. If that doesn't fix it, is it possible my shock went bad with that little mileage? It is not leaking either. Original poster, did you figure yours out yet?

[Hill Valley PD]

Greased the ball joints (took some but not super dry) and siliconed all the bushings yesterday, which look recently replaced. The creakiness is gone now, but I still have a metal on metal clack from the front passenger side when bouncing up and down and when grabbing wheel and rocking front front to back. Everything "looks" good, and the shocks are tight as in no play side to side or front to back. A bit baffled, but getting it up on a lift Thursday and really digging in...

[larsmhh]

Hi!
Sorry for the delay, but I was very busy at work.
But yesterday evening I greased all the joints with the "dry lube" spray and felt quite positive about the result.
Today I drove about 200 km with the Delorean, but it sounds as it did before. Absolutely no change...
I was really disappointed, but I will search on for the source of the sound.
I did not yet turn the springs, as it was described, so this will be my next step.
How to do this? Should I use spring clamps and compress them as long as I will be able to turn them?
Thank you for your help so far.
I will let you know about the results of the next step...
But as my car behaves like a Diva, today my windscreen wiper broke down. I will start a discussion about that in a new thread...
Bye,
Lars.

[DMC-81]

Hi!
Sorry for the delay, but I was very busy at work.
But yesterday evening I greased all the joints with the "dry lube" spray and felt quite positive about the result.
Today I drove about 200 km with the Delorean, but it sounds as it did before. Absolutely no change...
I was really disappointed, but I will search on for the source of the sound.
I did not yet turn the springs, as it was described, so this will be my next step.
How to do this? Should I use spring clamps and compress them as long as I will be able to turn them?
Thank you for your help so far.
I will let you know about the results of the next step...
But as my car behaves like a Diva, today my windscreen wiper broke down. I will start a discussion about that in a new thread...
Bye,
Lars.

Hi Lars,

Yes, exactly.

[Hill Valley PD]

Mike from MW suggested for me to check my steering rack. Is yours original by chance? I will finally figure out what my issue is tomorrow morning on the lift hopefully.

[Hill Valley PD]

Big thanks to Mike from MW and Hippieman9 for their suggestions. We took my shock out of the passenger side (where noise was coming from) and bounced the car with just the spring in, and no more noise. Figured bad shock and put it back in. Still no noise! Fixed? Mike from MW thinks that maybe the upper mount was rubbing the frame, steel shock shaft to frame...

After you check your rack, and grease the ball joints with a grease gun (I know you did silicone on bushings already), maybe take your shocks out and do the bounce test and see if noise is still there. They aren't terrible to remove and would eliminate that as the issue.

[larsmhh]

Hi!
It took some time but now I can happily broadcast, that we got the problem solved!
I went to Ed Uding, who works in the Netherlands, but that is just about 300 km away from where I live. So when I had a week of holidays last week I drove to Ed and we solved some other problems (torsion bar adjustment...). It was a pleasure to be there and to see an expert working on my car. Ed knew about the problem of the creaking springs and we wanted to turn them out of the misalignment, but...
I forgot to take my adadter for the wheels bolt lock and we were not able to take off the front wheels. What a pain...
But as Ed told me what and how to do I worked with my neighbor last weekend and we got the right and left front spring aligned correctly. Ed wanted me to align the lower endof the spring to look int the middle/center of the car. The right spring, which did less creaking sound was misaligned about 2 cm, the left one (which was creaking loud) was misaligned about 4 - 5 cm from its position.

Result: No more noise :) !!!

I am very happy now and just wanted to let you know about the progress.

Best wishes from Germany,

Lars.

[DMC-81]

Hi!
It took some time but now I can happily broadcast, that we got the problem solved!
I went to Ed Uding, who works in the Netherlands, but that is just about 300 km away from where I live. So when I had a week of holidays last week I drove to Ed and we solved some other problems (torsion bar adjustment...). It was a pleasure to be there and to see an expert working on my car. Ed knew about the problem of the creaking springs and we wanted to turn them out of the misalignment, but...
I forgot to take my adadter for the wheels bolt lock and we were not able to take off the front wheels. What a pain...
But as Ed told me what and how to do I worked with my neighbor last weekend and we got the right and left front spring aligned correctly. Ed wanted me to align the lower endof the spring to look int the middle/center of the car. The right spring, which did less creaking sound was misaligned about 2 cm, the left one (which was creaking loud) was misaligned about 4 - 5 cm from its position.

Result: No more noise :) !!!

I am very happy now and just wanted to let you know about the progress.

Best wishes from Germany,

Lars.

Glad you got it resolved successfully.

[Rokkinlen]

Greased the ball joints (took some but not super dry) and siliconed all the bushings yesterday, which look recently replaced. The creakiness is gone now, but I still have a metal on metal clack from the front passenger side when bouncing up and down and when grabbing wheel and rocking front front to back. Everything "looks" good, and the shocks are tight as in no play side to side or front to back. A bit baffled, but getting it up on a lift Thursday and really digging in...

I have creaking on my front end that is most noticeable when I'm turning out of my driveway which slopes down to the street. I know next to nothing about suspension, so I was hoping you could let me know which specific bushings you siliconed. On the parts diagram, I see lower arm bushings (p/n 100154), anti-roll bar bushings (p/n 108912), and rubber bushing that go between a clamp and clamp spacer (p/n 100774). It might not actually hurt to silicone them all, but I'm curious which ones you sprayed.

Also, do the Delorean ball joints have grease fittings? If not, is it okay to use a puncture needle right through the boot? I saw a video online that shows this as an acceptable method, but I'm a little skeptical. I'd hate for grease to escape (or dirt, sand, water, etc to get in) through the hole I created.

TIA!