What is arm and leg price?
I had Dealer quote $325 for bearing mount and I provide parts.
No alignment.
I had a Euro Shop quote $400. No alignment.
I have a light piping sound in low speed turns. Dealer says one spring bearing is bad. This was an ECS HD Spring Install Kit.
The labor is $400 to do the spring swap, plus $150 for the alignment, so it costs me $650 every time I do a spring swap. The springs were $300, and the ECS HD kit was about $300. I'm into this for $1200 so far, and to put it all back to stock is going to cost me another $650 in labor. Close to 2K wasted.
I just installed VWR springs with the same ECS HD kit and i'm getting similar noises. No clicks just creeking and noises over harsh bumps. Its fine 90% of the time. I did install them myself. So I don't think the springs are the problem.
Do anyone know which bolts/ nuts need to be torqued down with the car fully on the ground?
Edit: I also notice more noise when its cold in the mornings. Its been around 40- 45 degrees out here
Yea, it's worse for me when it's cold (below 35), but it always happens over certain bumps or undulations in the road. Don't know about which bolts need to be tightened, but Emmanuele Design has a nice vid on their site on how to install/uninstall the springs - might help you
Please forgive the noob question but...are these HD kits essential when installing springs?
I was under the impression that they're not needed, but stock ones can wear out quickly, and that these HD ones should last a long time and not make noise.
No you can get OEM strut bearings and strut mounts but I thought it would be a good idea to swap them out with something more heavy duty since the springs lower the car 1.2 for both VWR and ED's.
Also I was at 26k miles so it was also a preventive maintenance thing.
I did the same, thinking it would be a good preventative maint thing.
This thread has completely convinced me not to mess with lowering my car. OP I am sorry your problems.
Thanks. I'm wishing I had never touched it. Could have put all the money into my sons college savings plan. I really am feeling pissed about the whole thing.
I wouldn't let this scare you out of springs, it seems like either a problem with the mounts/bearings or something wrong with the install.
OP: I wouldn't go try to put it back to stock so soon. Have you re-torqued everything? Strut nut on top, the 3 strut bolts on top on either side, ball joints?
I noticed when I first started hearing the noise and got my car on a lift that my spring seemed to move around more then usual when I really put in effort to pull on it. So I ran my top strut nut down with an impact and it stopped the noise.... until it got colder out and now the noise is coming back over very harsh bumps. I'm going to try to re-torque everything with the car's weight on the suspension and see if that helps
EDIT: BTW I have put over 600 miles on the new suspension, idk how many miles you have on your but maybe it just needs to be re-torqued to spec after some driving
All excellent ideas, but I don't have the garage, tools, or time to pull the springs myself. At this point I'm going to throw in the towel and go back to stock - this has been too much of a nightmare for me.
This is the exception, not the rule. It sucks that this is happening to the OP but it is not the norm. I have had the same springs, Emmanuele Design, for several months now and they have performed perfectly. As a matter of fact, I'm going to be getting the Emmanuele Design rear sway bar soon. It was designed to work in conjunction with their springs. The lowered, more aggressive stance and the increase in the performance of the handling of the vehicle make it well worth it.
I agree my experience is the exception. It's got to be the parts or the install, but I'm at the end of my rope. I had the shop look at all the parts and check the install, so I'm not sure what else to do to check the parts. And the shop itself is highly reputable German shop and they've bent over backwards to look at the car multiple times. No one can figure out this darn thing out. I guess I could find another shop? But I'm going to pay big bucks in labor to have this torn apart again. I can't keep throwing $650 bucks at this car over and over again, and I can't keep spending time worrying about dropping off and picking up my car and getting my son from school, etc.
Anyway, if there weren't tons of good people on here and other forums with successful spring installs, this wouldn't drive me so crazy. But I would say 99% of the people have springs installed with no issues. I seem to be the unfortunate exception.
My issues are worse in cold as well.
Just got some lithium grease today. I've read of others having noises go away once everything was lubricated.
Good luck, hope that works.
Maybe it's just me but I would be extremely upset.
They didn't fully tighten something.
Nothing should squeak or make any type of sound. Maybe if it's too low your tire might be rubbing but nothing from your suspension should sound.
I would go in to the shop upset and explain to the owner or whoever is in charge that they either fix the issue or to return to stock and to get a refund.
I've done many spring installs and never has that happened. Don't let them take advantage of you.
Yea, I'm going to have them take it all out and put the stock suspension back on.
