# Dropzone rear springs rattling



## ryan7o7 (May 6, 2004)

There is some rattling coming from my rear suspension. I have Dropzone lowering springs and everytime im not on a smooth road, there is rattling coming from the rear. I checked to make sure the spring is seated right on the shock grooves and it is. I was thinking it might be my shocks have worn out, but i dont know. There is only 50k miles on my '98 200sx. Or i was thinking the spring might be upside down, but its alot of work to flip it around so i dont want to do it if thats not the problem. 
-How my springs are installed:
On the dropzone springs there is like a rubber sleeve type thing (it is clear) and it goes over one side of the spring where it touches the shock, my sleeve is on the bottom. Any suggestions on what to do to stop rattling??


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## shift_of_legend (Jun 2, 2004)

The stock rubbers should prevent the noise. If not then cut a garden hose and slide over the fisrt two coils on each end.

I would definately bolt it off and inspect it though.

How do teh dropzones feel?
What shocks are you using?
how much do they lower the car?
Is the front still higher than the back?
What are teh spring rates?


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## chimmike (Oct 17, 2002)

that's what you get for buying CRAP springs.

how many times have we told you not to buy s*it products ryan707? hmm? how many hundreds of times? And you don't listen.

dropzone crap and obx crap. Really smart dude. You're just so smart.


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## ryan7o7 (May 6, 2004)

the springs have the rubber padding already on both sides. Wouldn't it be my shocks making the rattling noise??


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## ryan7o7 (May 6, 2004)

by the way im pleased with my obx stuff, but has anyone ever had this problem. Im thinking it has to be the shocks, but i dont know. any help??


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## BII (May 13, 2004)

You really do get what you pay for sometimes...


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## whitestallion10 (Jan 3, 2005)

So if you buy cheap springs, they will rattle?? That doesn't make any sense, why would they rattle??


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## ReVerm (Jan 13, 2003)

whitestallion10 said:


> So if you buy cheap springs, they will rattle?? That doesn't make any sense, why would they rattle??


If you buy cheaply designed springs or springs that were made with poor quality control, they will not seat properly or have insufficient free length. Both will cause rattling. In the case of "sleeve-over" coil-over conversion kits, the sleeves can also contribute to the noise.

BTW: If your dampers are rattling, they are dead. As in, they should not work at all (they should either be completely seized or full of slop). Your mounts could rattle, but that's rare. There's very little that could rattle in a macpherson strut mount unless one of the mounting bolts are loose or one of the rubber bushings inside have been completely flattened. And that doesn't happen very often.


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## ryan7o7 (May 6, 2004)

Well for some reason its only coming from the rear drivers side. I first thought it wouldn't be seated right like you said, but it is. Im not sure why it makes that rattling noise.


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## ReVerm (Jan 13, 2003)

ryan7o7 said:


> Well for some reason its only coming from the rear drivers side. I first thought it wouldn't be seated right like you said, but it is. Im not sure why it makes that rattling noise.


Does the spring come loose at full droop? That is, when you jack up that corner of the car using the side rail (and not the rear beam) until the wheels comes up off the ground, can you move the spring at all with your hand?


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## chimmike (Oct 17, 2002)

if they aren't even seated right or they don't look right, I can't imagine the spring rates are even close to spec on any of them.

which makes them DANGEROUS.

hence why we have the stickies on CRAP SPRINGS all over this forum.


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## ryan7o7 (May 6, 2004)

ReVerm said:


> Does the spring come loose at full droop? That is, when you jack up that corner of the car using the side rail (and not the rear beam) until the wheels comes up off the ground, can you move the spring at all with your hand?


Yea, you can move it when car is jacked up. Only a little and you have to move it hard.


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## ReVerm (Jan 13, 2003)

ryan7o7 said:


> Yea, you can move it when car is jacked up. Only a little and you have to move it hard.


That's a potential cause for the rattling. You can tie the spring down to the struts with zip ties to hold it in place. Where this won't help you in terms of safety, this will stop the noises that could come from the spring unseating at full droop (it happens a lot more often than you might think, especially on the street).


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## ryan7o7 (May 6, 2004)

ok. i'll try that tomorrow, and i'll let you know the results.


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## ryan7o7 (May 6, 2004)

zip ties didn't do anything. Yesterday i was looking at my springs because i was trying to figure out why it only rattles from one side, and i seen that part of the bumpstop is missing. I dont know how that happend but i must have lost it during spring upgrade. So, i bought new shocks. They are not installed yet, but today when i was driving i noticed a new noise. Its a squeeking noise, that is very very annoying. It only happens when i make a left turn and it sounds like its coming from the rear. Any ideas on what to check??? thanks


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## ReVerm (Jan 13, 2003)

ryan7o7 said:


> zip ties didn't do anything. Yesterday i was looking at my springs because i was trying to figure out why it only rattles from one side, and i seen that part of the bumpstop is missing. I dont know how that happend but i must have lost it during spring upgrade. So, i bought new shocks. They are not installed yet, but today when i was driving i noticed a new noise. Its a squeeking noise, that is very very annoying. It only happens when i make a left turn and it sounds like its coming from the rear. Any ideas on what to check??? thanks


Wow. You're really having no luck with this rear suspension. You might just want to go and install the new dampers rather than spending time now figuring out what that new squeaking is. The reason I say that is because this could be related to part of the bumpstop going missing.

I actually ran into a scenario a short while ago (when I still had my stock springs and struts) where I would get this incredibly annoying squeak coming from the passenger side rear suspension whenever it compressed. When I went back there to take a serious look at it, I found that the strut boot had separated into rings and that the top mount of the damper had actually "eaten" a few of these rings. I'm not sure how this happened, but several rings actually got stuck in the tiny gap between the mount and the strut shaft. As crazy as this sounds, I have a feeling something similar could have happened to you too. 

Of course, it could be a number of other things (most of which are much less bizzare), but new dampers are always good, and you'll be able to spot problems within the strut assembly more easily if you have it removed from your car.


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## ryan7o7 (May 6, 2004)

ReVerm said:


> Wow. You're really having no luck with this rear suspension. You might just want to go and install the new dampers rather than spending time now figuring out what that new squeaking is. The reason I say that is because this could be related to part of the bumpstop going missing.
> 
> I actually ran into a scenario a short while ago (when I still had my stock springs and struts) where I would get this incredibly annoying squeak coming from the passenger side rear suspension whenever it compressed. When I went back there to take a serious look at it, I found that the strut boot had separated into rings and that the top mount of the damper had actually "eaten" a few of these rings. I'm not sure how this happened, but several rings actually got stuck in the tiny gap between the mount and the strut shaft. As crazy as this sounds, I have a feeling something similar could have happened to you too.
> 
> Of course, it could be a number of other things (most of which are much less bizzare), but new dampers are always good, and you'll be able to spot problems within the strut assembly more easily if you have it removed from your car.


Yea bro, i think that might be what happened. The rattleing is coming from rear drivers side, and sqeeking is coming from rear passengers side. Im trying to find a deal on some shocks, and i will just replace the whole thing. The rings on the rear passenger shock are also coming off like yours. Im guessing the same thing might have happened. Anyone know where i could get a good shock replacement for a good deal??


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## ReVerm (Jan 13, 2003)

ryan7o7 said:


> Anyone know where i could get a good shock replacement for a good deal??


By "shock replacement", do you just mean places that can install new dampers or places that can also get the parts together for you too?


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## ryan7o7 (May 6, 2004)

the sqeeking stopped, but i still have the rattling. I was lookin at my setup and i noticed that the spring is really close to the top of the shock. I think that when the spring is compressed that it is bumping against the shock. But i dont know why it only comes from that drivers side one. Is the spring maybe upside down, or can it only go on one way?? The bottom of the spring is in the groves like its supposed to be.


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## pete? (Jul 6, 2004)

"the spring is really close to the top of the shock"

what does that mean? do you mean that there isn't much travel? are the drop zones sleeve overs? (you can screw them up and down to lower and raise them) ??? ill be you anything you have them wayyyyyyyy to low. also when you say "i bought new shocks" did you buy new OEM/GR2, or did you buy AGX? the only thing that could help you at all is a set of AGX shocks and koni bump stops. ANYTHING else you buy will only make you ride worse, mor dangerous, noisy.
a set of motiv rear mounts would help too, but idk when they will have another GB, and since they are more expencive than all 4 of your springs........i doubt your one to buy them (not calling you poor at all, just maybe a little cheap :thumbup: )


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## ryan7o7 (May 6, 2004)

I dont have coilovers, i have lowering springs. I mean that one of the coils on the spring is really close to the top of the shock.


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## ReVerm (Jan 13, 2003)

ryan7o7 said:


> I dont have coilovers, i have lowering springs. I mean that one of the coils on the spring is really close to the top of the shock.


By "the top of the shock", are you referring to the upper spring seat? If so, your springs should be touching both the top and bottom spring seats at all times.

BTW: For future reference, try not to just repeat the same thing if someone doesn't get what you're saying. Using the same words to describe what you're looking for isn't making things any clearer, and it makes you look like an idiot (which I'm sure you don't want).


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