Lowered car... now comes the clunking...

[askeramota]

Hey all,

I just got some eibach springs and koni adjustable dampers installed on all four corners.

I love the ride - except for one problem. When I go over even the slightest dip or bump, it sounds like the front of my car is slamming against something.

When I looked at the bottom of the car, it didn't seem like it was too close to the ground, I also didn't notice anything scratched.

It makes me think that perhaps the upper control arm is bumping against something.

Has anyone else had this problem after lowering their sonata? And if so, how did they get it fixed?

I'd rather not go back to oem springs if at all possible.

thanks!

[askeramota]

I should probably also add that I have a 2006 V6 Sonata.

[Dave-S]

With less suspension travel, it's possible the suspension is bottoming out on some bumps. I have that problem with my lowered Camaro which also has Eibach springs but it was worse because my bump stops were worn out. I replaced the bump stops with new ones and at least the noise is now gone.

[gotv33]

It's your upper control arm hitting the fender. Take a flash light and look up into the front fender well, you will probably see some marks where its hitting. Try see if you can stiffen up your koni's or you will have to open up the fender where it hits to allow more room for the control arm to travel.

[askeramota]

Thanks for your response! I actually got the bump stop, and all rubber seats replaced when I had everything installed.

But I also had mevotech upper ball joints installed to make sure my alignment came out good. Then after a few more hours of searching I started finding people talk about the upper ball joints hitting the strut frame fairly easily when the car is lowered.

I did see some people torch a hole in their frame where the ball joint hits to give more clearance, and the issue disappeared.

I'm wondering if there's another way, such as sticking some rubber or poly padding between the ball joint and frame. Just not sure how much that'd effect my ride.

Also, if I did torch a small hole to give clearance, I wonder how much that'd effect the rigidity of the frame, esp during harder cornering. It almost seems like I'd have to add a strut bar to get some more stability if I went the torch route.

Any ideas?

[askeramota]

Thanks gotv, I'll check it out and see if it's hitting the fender and let everyone know what I find.

[askeramota]

Also wanted to add that I've already stiffened the konis to the medium setting. It definitely helped but not didn't stop the sound. I'll stiffen it all the way and see if it eliminates the sound. If it does, I'll just slowly dial back the setting until I can find the sweet spot.

[askeramota]

Just took a look by the fender on the inside and noticed it is getting hit by the control arm/ball joint. Tried tightening the konis to the tightest setting and while it killed the noise for the most part, it's definitely still there on bigger pavement changes. So I'm going to try and clear the area being hit with some pliers once I get home and see if that solves the problem. Would rather not drive at the stiffest setting forever lol.

I'll also take a better look under the car to make sure I'm not bottoming the car out anywhere.

Thanks for the help everyone, will update once some progress has been made.

[askeramota]

So I stiffened up my koni's to the tightest setting and it definitely helps reduce the amount of clunking, but it's still there.

Now, i'm thinking about cutting a hole in the front strut tower. But I wonder, if I cut the strut tower to give the control arm some more clearance... and i hit a big bump... will I bottom out my frame instead?

I definitely don't want to do that.

When I look under my car, I have about three to four inches of clearance between the floor and bottom frame. As far as tires clearance, i can fit one finger between the fender and tire (16 inch tires).

I'm not sure if that keeps me in the clear (in terms of bottoming out the frame on a big level change on the road) or not.

If i cut the strut tower and give the control arm more access, would I bottom out the frame?

I also wonder, If I removed my adjustable movie upper arm balljoints, could I eliminate the clunking?

And finally, I saw adjustable front control arms at shark racing. Would those allow me to just use OEM balljoints if I removed the Movi's?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[v33sonata]

Why all of a sudden are you guys having this issue? This was never an issue in the past? I'm wondering if this is an install error or something.......?