[s-cars] My revelation: clunky front suspention

[Steve Voit]

Gents:

I'd thought I'd pass along my experience in hopes of any input from your
side.

 

Having cured stock front suspension noise 20k miles ago (tie rod, etc) I
have been listening to a symphony of noises 12 mos after installing my
Eibach/Bilstein/2Bennett camber plate suspension upgrade.  My 95.5 S6
currently has 75k miles.

My symptoms are as follows:

1.	When the car had sat for anything longer than a couple of minutes
(at airport or dry-cleaner) it would clunk upon movement initiation
2.	When accelerating or decelerating, the system seemed to take a 'set'
accompanied by a clunk, and not again until reversing that acceleration or
deceleration direction
3.	An overlay of clunking noises, traveling down the road, unnoticeable
by most any mechanic, but there and audible especially on smooth roads with
low tire noise.

I found a fantastic alignment/suspension specialist here in Seattle (after
my son's GTI rolled down our hill and jumped a 18" rockery at 25 mph) and
had him diagnose...  he found that my subframe was 1cm off front-to-rear
when comparing the RHS and LHS - as evidenced by the asymmetrical
utilization of the camber plate settings, and it was loose.  Tightening the
subframe and aligning again, he found the rear alignment to be strange -
calling prior 4-wheel alignment jobs into question.  Using a stethoscope to
listen, he found that the 2B plates were noisy, and swapped in one of my
original camber plates to prove to himself - noise was gone.  I relayed to
him the web-lore about Bilstein insterts potentially being loose and he did
not agree>  he pointed to noise that Bilsteins do cause because of the
rubbing between the polished rod and the case, but they would have to be
very loose for any housing/insert noise in his estimation.  I also had him
dial in some additional caster in front for greater centering force.

Results:

*	Noise #1, 3 persist, but #2 is gone, theoretically because the
subframe is now secure.
*	Noise #1,3 due to 2Bennett camber plates, proven to my satisfaction.
To prove/demonstrate, turn the strut shaft with a large hex key on the strut
shaft itself > it will rotate the shaft and the metal spherical bearing
(heim joint) on the camber plate.  The motion is of a 'slip-stick' variety
and is accompanied by a clunking noise upon movement initiation.  You have
to feel/hear this to believe that micro-rotation of that spherical ball
actually sounds like a clunk, but I did and I do!
*	My handling on fast sweepers is dramatically improved with a proper
rear-wheel alignment.  It is night and day.

 

Outcome:

*          I like a quiet suspension and will most likely switch back to the
factory plates, albeit slotted for proper camber.

*          This will cause me to forego my caster preference, but it's a
tradeoff I'm OK with

 

Question:

*          If any lister has 2B plates installed and finds them factory
quiet pls let me know your secret.  The metallic spherical joints are very
tight, they simply make noise with (micro) rotation of any sort

 

Thanks,

Steve V.  95.5 S6 Seattle