front shocks

**Siciliano15** · 10-10-2009, 06:03 AM

i finally got around to installing the front shocks (Strano Bilsteins) yesterday and keeping the stock springs. i did it in a shop with a friend of mine who is a mechanic. i also used to be a mechanic so the job itself wasnt very confusing. only thing is now after the install, if i hit a bump in the road with the driver side wheel, it sounds like something is loose because it will sound like a loud thump sound. passenger side wheel doesnt do this. i already checked the following things:

1. 2 bolts from bottom of shock to lower control arm are tight
2. 4 bolts from upper control arm to shock tower are tight
3. balljoint bolt with cotter pin is tight
4. everything is lined up correctly

what could be causing this thump im hearing? also, in the instructions on ls1howto.com, i saw something about a bump stop that goes on right after the metal cap....... nowhere in my work do i remember any bump stops coming off the stock shocks and going onto the new ones. i doubt that has anything to do with it though cause im on stock springs and theres no way im bottoming out.

**allbaugh_04** · 10-10-2009, 07:00 AM

Perhaps the the piece that sits in the spring perch? Did you install that?

**Siciliano15** · 10-10-2009, 08:59 AM

i did....

**Joe00SS** · 10-10-2009, 03:20 PM

Swaybar endlink?

**Siciliano15** · 10-10-2009, 03:31 PM

Originally Posted by Joe00SS

Swaybar endlink?

checked that too. it was loose. tightened it up..... no difference

**Joe00SS** · 10-10-2009, 03:38 PM

What about the torx screws under the master that are a pain to get to?

**Joe00SS** · 10-10-2009, 03:44 PM

Caliper bolts? Bad shock?

**Blue28** · 10-10-2009, 07:25 PM

It's your shock shaft nut.

**allbaugh_04** · 10-10-2009, 07:58 PM

Thats possible, hopefully its not that. I doubt that...

**Siciliano15** · 10-11-2009, 06:00 PM

checked all the bolts and the torx ones too. only bolt i havent checked is the shaft nut bolt. sure hope its not a defective shock that would suck. gonna try to get that shaft nut looked at tomorrow. hope thats all it is.

**allbaugh_04** · 10-12-2009, 02:07 AM

It's not too hard to take it all back out. I've done it several times already. No worries.

**Siciliano15** · 10-12-2009, 06:53 AM

Originally Posted by allbaugh_04

It's not too hard to take it all back out. I've done it several times already. No worries.

yea its not that bad just time consuming. wat i did was order a new shock tower bracket and isolator cause the old one was a little corroded looking anyway so no point in doing the work twice. should be in tonight so will install it tomorrow.

**allbaugh_04** · 10-14-2009, 06:12 PM

cool, hopefully it stops rattling then

**Siciliano15** · 10-15-2009, 04:55 PM

thanks to everyone. installed the new shock tower mount and made sure that nut was totally tight and no more rattle. car handles and rides so much better. only thing im hoping is that the front settles back down again because it seems like its sitting higher in the front now than it did on the stock decarbons. still on stock springs.

**allbaugh_04** · 10-15-2009, 05:42 PM

Ya, did you make sure it was compressed so you could put the nut all the way to the bottom of those threads? I'm sure you did this time.

Sometimes it does take a while to settle, but not long...take it for a spin and it should settle pretty quickly.

**Siciliano15** · 10-15-2009, 09:40 PM

Originally Posted by allbaugh_04

Ya, did you make sure it was compressed so you could put the nut all the way to the bottom of those threads? I'm sure you did this time.

Sometimes it does take a while to settle, but not long...take it for a spin and it should settle pretty quickly.

the nut is def all the way in now. only other thing i can think of is maybe the new shock tower braces have to take some time to settle in also. its noticeably higher though by almost an inch by the looks of it