Hi Guys,

With help from Rev Sam & many other posts I recently replaced the upper shock mounts, lower shock bushes & upper control arm bushes (with Powerflex) on my 2003 XKR. I now have a substantial rattle from the front end over rough road surfaces.
I used Welsh Ent. upper shock mounts, the old factory ones were falling apart. I used powerflex bushes on the upper control arms. Unfortunately the pack they sent me was short 4x of the washers, I instead re-installed the large stepped washers from the original setup back to front on the outter side of the control arms. They appeared to be roughly the same width. Powerflex are sending me more washers but they'll take weeks to arrive & I'd really rather not pull the bolts out & wrestle with the shims all over again if I can help it...!

Can anybody think of anything else that might cause this? It certainly wasn't nearly that bad before I did all this work.
One local mechanic thought there should be a insulating pad between the upper shock mount & the shock tower but I could see no reference to this in the JTIS or other videos, nor was there anything on the original struts when I took them out...?

Is there anything else I should look for or do I just need to take the car off the road & wait to get the missing washers from Powerflex?

Thanks guys - any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

Sway bar drop link?

 

Thanks. How do I check that?

 

If you don't properly tighten the center bolt at top of shock it makes this noise. Though my first thought was of the upper wishbone bushes. They can make a racket when something is off with them. Last time it happened to me I noticed the noise was weight (weighted vs. Unweighted) related.

John

 

I torqued the centre shock bolt to what the JTIS said - 17Nm from memory for the adaptive shock. I thought at the time this seems really light?
Also had a horrible thought over night (about 3am to be precise) that perhaps the bore on the new lower shock bushes was too big (wrong bushes supplied)? It never occurred to be to check it against the bolt...?
How likely is that?

 

I'd guess anti roll bar bushings. Had the same issue on my 05 XKR. Easy fix.
Regards,

 

Thanks White Bear. I replaced those about a month ago so at least I know they're not to blame.

 

I reread your post, I don't recall any insulation pad.

I never replaced lower shock bush, just bought need shocks so I can't speculate on that. It's too bad that you can't reproduce the noise at rest.

Can you say more about the rattle? When does it occurring, which side, straight or turning?

The spring is properly seated in the plastic holder ?

 

Jeff, I keep coming back to the scary fing noise mine made when the upper bushes wore out. You are missing washers from powerflex. Did you have enough of the old washers to put one in each position while waiting for the replacement ?

Btw, after installing the Powerflex the next time you have to pull those bolts is much much easier than what you just went through.

 

Jeff, on the Welsh upper mounts. Did you put in your own rivets or did they come already installed?
I ask because we could not get their rivets to hold under pressure and I wonder if they may have come apart during install. Other than that, the lower shock bushing should have a 12 MM sleeve in it, anything larger would cause a problem.

Wayne

 

Thanks Johnken. Rattle happens over any uneven surface. Doesn't seem to matter whether turning or straight ahead. Sounds like somethings very loose.
What do you mean re spring seated in plastic holder?

 

I've sourced some matching replacement washers and will try and get them fitted today.
I have to say I have a horrible feeling that that is not what's causing the rattle...
If anybody thinks of any other possible causes please let me know. Cheers Jeff.

 

Jeff, I was thinking of the graduated circular plastic piece that the bottom of the spring conforms to and sits in when I asked.

It was a shot in the dark, I hope it is the replacement washers you mentioned. Please let us know how you do. I once had the same thing, a horrible noise related to bumps, but clearly related to weighting / unweighting something "up there" in the front suspension. It was the upper bushings.

Like I said, its going to be much easier to get the bolt out this time, and I hope you get to the bottom of the issue mate.

John

 

Thanks guys. Well replaced the washers and put all the factory shims in the correct positions and it hasn't made any difference whatsoever.
Took a mechanic for a drive and he thought it sounded like sway bar noise which is odd cause I replaced those bushes a few months ago.
I'll check to see if perhaps the bolts have worked loose, other than that I'm stumped.

 

I'm going backwards on this one. I checked the sway bar bushings and tightened them up a bit. Took it for test drive. Noise still there and then I noticed a small amount of smoke coming from the left side of the bonnet. Straight back to the garage couldn't see any smoke when I got back but there was strong burning smell - perhaps electrical?
Last thought on the wrattle issue. I only replaced the main sway bar bushed not the end ones. Could these cause such a noise?
So far I've tried fixing small suspension issue and made it much worse, and for revenge the car is now trying to set itself on fire...

 

Jeff sorry I was wrong about the upper bushes. When you said you replaced the anti sway bushes I thought you were speaking of the ends by the link. I've been surprised how fast these can wear out, even more surprised by the improvement felt replacing the link itself (inexpensive too).

Now we're getting down to what else can it be. I'd get a couple of links, btw the rear wear faster on my car. Let us know. John

 

Hi Guys,
I STILL haven't managed to solve this. I replaced the sway bar drop links today thinking that maybe that could be the cause - once again, it made no difference whatsoever.
I can't be the sway bar (although a mechanic thought it sounded like sway bar noise), and it only happened when I replaced the upper control arm bushes (with Powerflex), the upper shock mounts with Welsh Ent ones, and the lower shock bushes.
Can anybody think what in that ugrade could cause such a pronounced rattle?
I can't afford to give it to the local dealer & pay $130/hr on top of what I've already paid for all the parts to get it sorted. Besides, if I wanted to do that I wouldn't have bothered doing all the work myself..
ANY advice would be greatly appreciated, I've run out of ideas.

 

Jeff, I recall someone who replaced the same bushes but had a tough time getting the old ones out. This left old debris from the outside of the old bushes in the A arm. As I recall the new bushings were forced in, strange noises results. Really just brainstorming now, you said you're sure all the nuts in the engine compartment are tight right? That's the first thing I thought of - lose ones make this exact noise (did it once myself).

You can't reproduce the noise pressing up down on front bumper right? I'd think that would ID a broken shock.

Does jacking up one front side make the noise? Let there pressure out of that hydraulic jack, she comes down fast - noise?

Well I'm rooting for you. Keep us posted.

 

Jeff, you don't have a location in your profile, so that would be a good idea, so someone in your area might be able to give you a hand.

 

Hi Guys. I have triple checked all the nuts and bolts. All are torqued to within specs. The control arm bushes seem fine, I pulled them out again and checked them, the shims are all in the right places. I'm starting to think that perhaps it's the upper shock mounts. cjd777 mentioned them coming apart on install. Has anybody else had problems with Welsh upper shock mounts?