[JTO24]

Hey folks,

I brought this up in another thread and thought the saga was finished but sadly this creaking noise has returned

Back in October I had a shop install AST springs on my 6mt G80. Install seemed to go well but a few weeks later I noticed this creaking noise coming from the passenger side front suspension when going over certain bumps/transitions from driveway to garage pad etc. I was able to record the sound here:

I informed the shop who did the install and they had me bring it back to check it over... they disassembled the fronts and reinstalled. They said it seemed that perhaps the spring wasn't fully seated in the upper rubber mount so they readjusted things and I left... a few miles down the road I heard no noise from the passenger side but some noise from the driver's side now. Turned around and they redid that side but when I left I still heard the noise going over some bad train tracks.

A few weeks after, I went to BMW for my break-in service and had them take a shot at diagnosing the sound while there. They claimed that the spring's coils contacted each other more so than the stock springs so to mitigate the noise they greased the coils... I had a feeling this was a temporary fix and sure enough that lasted maybe 3 days.

Then, at the suggestion of Tom at EAS, I purchased two new dust boots and brought the car to ACM since they've done a good amount of these AST installs. They replaced the dust boots and reassembled everything the way they would normally install springs; adding silicon spray to the top of the dust boots where the springs seat. NO NOISE!!! I was so happy... but, sure enough 3-4 weeks later I was driving on some rough roads in Philly and heard the noise again and again it seems to only be on the passenger side!

I now have no clue what to do... I have faith in ACM and it seems the noise is only coming from the passenger side. Could something else be causing this? Could a bushing in a control arm or sway bar be binding up somehow? I feel I'm the only person in the G8x community with this issue. I've thrown a lot of money at this problem already... I'm tempted to just reinstall the stock springs but, knowing myself, I'll want to drop it again. So it's either live with it and be happy with the stance or [potentially] become noise free and go back to stock... or take a gamble on a different set-up like KW HAS.

Has anyone else experienced this? If so, have you figured out the root cause??

I type this as the Eagles are losing so it's a great Sunday so far

[mattburks]

JTO24
I 100% have the EXACT same thing happening with my ASTs! Sounds like a slight metal on metal crunch. I myself haven't done anything but I've put close to 8-9K on my ASTs and its very apparent. Seems to be most noisy in cold weather.

I second... has anyone else solved this issue?

[mattssi]

I'm sorry to hear this is still occurring! I don't have this issue, but I only have a few hundred miles on the springs. No issues have crept up w/ the cold weather either.

I can say that is a familiar sound, from cars of the past that I've owned and lowered, but I never bothered to really investigate.

The fronts are so easy/simple, it really can't be that many things. I hope you get pointed in the right direction. I also hope I don't fall victim to the noise.

[mike@x-ph.com]

I recommend sending the video to your vendor or AST and get their opinion on what's going on.

[mattburks]

tom @ eas

Love the drop man, but has anyone else complained of anything similar to the above? If not, then it sounds like me and JTO24 fell victim to install issue? Thank you sincerely in advance for your comment as I know your simply 3rd party sir.

[tom @ eas]

We've installed a bunch of these, haven't had any issues or complaints here.

That doesn't sound like something a spring would make, I would look at the strut itself and surrounding bushings around it, as something is making the noise. If this were a spring issue - it would most likely be present on both sides (same axle), not one side. Or something was not reassembled correctly that's not obvious.

Is there any paint damage on the spring coils? It's normal for springs to touch slightly under compression, but binding constantly would likely have a good amount of paint scraping. Unfortunately, without seeing the car first hand - it makes things really difficult to diagnose.

[iviegatron]

Move the spring to the driver side and see if the sound follows. If it does then it's the spring, if not then something else is going on that's specific to the passenger side.

[JTO24]

Thanks everyone! Some good suggestions to dive into. @mattburks I'm sorry you're experiencing the same thing but, selfishly, it's slightly relieving that I'm not the only one.

I did contact the vendor from which I bought the springs and they're sending the video to AST just in case. I'll take the wheel off next weekend and look to see if I can see any paint rubbing off the spring... to be continued.

[mattburks]

JTO24 saddled up with you partner! In the grand scheme of things, I’m not sweating it as it’s rather minimal. Sure would be super nice to ideally make it go away. Or in the least isolate what’s crunching. Aside from typical novice spirited driving my car is a commuter. Hasn’t seen track etc so I’d be shocked if struts or something of the nature failed within 11k miles and 8-9 months of ownership.

[JDR_G80]

I have this same issue with the AST's. Same sound coming from the front passenger. I put like 500 miles until I started hearing it, right around when the weather dropped. It's loudest when I'm going slow.

I haven't got it looked at, I'm putting spacers on next month and figured I would take a look while the wheel is off. I don't notice anything affecting driving, just that creak. THAT CREAK!!!

[Sean@ASTMoton]

Originally Posted by JTO24

Hey folks,

I brought this up in another thread and thought the saga was finished but sadly this creaking noise has returned

Back in October I had a shop install AST springs on my 6mt G80. Install seemed to go well but a few weeks later I noticed this creaking noise coming from the passenger side front suspension when going over certain bumps/transitions from driveway to garage pad etc. I was able to record the sound here:

I informed the shop who did the install and they had me bring it back to check it over... they disassembled the fronts and reinstalled. They said it seemed that perhaps the spring wasn't fully seated in the upper rubber mount so they readjusted things and I left... a few miles down the road I heard no noise from the passenger side but some noise from the driver's side now. Turned around and they redid that side but when I left I still heard the noise going over some bad train tracks.

A few weeks after, I went to BMW for my break-in service and had them take a shot at diagnosing the sound while there. They claimed that the spring's coils contacted each other more so than the stock springs so to mitigate the noise they greased the coils... I had a feeling this was a temporary fix and sure enough that lasted maybe 3 days.

Then, at the suggestion of Tom at EAS, I purchased two new dust boots and brought the car to ACM since they've done a good amount of these AST installs. They replaced the dust boots and reassembled everything the way they would normally install springs; adding silicon spray to the top of the dust boots where the springs seat. NO NOISE!!! I was so happy... but, sure enough 3-4 weeks later I was driving on some rough roads in Philly and heard the noise again and again it seems to only be on the passenger side!

I now have no clue what to do... I have faith in ACM and it seems the noise is only coming from the passenger side. Could something else be causing this? Could a bushing in a control arm or sway bar be binding up somehow? I feel I'm the only person in the G8x community with this issue. I've thrown a lot of money at this problem already... I'm tempted to just reinstall the stock springs but, knowing myself, I'll want to drop it again. So it's either live with it and be happy with the stance or [potentially] become noise free and go back to stock... or take a gamble on a different set-up like KW HAS.

Has anyone else experienced this? If so, have you figured out the root cause??

I type this as the Eagles are losing so it's a great Sunday so far

Originally Posted by mattburks

JTO24
I 100% have the EXACT same thing happening with my ASTs! Sounds like a slight metal on metal crunch. I myself haven't done anything but I've put close to 8-9K on my ASTs and its very apparent. Seems to be most noisy in cold weather.

I second... has anyone else solved this issue?

Originally Posted by Jerseydents

I have this same issue with the AST's. Same sound coming from the front passenger. I put like 500 miles until I started hearing it, right around when the weather dropped. It's loudest when I'm going slow.

I haven't got it looked at, I'm putting spacers on next month and figured I would take a look while the wheel is off. I don't notice anything affecting driving, just that creak. THAT CREAK!!!

We were notified of this thread and wanted to come in and inform we are looking into this at the moment and collecting more info from those experiencing an issue. You can reach us directly at sales@astsuspension-na.com!

[moproblems]

Do AST springs have isolators on the coils? It being as the weather gets colder maybe it's coils contacting each other towards the bottom of the spring.

[mattssi]

Originally Posted by moproblems

Do AST springs have isolators on the coils? It being as the weather gets colder maybe it's coils contacting each other towards the bottom of the spring.

They do.

[JTO24]

Originally Posted by Sean@ASTMoton

We were notified of this thread and wanted to come in and inform we are looking into this at the moment and collecting more info from those experiencing an issue. You can reach us directly at sales@astsuspension-na.com!

Thanks, Sean! I appreciate the support on this! Love the stance and ride but if I could get rid of this creaking noise the car would be perfect again.

[mattburks]

Originally Posted by Sean@ASTMoton

We were notified of this thread and wanted to come in and inform we are looking into this at the moment and collecting more info from those experiencing an issue. You can reach us directly at sales@astsuspension-na.com!

Thank you Sean. Email sent!

[JTO24]

So I just took the wheel off on my passenger side front to see if I could find any signs of wear on the spring... I didn't see anything too crazy but it does look as though there is some wear on the rubber isolator causing some of the spring to show through.




What's interesting, if I compare my pics to that of a pic taken by tom @ eas it appears as though my isolators are in a different position? Unless the springs in EAS's pic are technically upside down from the orientation to be mounted on the car. What do you guys think? Sean@ASTMoton

[mattssi]

Here are mine:

[tom @ eas]

Originally Posted by JTO24

So I just took the wheel off on my passenger side front to see if I could find any signs of wear on the spring... I didn't see anything too crazy but it does look as though there is some wear on the rubber isolator causing some of the spring to show through.




What's interesting, if I compare my pics to that of a pic taken by tom @ eas it appears as though my isolators are in a different position? Unless the springs in EAS's pic are technically upside down from the orientation to be mounted on the car. What do you guys think? Sean@ASTMoton

Front springs can only be installed in one direction, it's correct in the pictures.

The the insulators look a bit weathered, is there any type of oil/fluid on the outside that's causing the dirt to stick?

[JTO24]

Originally Posted by tom @ eas

Front springs can only be installed in one direction, it's correct in the pictures.

The the insulators look a bit weathered, is there any type of oil/fluid on the outside that's causing the dirt to stick?

I know the BMW dealership greased the springs at one point but ACM said they cleaned the grease off the springs and added silicon spray to the rubber dust boots instead. I could still feel some trace amounts of grease in the areas I touched, though. I do drive this car daily in Northeast weather conditions, so dirt and debris will be plentiful.

[tom @ eas]

Originally Posted by JTO24

I know the BMW dealership greased the springs at one point but ACM said they cleaned the grease off the springs and added silicon spray to the rubber dust boots instead. I could still feel some trace amounts of grease in the areas I touched, though. I do drive this car daily in Northeast weather conditions, so dirt and debris will be plentiful.

Silicone is safe for rubber, so we're good. Dust/Dirt shouldn't daamge the boot, but we'll see what AST has to say - if this is even a concern.

Does the creaking have any change with colder/warmer weather?

[JTO24]

Originally Posted by tom @ eas

Silicone is safe for rubber, so we're good. Dust/Dirt shouldn't daamge the boot, but we'll see what AST has to say - if this is even a concern.

Does the creaking have any change with colder/warmer weather?

Hard to say for sure.. had the springs installed originally in mid October when temperatures were in the mid 50s and beginning to drop. I didn't hear the noise right away - at least a couple of weeks after so maybe when the temps dropped down a bit more? Ever since it's stayed cold 20s-40s and I've heard it. Haven't had enough days over 50 to see if it's temperature dependent.

[tom @ eas]

Originally Posted by JTO24

Hard to say for sure.. had the springs installed originally in mid October when temperatures were in the mid 50s and beginning to drop. I didn't hear the noise right away - at least a couple of weeks after so maybe when the temps dropped down a bit more? Ever since it's stayed cold 20s-40s and I've heard it. Haven't had enough days over 50 to see if it's temperature dependent.

I'm guessing it may be since we're not hearing anything on the West Coast. It's been 70s all week here.