Shock knock fix confirmed and rear trim knocked out today too *phew*
Pet peeve fix-it day today.
The BIG one: rear shock knock that we all know and love. Based on what a few people had said I decided to try the shortened collar fix. The short of it: take off the nut on the top of the shock, then the washer and rubber (pry it up with a screw driver or the like). Then grab the exposed collar with some plyers and pull it up. I then ground about 2mm off each collar with my dremel and put everything back together. Note that you may have to push the top of the shock around to center it before the collar will fit back in to place. You shouldn't be able to see any of the collar when you put the rubber bushing back over top of it. Tap everything down with a hammer before replacing the nut. And VOILA!
This worked beyond my best expectations! My car is completely quiet now and I used to have a really bad case of knocking. The worst was that over tiny bumps the rears would squeak a lot and over heavy bumps they would make the very loud THUNK. This got rid of both of those problems - even over train tracks etc (although you may want to go for 3mm as I heard a faint tap when I went over the tracks, I just got tired after 1/2 hour of grinding). My car is now rattle and knock free and sounds like new! Best DIY fix up I've done to the lude. Go do it NOW! Thanks to Phamine for first suggesting this to me.
While the dremel was out I decided to hit that nasty rear trim. I took the whole trim off using the helms method - unscrew the screws, then push them *gently* back down into the hole and pull up on whole bracket and it should come out relatively easy. If you do it right you shouldn't break the bracket. Or you can do it like ds2000 suggested and slide it out of the brackets but I could see that getting a little tedious. Cut off the remaining trim, sanded it down and paint. Painted the windshield wipers while I was at it too. Got dark tonight but maybe I'll take pics tomorrow. Thanks to everyone in the trim thread for this idea. A good days work. Now I just need a whole new paint job and my car would look like new again.
Can you elaborate a little on how to exactly remove the rear trim? I'd like to paint mine instead of buying new, but I don't want to break it and have to buy new anyway. Maybe scan the helms page or something? Or type it please? I'd really appreciate it!
__________________ 2008 BMW 335i Coupe - Jet Black/Black Dakota Leather/Brushed Aluminum Trim, Premium Package, Sport Package, STEPTRONIC, Logic7, Comfort Access, Heated Front Seats, iPod and USB Adapter
EDIT: I decided the other method of sliding the trim out may be better. When I tried to reinsert some of the screws into the grommets I realized they had busted when I had pushed the screws back in yesterday. so much for that idea.
SO just look under the rubber flap thats attached to the molding.unscrew the screws and just lift up a little so that there is enough room to to slide the molding free of the brackets but you don't have to take the brackets totally out of the car. Remove one end and slide it out.
Ya, I'm real happy with it. Still sounds perfect... which means quiet. Every once in a while you can hear a light tap in the passenger rear but I have come to the conclusion that it must be coming from the jack, since it's right over the same area. Every one always says the knock is worse on the passenger side and I'm pretty convinced it's the jack because otherwise it doesn't make sense on a symmetrical system. Anyways, so far so good!
I had the knock before I had aftermarket and after putting sport springs w/kyb's. So yes, it is works for that too. I'm pretty sure that most of it originates from the collar hitting the top washer because the bushing compacts over time, so it really shouldn't be affected by different springs/shocks unless your knock is coming from some loose suspension parts.
How the heck do I get the bolts off the top which you spoke about first.. The entire shock spins with them because they are so rusted on.. what am I supposed to do to hold the shock still and is it supposed to spin haha.. never saw that before. ~ Brett
I'll kill the threads on it if I grab it above the bolt, I'll probably end up jacking the rear end of the car up and having my brother hold the shock still while I try to crack that nut loose.
What is this "Collar" thing you speak of which you ground down to prevent the knocking? I wasn't able to figure that part out.. thanks ~ Brett
damn...i seem to be the onlyone with the worst knock problems...I got the replacement collars from honda, that are about 3 mm shorter than the stock ones, I replaced those, and the clunking is still there. I have taken my rear suspension appart about 4 times in one week trying to fix this, but I cant find what it is. Its not the shock knock thats for sure, cause even after replacing the collars, the clunk was the same. I came to the conclusion it was the ball joint, I re-tightened it, and greased the hell out of it, and its still there...
On a smooth road, I got no problem, the the smallest pavement, rock, un-even road or even road reflectors trigger this clunk...so you can imaging its almost pretty much constant...whle switching lanes, or going on old roads...its just there...a lil clonk clonk clonk clonk, everything is tight, and tight and tight, my bushings are all clean, sway bar endlink all good... but this only happens on the passenger rear side, everywhere else is fine...i m out of options, i almost got a new control arm today, but I didnt want to spend the 200 for it...I really dont know where else to look
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I have a terrible clunking problem too, just like si_g. I replaced the collar with the new one from honda but it didnt help at all. Any suggestions on what else to try?
me too, i have koni's and eibach and all them time ive had the car ive had cluncking from the back i decide to sort it out and took a 1/4" off the collars and its still making the same noise.
just to be sure i took my car to a garage and got them to check the bushes under the car and they said they were fine
yea, i m still having that same issue...i have narrowed it down to it being the ball joint. If you jack up your car, and move the wheel up and down with both hands and some pressure, you should be able to notice a lil bit of play in the upper control arm and knuckle. The ball joint at that intersection seems to be the problem. You can also use a rubber hammer, and hit the your tire in several areas, or even midway on the knuckle...that helped to recreate the sound to help me narrow it down. If you follow this procedure and do it on both rear sides, you should notice that one side is fine and the other is not (unless your car is really messed up), mine is on the passenger side rear. The only reason why I havent tried to replace it is cause honda sells the entire arm cause those ball joints cant be pressed out, so you have to buy the whole arm...I may have a break cause i got rear ended yesterday, nothin major, but my trunk is not lining up right, and my rear bumper is screwed, so I ll tell the body shop that I have been hearing all sorts of noises since I got hit...and hopefully they fix it along with my trunk and bumper hehe so we ll see.
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NOTE:
My domain name has changed. If any pics I have posted in the past appear to be missing you will need to copy the old link of the image(right click on the red X or not found link and click view the properties of the image, or quote my post to get the URL), remove the gzone.homelinux.org part, and replate it with thegzone.net/old_site/. Thanks.
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Thanks to Phamine for first suggesting this to me.
so much for that idea.
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