Knocking Suspension?

December 19, 2006

Hi

My MR2 has posed me a problem since I bought it. The suspension is very hard and it knocks terribly when I am on a bumpy road, so much so that its difficult to steer. On a nice new road its ok.

I had it in for MOT and it failed on droplinks which I replaced hoping this would solve the problem. But its just the same. The MOT showed no other problems.

I believe the car has been lowered but wouldnt have thought that this alone could cause such a problem, its so bad on a rough road that its unstable and is no fun to drive, its almost like driving on solid wheels.

Has anyone any ideas of what the cause could be?

December 19, 2006

Is there play on your top mounts?

I'm guessing its at the front, had this problem on the back, turned out to be a worn bush, cost £150 to put right.

December 19, 2006

It could have been lowered on non-progressive springs. That would shake the hell out of your car and make the front knock when even going over slightly rough road.

...either that or someone did a cheap lowering job and lopped a couple of coils of the existing springs... which is a big no no.

Mine came from Japan with TRD non-progressive springs. I was getting knocking. I replaced the springs with Eibach's (-25mm progressive) and the noise went and the ride was so much better. I have since replaced those with Eibach Sportline (-40mm progressive) and have the -25mm ones still available... pretty much as new. Not entirely sure if they'd fit yours... you'd need to check it out. They were bought for my Rev3 turbo.

December 21, 2006

Mine came from Japan with TRD non-progressive springs. I was getting knocking.

Mine is an import too, I know the previous owner didnt lower the car (he bought it as a fresh import), therefore it must have been done in Japan. I'm having the car in again to see if I can get a new verdict. Looking at the quality of the exhaust, tyres and the stereo system thats on the car, I wouldnt have thought they would have put crappy lowering stuff on it, but I'm only guessing of course. My son has a lowered car and he has said that mine is much lower than his, his car will go on the car ramp without a problem, mine has to have an extra wedge so that it clears the incline of the ramp, and even then he has someone watching to guide it on :(

December 22, 2006

Being non-progressive doesn't mean crap though. The TRD non-progressive springs that came on mine were probably more money than both sets of my Eibachs!

The TRD springs are very high quality... but more suited to the track.

The difficulty with determining whether they're progressive or not can sometimes be quite difficult without getting right up under the arches... and sometimes taking the shocks off as the progressive part of the spring (the tighter coils) are at the top.

Good luck with the investigation!