View Full Version : Worn Axles Do To Lowering Springs...?
wwralliart77
09-22-2010, 10:57 AM
Was gonna post in the troubleshooting section but I figured I post here since my issue might be suspension related. Okay so it seems like every other week something goes wrong with my RA. First it was the boost gauge, intake, intercooler, and now it's my axles. I get that clicking sound associated with worn axles whenever I turn in either direction. I've had my car like this for the past month or so but I've been lagging it on taking it to the dealer since my car is lowered on Tein STechs and I'm wondering if my being lowered will void the warranty as to getting my axles replaced. I've had many lowered cars in the past and quite a few of them have had the axles give out, so I'm wondering whether ride hight has an affect on the axles. I do have my stock springs available so I can pop em back on the car for warranty issues but I'm seeking a permanent fix. As far as my knowledge goes it doesn't seem like any of the other members who are lowered have had issues with their axles so maybe it's something else...? Please give me your opinion on the matter; as to whether ride height voiding warranty or ride height affecting axles. Any info is appreciated.
MikeW-RRE
09-22-2010, 11:37 AM
They will not do anything regarding the axles under warranty because the car is lowered. The car being lowered has nothing to do with your axles being dead of course. How many lowered cars and race cars run around just as low or even lower than your car with out axles going out every 5k miles? Still, it gives them an out.
For a CV joint to go out this early, maybe you have a hole in your CV boot? If you have a hole, grease gets out, water gets in. Have a look in there and see if you can see grease getting thrown out of the boot.
How low is your car?
Mike W
Im sure Mitsu pays people to monitor your RA. So warranty will be out of the question. Fraud is a crime if you get caught! lol. So dont get caught!
Save your money like you did when you bought parts to upgrade & get replacement axles.
Axles shouldnt be that expensive for you since you have money for all the mod you put on your RA.
If you really have money to burn Driveshaft shop make custom ones.
I had 475whp rated axles for my K20 Civic, which was measure by Blacktrax either too short or too long & clicks when i turn too. & that will spit grease. Cleaning all that gunk is not fun... & no funds for axles means no driving the civic...
Blacktrax screwed me over on my civic! Part of the reason why Im broke. :(
Lesson learned...
Who installed the spring for you??
What kinda wheels & chamber?
MikeW-RRE
09-22-2010, 01:55 PM
If you can get the axle out yourself, you could probably get it rebuilt with a warranty for less than $125. The dealer will charge you that just to inspect it and tell you your suspension warranty is voided.
Mike W
wwralliart77
09-22-2010, 02:39 PM
They will not do anything regarding the axles under warranty because the car is lowered. The car being lowered has nothing to do with your axles being dead of course. How many lowered cars and race cars run around just as low or even lower than your car with out axles going out every 5k miles? Still, it gives them an out.
For a CV joint to go out this early, maybe you have a hole in your CV boot? If you have a hole, grease gets out, water gets in. Have a look in there and see if you can see grease getting thrown out of the boot.
How low is your car?
Mike W
Good to know that the dealer will not cover it under warranty due to my being lowered. The boots are not damaged; no holes or grease leakage. I did hit a few pot holes kinda hard though; hard to see them at night coming home from work. Also my vehicle is approximately lowered 2 inches front and rear. Also have 11k miles on the car.
wwralliart77
09-22-2010, 02:51 PM
Im sure Mitsu pays people to monitor your RA. So warranty will be out of the question. Fraud is a crime if you get caught! lol. So dont get caught!
Save your money like you did when you bought parts to upgrade & get replacement axles.
Axles shouldnt be that expensive for you since you have money for all the mod you put on your RA.
If you really have money to burn Driveshaft shop make custom ones.
I had 475whp rated axles for my K20 Civic, which was measure by Blacktrax either too short or too long & clicks when i turn too. & that will spit grease. Cleaning all that gunk is not fun... & no funds for axles means no driving the civic...
Blacktrax screwed me over on my civic! Part of the reason why Im broke. :(
Lesson learned...
Who installed the spring for you??
What kinda wheels & chamber?
Dunno what you mean by the fraud part. I do all of my installations; I'm a auto student who is still learning. I'm running some camber bolts I picked up at my local Napa supplier meant for the 09 RA. I don't feel like spending more money to have custom axles made since I only think that would be necessary when one is pushing serious power. I figured that new axles would run me about $350 which I could install or about $500 plus at the dealer if not covered. So either way I'm out a few hundred.
wwralliart77
09-22-2010, 02:52 PM
If you can get the axle out yourself, you could probably get it rebuilt with a warranty for less than $125. The dealer will charge you that just to inspect it and tell you your suspension warranty is voided.
Mike W
Cool, I'll definitely consider that as one of my top options.
I was just trying to make a point but nvm...
I have a lot to learn about suspensions so I cant speak on the matter.
Im just relating to the fact that the axle clicking is not a good thing...
After you'd lower so many cars & had axles problems, I dont think its the parts...Maybe you put em back together more efficiently & had extra parts left over???
Okay so it seems like every other week something goes wrong with my RA. ...... I've had many lowered cars in the past and quite a few of them have had the axles give out, so I'm wondering whether ride hight has an affect on the axles.....
I do have my stock springs available so I can pop em back on the car for warranty issues...
wwralliart77
09-23-2010, 04:02 PM
So I spoke with South Coast being that's where I purchased my vehicle. They said lowering the car did not void the warranty in any way. So I had an appointment set for earlier today at the Ontario dealer since it's closer for me and they came to the conclusion that my front strut bearings are worn due to excessive lowering of my car. They told me $50 for new bearings and roughly $500 to install them! :eek: So I figured either option won't solve my dilemma since I'm going to remain lowered; be it that the strut bearings went out since I'm lowered and if I install new ones they'll continue to go out. So I'm gonna opt for purchasing new struts. So my question is, are there struts made specifically for lowering springs or that are compatible? If so which ones, and what brands do you recommend?
easy fix take your Tein S crap off your RA! get your bearings for 50.00 & swap em out yourself.
Maybe get eibach pro-kit to lower it.
MikeW-RRE
09-23-2010, 05:16 PM
Who ever told you that story about the upper bearing plates was talking out of their a$$. Improper instalation could cause the upper bearing plate to be messed up now. From being lowered? Bull$hit.
ALso, your story tells you to stay away from Ontario for service and stick with SCM for warranty issues... right?
Your noise... does it make noise when you are turning the wheel left to right? Or does it happen when you are driving and under power while the car is turned?
There are no aftermarket struts made for your car for stock springs or lowering springs at this time.
MIke W
wwralliart77
09-24-2010, 07:47 AM
easy fix take your Tein S crap off your RA! get your bearings for 50.00 & swap em out yourself.
Maybe get eibach pro-kit to lower it.
Already ordered the bearings, but taking off my current springs and purchasing new ones is money wasted imo.
wwralliart77
09-24-2010, 07:57 AM
Who ever told you that story about the upper bearing plates was talking out of their a$$. Improper instalation could cause the upper bearing plate to be messed up now. From being lowered? Bull$hit.
ALso, your story tells you to stay away from Ontario for service and stick with SCM for warranty issues... right?
Your noise... does it make noise when you are turning the wheel left to right? Or does it happen when you are driving and under power while the car is turned?
There are no aftermarket struts made for your car for stock springs or lowering springs at this time.
MIke W
Dang good to know! Definitely gonna stick with SCM from now on. I installed the springs with professional supervision, so I pretty sure there's no issue there. As far as the noise it occurs when you turn period; stationery or under power. So what do you recommend I do? I'm gonna check the strut bearings once I get the car back just to make sure they ain't f'd up in any way. Maybe just save up for coilovers? I want to remain lowered with no further issues.
wwralliart77
09-24-2010, 08:09 AM
@ MikeW-RRE Would you be willing to look at my car? I'd rather have someone who is honest and knows what they are doing inspect and fix my car. Lemme know please. PM me.
Yes You have wasted your money with Tein S tech. IMO. I was just saying, Im on stock springs if I was to get any springs I would be looking into Eibach Pro-kit, which If Im not mistaken, Mike W@RRE has one on his RA. So does Bryan@GST with Eibach Pro-Kit. I havent heard any problems with Eibach.
Good luck I hope Mike W can help you out & keep us posted. Im interested in what the actual problem was & how it gets fixed..
wwralliart77
09-24-2010, 09:55 AM
So and hundred bucks later and no fix I finally got my car back. It makes the noise when turning left with the vehicle stationery. And it makes the noise in either direction when under load. I already ordered new bearings just in case but they won't be in for a week or so. Until then I'm gonna try to figure out what the cause of the noise is.
MikeW-RRE
09-24-2010, 11:39 AM
The "bearing" at the top is a stack of a bunch of pieces that can easily get missaligned or crooked when you tighten it all down. I dont know how much help you had at that exact moment when you held it all and tightened the big nut. It is easy to mess up.
If it makes the noise while you are turning left and right, the upper bearing is pretty much where all the action is.
Have someone turn left and right for you while you get down and look and listen.
Mike W
wwralliart77
09-25-2010, 07:37 AM
The "bearing" at the top is a stack of a bunch of pieces that can easily get missaligned or crooked when you tighten it all down. I dont know how much help you had at that exact moment when you held it all and tightened the big nut. It is easy to mess up.
If it makes the noise while you are turning left and right, the upper bearing is pretty much where all the action is.
Have someone turn left and right for you while you get down and look and listen.
Mike W
I forgot that I had my springs installed twice. The first time I used a spring compressor for the installation and put everything back in the correct order; I'm sure. However in the rush to get everything done I forgot to trim the bumpstops; so I had a super bouncy ride. I had taken it to my friend's shop to have the bumpstops trimmed and they reassembled it the second time so I'm guessing they put everything back in the correct order. I did have him check my work and he said everything checked out well. My guess is that they got misaligned when I hit those potholes; I mean I hit them going 60 or so and the car lifted up on that side and slammed back down pretty hard. I'm gonna install the new bearings for now and see how that turns out, but I eventually am going to buy coilovers.
Tuqwik4u
09-25-2010, 02:23 PM
What a mess Nick, Hope it works out for you soon. :(
wwralliart77
09-25-2010, 02:41 PM
What a mess Nick, Hope it works out for you soon. :(
Thanks Matt.
wwralliart77
10-01-2010, 10:04 PM
Received the bearings, going to install them tomorrow. Hopefully all turns out well and I eliminate the noise. I'll keep you posted.
wwralliart77
10-03-2010, 09:48 AM
So I removed my front strut assembly to replace the bearings and to my surprise my bearings weren't damaged in any way; no cracks, bends, etc. I'm pretty f'in mad right now, I mean I go to the dealer and pay them $125 to inspect my vehicle. They tell me it's the strut bearings and it's not covered under the warranty. Replacement bearings were $50 and the dealer wanted $450 to install. So like most people I bought the bearings and decided to install myself. So now I'm out $175 and still no fix! I thoroughly inspected my vehicle. There is absolutely no damage of any kind to any of my front suspension assembly. I still get that clicking noise when I turn though. I honestly think it was my first assumption; being the axles. I don't have any tears, or leaks on the axles though. So what could it be? I'm going to set things straight at the Ontario Dealer first, then I'm off to South Coast to get this issue resolved for the last time.
wwralliart77
10-05-2010, 09:41 AM
So I got an update. I think the issue might be blown struts or worn springs. The vehicle has no support front or rear. There is no spring rebound. When I go to push on the car to do a quick suspension check the vehicle does not come back up like it should; no spring rebound. I won't have access to a shop lift until next week :( So I won't no for sure what the issue is until then. If it is worn struts/springs I'm gonna opt for purchasing adjustable coilovers. Probably go with the KW V2s.
Ouch, sorry to hear about your situation. Sucks dishing out loads of cash and not getting the problem fixed. Hope it's just worn struts--more of a reason to upgrade to coilovers. ;)
MikeW-RRE
10-05-2010, 08:52 PM
So if you go over a bump, the car bottoms out and stays low?
Bring that thing by here some day so I can look at it. You can drive or bounce on mine to compare (Progress springs with tired but not blowed stock shocks).
Mike W
wwralliart77
10-05-2010, 09:06 PM
Ouch, sorry to hear about your situation. Sucks dishing out loads of cash and not getting the problem fixed. Hope it's just worn struts--more of a reason to upgrade to coilovers. ;)
True that.
wwralliart77
10-05-2010, 09:08 PM
So if you go over a bump, the car bottoms out and stays low?
Bring that thing by here some day so I can look at it. You can drive or bounce on mine to compare (Progress springs with tired but not blowed stock shocks).
Mike W
That is correct, the car has no deflection. Hoping all goes well with my dealer trip if not I'll definitely swing by your place.
vBulletin® v3.8.10, Copyright ©2000-2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.