sedate

My friend just replaced his OEM springs with Eibach on his 2001 GS300 today and now he notices that when he turns into a driveway that has a dip, the rear passenger wheel area will make a clunking sound. Is his shocks bottoming out because of the lower springs? Is something hitting something because it's lower? Did the mechanic install it incorrectly? His car has roughly 20k miles. Thanks for any insight.

GS4Will

a possibility that the springs are not been "seated" properly

sedate

how exactly do you determine that? can you check it visually? can you go in to more detail? thanks.

JasonChen

jack up your car and make sure that the "end" of the springs are sitting in the "groove" of the bottom plate and make sure the rubber cushion is sitting at the right place

mcgong

The spring isn't seated properly like mentioned above. I had this same issue with Eibachs and the lower part of the spring was hitting the lower spring seat in the back. You have to reset the spring.

sedate

Thanks guys, I will have my friend take it back to the mechanic to re-seat the springs properly. I'll give an update later.

LVgs400

Something else to check.. I have the Eibachs and the exact same thing happened to me on first install. The springs are shorter, causing fitting issues with the stock shocks. I actually had to use like 3 washers under the main tightening nut of the shock. Or, you have to buy the L-Tuned shocks which is what I ended up doing. Anyone else have this problem with the Eibachs?

Mike

whitels

LVGS400,

How is the Eibach/LT shocks combination? Comfortable enough, firm enough, or softer than you expected? I am interested to know the ride qualities on the freeway. Most people have the Eibach/Bilstein but you chose the L-tuned. Thanks.

LVgs400

Actually, the freeway ride quality is exceptional... I am usually buzzing around the freeways here and it's just a great feeling ride. The only disatisfaction I have is going over dips in the road. I would describe the feeling as.. too tight at times. It just feels like the springs rebound too quickly. It does handle exceptionally, and it improved body roll by 200%, with the spring and shock combination. Hope this helps.

whitels

Thanks! I have been searching for this information on Eibach/L-tuned for a long time. It sure helps.

Dave

I have the Eibach springs with standard shocks on my 2000 GS 430. The look is great -30mm, however they are still quite soft and therefore the ride is still not great, but it is comfortable.

LVgs400

Dave~ I felt the same way, and once I put the L-tuned shocks on, It was a totally improved feel and ride.

Lvangundy

I'm having the same issue with my 90LS. The shop that did my tokico installation was pretty lame.

Whenever I go over bumps and the front end goes down far, or up high, I get a loud clanking noise and on certain bumps I can feel the vibration, so I know it's the spring.

I took it back to the shop twice, the first time when I had the tech test drive it with me and we heard the bump, when we got back to the shop he told his boss he didn't hear anything and couldn't do anythign about it. I was like WTF.

I came back agian about a week later, and told them the same, this time the lame tech guy went under and tapped something with a screwdriver which seeme to make the noise alot more quiet, but about a week later it came back again. this time he told me I needed to replace the lower ball joint, but I know this isn't the problem.

I don't even want to bother going back there and asking them to reseat the spring. I guess I'm going to have to pay another shop to do a 'reinstall' of my struts. SOO DUMB!

sedate

the mech adjusted the springs, and now all is well again. I'm glad it was a simple fix, and not something complicated. Thanks for all your help.

LVgs400

Glad you got it fixed.