Gilly_S2KFreak

So the elusive "stepping on a dying cat" noise from my rear end has been chased back to the upper control arm bolt/mount area. We replaced the arm and the bolt (actually both upper and lower and all bolts) and my toe is sill off and the noise is still there (it went away for a few days and then came back)

I'm thinking the mount on the frame itself is tweaked, thus causing the bolt to scrape on the mount. We lock-tite'd the bolt, anti-seized it and even over torqued it by 10 ft-lbs. By "we", I mean Agile Auto in the Bel Air area.

So i'm thinking i may need a new sub-frame or perhaps a reworked control arm mount??

i really don't know now. I can get a used sub-frame for pretty cheap (actually about the price which i paid for my control arms).

On the side which this problem exists, the car sits lower. Replacing the control arms helped with that a little, but it is still lower than the other side.

I've replaced all of the suspension components (arms, knuckle, coilovers etc)


My car will be going away for a few months at least come thanksgiving. I've been so upset with this and wasting money on trying to fix this, that I may take the S off the road for a year or more until i'm confident i can fix it... between this and needing a new clutch/flywheel.. next spring would be VERY expensive..


Best,

Steve (aka Gilly)

Gilly_S2KFreak

just thought of something... is it possible that the subframe got misaligned? The toe adjustments when i get an alignment are almost maxed out on that side. If this is the case, perhaps the frame is tweaked a little with the mounting bolts?

HMFIC

oh no Gilly! that' sucks man.. I hope it gets resolved man.

CecilCoutnyS2K

i am starting to get the same issue but my drivers sied sit lower then the pass and the it dosent sound like stepping on a cat but more like clunk bang clunk clunk but only when its wet ....

Gilly_S2KFreak

yours sounds like it may be a bushing.



mine is a very very loud metal on metal rotating scraping noise. we know its the mount and bolt from the upper control arm to the sub frame... but the normal solutions didn't work.. (we know because of wear patterns)

9k_on_occasion

It's possible. You may have to put it on a lift and start measuring distances between various points under the car, then compare those to the numbers in the body manual.

Gilly_S2KFreak

thanks. i'll end up taking it back to my shop and see if they can't do that for me. or maybe i'll have a shop up in buffalo do it for me... $15/hr less up there.

HMFIC

you're doing her wrong

Gilly_S2KFreak

update: i need a new rear subframe

we believe that the bolt rubbing on the mount on the subframe has worn it down so much that its leaving a lot of room to wiggle. thus being non-fixable. I could take it to a frame shop and have them weld up a new bracket, but having them make up a jig for it and all..


now i'm debating this: I'll be making the S a 85% track car 15% weekend car int he future. save for a reinforced subframe... Save for AP2 Subframe with all links and arms?... buy a new ap1 frame... find a used ap1 frame.

The idea is that in the next 3-4 years this will be mainly a track/autocross car. I won't be buying anything in the next 4 or 5 months... which will give me time to save for my new clutch/flywheel as well. (next spring will be an expensive one)

9k_on_occasion

If you have to get another subframe anyway, might as well get the AP2 frame with the revised geometry.