I have a weird issue with the front driver side suspension on my 2G. Every time I hit a deeper than normal pothole, I hear a serious banging noise from the front drivers side. Almost like there is no shock to absorv the impact. The two front shocks have been replaced and springs look solid so what could it be? The car does sit pretty low in the front but it's only that one side that gives me trouble. What can I look for in addition to shock / springs?

I say stabilizer bushings

There are probably no bump stops in your front suspension, causing it to bottom out. Maybe a bad shock.

Thanks for the help guys.

Reza, my front shocks are new. I replaced them not even 1000kms ago.

Should I be looking at the bump stops?

What springs? 2g's don't have alot of suspension travel & with the wrong setup can bottom out rather easily. What type of control arms do you have? What are you running for upper ball joints?

Not necessarily the bump stops, but as Darren said the 2g's don't have much travel to begin with. I'd start by jacking up the car and look for a worn suspension component, especially if the banging sound turned up recently.

Are you running bump stops at all?



My guess is that your ride height is too low for the 2G's limited suspension travel and you're bottoming out the shock. This can make a bang sound, which would be much much worse without any bump stops installed.

As Darren asked, what springs are you running? Or do you have a coil-over kit?

In any event, the solution will be raising your ride height by either changing springs or (if you have them) adjusting the coil-overs.

I have no answer on the bumps stops as I have not yet had a look to be honest. I suppose they are not visible without taking the whole strut apart anyways right? As for springs, I don't know what make/name are on the car but I do know they are not coil overs. What I know for sure is that I replaced the front shocks with brand new blue Tokyo's Ziggy sells and it helped a slight bit and the fact the car is so low in the front, pisses me off to no end. Asides from stock Springs and coil overs, what is an innexpensive spring I can use?

You'd be able to tell if you have bump stops by jacking up a front wheel and looking at the shock rod. If you don't see a spongy block somewhere between the shock body & upper mount, then you have no bump stops.

I'm not familiar with Tokyo Blues, but I do recall hearing that some aftermarket shocks have less travel than stock, which only aggravates the limited 2G suspension travel. So that could potentially be compounding your issue.

Tokico HP

The Tokico's should be fine, believe it was the AGX's that were longer then stock but that was years ago & believe its long been fixed.

Most typical lowering springs are a fairly soft rate, which doesn't help the limited suspension travel issue. Thats why coil overs tend to be the way to go (especially ones you can select your rates, Ground control are a great option for a budget setup). About 1.5" is the max drop you want to run (can vary abit depending on spring but in general).

Years back I ran the Tokico ILK setup (Their Illumina shocks (same as the HP's, just with adjustability) & lower springs). Never had a problem with the front but the rears did seem to hit the bump stops from time to time. If you just replaced the shocks, you should have transfered over the bump stops. If you can push the dust covers out of the way, you should be able to look for the stops with everything still installed.

Another issue can be the control arms or balljoints (why I asked), if you have swapped to say an adjustable ball joint, they reduced available suspension travel even further vs stock. Control arms & ball joints can end up hitting the shock towers.

Thanks for the info Daren. As far as I remember, the control arms are stock but the ball joints are ajustable due to camber adjusment required. I have to get the aligment done again as I replaced the passenger side ball joint recently and the camber is off again. Once the car is up in the air, I will have a better look to see if I can find anything out of the ordinary. At this point, I really don't want to start spending crazy money on coilovers etc. I am saving for a wedding / house and have to limit the amount spent on the toy hence, why I was asking for a less expensive fix.

Even if you do have the bump stops installed, your problem is probably the combo of a too soft lowering spring (I believe basically all the typical "bolt on" lower springs for are car are to soft) & then add in the reduced suspension travel with the adjustable ball joints & your likely hitting the shock towers.

The adjustable ball joints are taller because of the locking nut ontop, where as the stockers are flat. I would never recommend adjustable ball joints to anyone unless their at stock height. Eccentric bushings are the better route.

Its not the cheepest route but I'd opt for some ground control coilovers. Think their around $450 & for the price, can't beat them. This way you can set your desired height & can actually tell them what spring rates you want.

Thanks again Daren. Any idea where I can purchase the Ground Control units? I don't think Ziggy has them.

If Ziggy can't get them, think you can order direct:

http://www.ground-control-store.com/products/description.php/II=52/CA=26

$399 US, so not bad. They use Eibach springs (non progressive), not as good as Hypercoil (one of the best out there) but better then alot of others out there.

Just have to figure out what spring rate you want (lots of good info out there, check the link boards). I'm running 500in/lbs front & 350in/lbs rear. The rear is pretty "firm" but the ratio with my stock sway bars & urthane bushings seems good as the car likes to oversteer when pushed. This setup also almost eliminates squat under acceleration (good for awd, even better for fwd).

Lots of info but basically motion ratio & weight is different in the rear so you run a lighter spring vs the front, changes in spring rates will also make a bigger difference in the rear.

I might recommend something like 500-550 front & maybe 300 rear for you. Might want to ask GC what amount of spring your shocks can handle, just to make sure you don't get too much spring for the shock your running (I'm on a custom coilover, using Koni's).

I don't recall exact figures but your current aftermarket lower springs are probably about half the rate I suggested.

If you have adjustable ball joints on your upper control arms, then it's almost certain that they're hitting the shock tower. Take a look under there and you should be able to see marks where it made contact. You might even see dents forming on the top side of the strut tower too, if they hit hard enough.



http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/roa...er-racing-my-2g-talon.html#post151693272

I have the SPC control arms with the adjustable ball joint and even with 900 lbs/in front springs and a near stock ride height, it still hits the strut tower on occasion.

Took a closer look at my setup and sure enough there are some dents from the tops of the balljoints trying to push through the shock towers. No worries for me though, I'll just drill/cut a hole in the towers for some extra clearance.

That's one way to do it Paul lol. I haven't got around to fixing the issue with my wedding around the corner but I inspected the shock tower and ther eis no signs of damage from the ball joint. Strange part is that the passenger side does not make any noise when I go over deep pot holes or creases in the road, making be believe the driver's side may be missing a bump stop.