1990 240 Suspension Popping on Passenger side

[otterman]

I have a S13 fastback. On the front passenger side there is a thumping or popping noise whenever I hit bumps or turn sharp. At first it wasn't too bad and only thumped when I hit large bumps but now every little bump it makes the noise. I thought it was my pillow ball so I bought a whole new pillow ball and control arm from PDM racing but the noise is still there. Then I was thinking it was my shocks, which I know need replacing, but I sat in the passenger side today for the first time in forever while someone else drove and I could feel the popping under my feet.

If it was the struts/springs that need replaced (and are going to be replaced very soon) would I be able to feel it under my feet in the passenger side?

[180fan]

I'd suspect first the tension rod bushings. If it's only at the turns, with the car up in the air, turn the wheels and see if anything is rubbing or loose down below. Other thing to check for is try pushing on the sides of the wheel and see if there's any play along that and start pushing and moving stuff around. Not too much down in the front, and it's usually the tension rods. If it aint that, I'd suspect tie rods.

[otterman]

I plan on buying Tein Springs & KYB Shock Package. Tein Tie Rod. And Battle Version Adjustable Tension Rods. I figure it probably wouldn't hurt to go ahead and replace all those instead of just replacing bushings.

Has anyone heard anything about these, they good products or no? I'm trying not to go over $500 for the set up.

[180fan]

The s-techs might be a bit low for the gr-2's. They've got a good chance of blowing out within 20k miles from what I've seen with that shock/spring combo. The battle version rods seem to be pretty good. Although I think you can get the SPL rods for a bit less and they should have comparable builds. The Tein tie rods are a good stock replacement, but if you plan on doing a bit more, you might want to consider the Kazama inner/outer set.

[tinaslynn]

Had a similar problem.. it was the bushing on the rack and pinion on that side.... replaced it (along with rack and tie rods) and fixed that problem =)

[ricebike]

i had a similar symptom after hitting a friggin pothole on the streets of NYC...

mine's ended up w/ a stabilizer endlink washer that held down one of the bushings had worked it's way loose after the shock... ghetto-rigged the fix for now... had offers from fellow NICOnauts to give me one of their spares, but never followed thru w/ sending it to me yet