Thread: SOLVED: Pop noise Please help

Well this is going to be long so please bare with me. I bought my car about a year ago (94 sentra xe). First thing i wanted to do was slam it and get rid of the jacked up 4x4 look. I was an idiot and made the amazingly uninformed decision to buy $19 ebay coilovers.

Anyway put those on and things were fine for about a day then i starting getting loud pop noises when ever i turned the wheel a certain amount. I just dealt with it and figured it would go away when i got my new suspension. Which now I'm running AGXs and RMs with all new pieces like the rubber perches and so forth but i forgot the strut mount bearings so reused the old ones. Well it did get alot better but still pops when turning the wheel a certain amount.

A friend and i looked at it and came to determine that when the wheel is turning the whole strut assembly is rotating to but the spring would hang and then eventually catch under pressure then release and that was the pop noise. So i figured i needed to get the new strut mount bearings so i ordered those and we spend about an hour putting then in. The old one on the driver side was shot and turns out i put it in upside down ::duh:: and the passenger side i forgot to put back in altogether ::ouch:: (what i get for doing it at like 3 in the morning). But we got those in and in was great for about 2 days then back to pop pop pop when i turn. I looked at it again it still looks like the spring is hanging when it rotates then pops when its released by the pressure.

I don't really know what else to try i know when its popping most people say its the axle etc etc. But it seems like its the spring hanging. Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated before i start replacing random parts that don't need it. Thanks for reading my novel

Shawn B please don't flame me i know i was an idiot trying to slam it. Now thanks to your thread i have the agx/rm setup just need to fix the damage for the coilovers probably

its the spring. You have the assembly to tight or the spring is not seated properly. This is a very common issue. I know that this happens with my coilovers and in my case its usually due to gunk getting into the coilovers. I clean them and the noise goes away.

My friend thought the same thing about the assembly being to tight. But it was making clunking sounds to so i checked the nut at the top and it was hand loose! It was still making the popping noise even with it being hand loose. When we put it back together i was double sure to make sure i got every thing to sit right. I suppose its something to triple check though. Thanks

Never heard of anything like this. Which part of the spring is snagging and then letting loose? The top or the bottom? Do you have the tight coils up top, or on the bottom?

the tight coils are up top. it seems like while the wheel is turning and the whole assembly rotates with the wheel that it is snagging at the top till it the pressure gets to much then it releases causing the popping noise. i don't know if the top of the strut assembly is bad or warped or something from where i put the driver side strut mount bearing in upside down and the passenger side one i completely forgot to put in altogether. It doesn't seem like anything was wrong with them and i lubed everything up really good, but it still persists

pull the front suspension off and torque the top hats down to factory spec. This should make the noise go away. Also make sure the are no rocks or debris lodged under the spring.

Alright will give that a shot. What is factory spec btw? will i need to use some loctite to keep it there it seems to come loose easily. Thanks for the responses

the stock nut should be a nylon lock nut. I will need to look up the factory spec for the top hat.

the AGXs came with their own nut for the top. I would appreciate it.