APR strut bar installed on friends car but npw we have weird noises.

[DopeCelicaGT]

After modifying the battery tie down and the hood to accomodate this thing we torqued every upper strut nut down to roughly 30-35ft/lbs. 33 to be exact but u know. Ok the car handles much much better but um everytime you go over a bump we hear this weird muffled clanking sound. It sounds like the strut unit is loose or something but we torqued everything down just like it said to do. Like I said it handles great but it makes a lot of noise. If you take the strut bar off and retorque everything back down the way it was before the strut bar then you have no more noises but when we reinstalled the strut bar we had noises again.

Does anybody else have this problem? Is there something wrong with the suspension unit or is this just going to be how it is with teh APR strut bar on? Someone please help me out here. I am lost as to why it does this!

[KSilver2000]

Same exact thing happens to me with my RMM strut bar and Tanabe coilovers. I think I stripped one of my bolts not sure, because it's tight but if I keep on going to make it tighter it doesn't get tight, it just keeps on turning and stays at the same tightness. Maybe you have a similar problem.

[DopeCelicaGT]

Well I know for a fact that none of the bolts are stripped. I checked the threads on all of them so I dunno!

[Blue Bomber]

Try greasing the center of the underside of the APR plates. They rub against the rubber on the top of the strut, though normallly only when you turn the wheel. Also, grease the rubber on the top of the struts as well, just to make sure you get full coverage.

[DopeCelicaGT]

Originally posted by Blue Bomber
Try greasing the center of the underside of the APR plates. They rub against the rubber on the top of the strut, though normallly only when you turn the wheel. Also, grease the rubber on the top of the struts as well, just to make sure you get full coverage.

Hmmm... so you think the rubbing could be the sounds we are hearing?

[Blue Bomber]

Well, this problem happens to just about everyone that has the APR bar. Did you make sure you put the bar on when the car was on a flat, level surface?

[industrialTOOL]

i hear the same noise! it sounds like something is loose sometimes. i have the tanabe sustec bar.

[Blue Bomber]

Hmm, Tanabe shouldn't have the same problem as APR (no other strut bar is similar in design), so check the nuts on top of the struts. Those are the most common one to come loose. The next are the large bolts on the bottom of the struts. Those are torqued down to something like 113ft-lbs, which is pretty tight, and will come loose if not fully tightened. You'll need a long torque wrench to do that.

[celica girl]

Take some washers and put them over the bolts... I can't remember how many we put on mine... but the noise stopped... try maybe two on each bolt.

[DopeCelicaGT]

Originally posted by Blue Bomber
Well, this problem happens to just about everyone that has the APR bar. Did you make sure you put the bar on when the car was on a flat, level surface?

Yep the strut bar was put on in my garage. However, we did not fully torque the bolts down to 33ft./lbs. until the next day in a parking lot LOL. For the most part the car should have been pretty level. Maybe we will take it off and try it again. All I know is it has to do something with the strut bar or the nuts on top of the struts because all was fine before the strut bar was put on.

[Blue Bomber]

Originally posted by celica girl
Take some washers and put them over the bolts... I can't remember how many we put on mine... but the noise stopped... try maybe two on each bolt. Yeah, that's the previous solution used for the APR bar. The only thing to worry about is if you put too many washers on and reduce the amount of threads used on the nuts up top, you may end up stripping them.Originally posted by DopeCelicaGT
All I know is it has to do something with the strut bar or the nuts on top of the struts because all was fine before the strut bar was put on. Yup, definitely sounds like the APR bar. I tried it without using the center bar, and the noise was still there. Only when I took the end plates off did the noise stop. I originally though it was my strut bearings going bad, and the APR bar just amplifying the noise due to its unique design. When I greased the undersides, though, the noise stopped completely.

[DopeCelicaGT]

Originally posted by Blue Bomber
Yeah, that's the previous solution used for the APR bar. The only thing to worry about is if you put too many washers on and reduce the amount of threads used on the nuts up top, you may end up stripping them.Yup, definitely sounds like the APR bar. I tried it without using the center bar, and the noise was still there. Only when I took the end plates off did the noise stop. I originally though it was my strut bearings going bad, and the APR bar just amplifying the noise due to its unique design. When I greased the undersides, though, the noise stopped completely.

When you say grease the underside you mean the underside of the end plates, correct? By the way, one thing that I thought was especially strange about this bar was that after putting the endplates on I found that there was not much of the stud left exposed to tighten the top strut nuts down onto. I mean there is just enough of that stud exposed to tighten the nuts to. Is that normal as well? I hate to say it but if I put washers on mine then it would not allow me enough of the stud to tight the nuts onto. I guess I will disassemble it tommorrow and do as Blue Bomber said. The only thing is I don't have my torque wrench, damn it. Damn, Jason owes me big time.

[lowendfrequency]

Originally posted by industrialTOOL
i hear the same noise! it sounds like something is loose sometimes. i have the tanabe sustec bar.

Wierd, mine doesn't do that. Did you make sure to use the provided 2 washers per bolt?

[aykut]

i have a tanabe strut bar , havent installed yet , do u guys think i need a battery tie down or anything else ? anybody has any problems with it ?

[Blue Bomber]

Originally posted by DopeCelicaGT
When you say grease the underside you mean the underside of the end plates, correct? By the way, one thing that I thought was especially strange about this bar was that after putting the endplates on I found that there was not much of the stud left exposed to tighten the top strut nuts down onto. I mean there is just enough of that stud exposed to tighten the nuts to. Is that normal as well? I hate to say it but if I put washers on mine then it would not allow me enough of the stud to tight the nuts onto. I guess I will disassemble it tommorrow and do as Blue Bomber said. Yeah, grease up the center part of the end plates. It's separate from the ring with the "feet" where the bolt holes are. You might see a few scrapes in the area. Mine were all scraped up from a couple month's use when I went to grease them. The end of the bolts on mine were slightly recessed into the nuts. Adding any washers would run the risk of stripping one or more nuts/bolts. The reason the washers stop the noise is because they raise the end plates, keeping them away from the strut tops. That method would work well if you got longer bolts pressed into the strut tops.

[DopeCelicaGT]

Originally posted by Blue Bomber
Yeah, grease up the center part of the end plates. It's separate from the ring with the "feet" where the bolt holes are. You might see a few scrapes in the area. Mine were all scraped up from a couple month's use when I went to grease them. The end of the bolts on mine were slightly recessed into the nuts. Adding any washers would run the risk of stripping one or more nuts/bolts. The reason the washers stop the noise is because they raise the end plates, keeping them away from the strut tops. That method would work well if you got longer bolts pressed into the strut tops.

I guess I will try this on his car in afew days. I got to gets a torque wrench first. Thanks for the help Blue Bomber!

[lowendfrequency]

Originally posted by aykut
i have a tanabe strut bar , havent installed yet , do u guys think i need a battery tie down or anything else ? anybody has any problems with it ?

no just twist the connectors on your battery terminals so they wont make contact with the bar.