Awful sound from rear suspension... Help please!

I have a 2011 3.6R that I put H&R springs on it about 10,000 miles ago. When I first got them on, the front left corner would make a quiet popping sound when turning left at slow speeds. Never really figured out why, but someone recently posted that theirs did the same thing and they just had to adjust the spring to sit in the bottom. I planned on doing that over my holiday break. Then my rears started to make a similar sound but way louder when I pull in or out of an uneven surface like a transition into a driveway.

So this past week I pulled all my wheels off and adjusted and tightened my fronts and they are now quiet. I could see anything wrong with the rears. They were all tightened down and had no play in them at all. I checked all my bolts on my sway bar and everything else back there and all seemed well, but still makes a scary sound to me.

Any thoughts?

Wow, glad you mentioned this. I almost just dropped the hammer on a set of H&R's. Thinking twice now and subscribed for info.

How do you like the ride and handling improvements with these? Really stiff, in a sporty, handling sense, or could they be stiffer, any bottoming out?

Did you check the bolts at the top of the rear struts?

top hat bolts, do you have aftermarket endlinks? maybe they need lubed up?

I did check all the top bolts including the hat and they were tight but I will check again. My end links are stock and I wondered if they could be to blame. Saw lots of debate as to leaving stock or upgrading along with the 22mm white line rsb. I will crawl under there and check out their lube situation as well.

Just wierd that this just started now after 9000 miles for it to be the springs? They have been quality like one would expect from H&R. Wishing RCE would get their new struts ready and available

Can you better describe the sound?

Don't tighten too much. Not sure about the backs but the fronts are like 14 ft/lbs TQ.

Have anybody in your trunk that you forgot to let out and they're trying to remind you?

I'm gonna guess that your rear shocks are shot. H&R's have a 1.3" drop both front and rear. Swifts were designed with 1.3" front and 1.1" rear. That .2" difference may just be a design decision by H&R that rears it's ugly head by wearing out the rears early. This is why I think so. For 2013, Subaru increased the shock stroke (among other things like stiffening the shocks) in the rear by 10mm or .4". My guess is that Swift only dropped the rears 1.1" for that reason, the 2010-2012 shock stroke was already close to the bottom.

You can test the shocks by quickly putting your weight on the rear bumper and then letting go. The shocks should only cycle once (ie get pushed down, spring up above resting point and then settle). If the back of the car goes up again, shocks are shot. However, this simple test may not work if the car is already sitting on the bump stops.

If you replace them, do it with the 2013 parts. They are stiffer and as stated above, have more stroke.

Originally Posted by islandborn

Have anybody in your trunk that you forgot to let out and they're trying to remind you?

Hahaha! Nah, that guys been quiet now for days. I should clean out my trunk though

subcribed as well. I have a set of H&Rs in my garage that I have yet to put on.

^^I subscribed for a similar reason. I've been waffling around trying to decide which springs to get. I like the price of the H&R's (like 225 on Ebay) and I like the drop, but the RCE's are proven yet a little more (350) than I feel great about spending at the moment. That 125 could go into a boost gauge or something to get my power mods started, but I have to make a decision on springs soon cuz I am sick of the porpoising boat OEM springs, so I hope the OP figures out what is up quickly.

The springs are fine. The struts are fine. The end link that was attached to my 22mm whitelist rsb... Not so fine. The left side was snapped off. Lucky for me a local subie shop had a rallitek and a kartboy for me to chose from in stock. Will install later this evening and all should be well.

My driveway has a mean transition which causes pretty serious three wheel action anytime I come and go from home. The guys at the shop said they were surprised my stock links held up as long as they did with that everyday.

Anyway hope this didn't scare anyone away from the H&R springs. I am still very happy with them.

Can't you give us your thoughts on the H&Ds? Handling, ride, stiffness increase over stock, etc.

Originally Posted by GTEASER

Can't you give us your thoughts on the H&Ds? Handling, ride, stiffness increase over stock, etc.

I have other posts after my install on the RSB and the springs and exhaust.

The short of it is that I like the H&R's a lot. They are the only company out there that makes two different springs for the 5th gen's out there... 6cyl and 4cyl models. So I like the fact that I don't have unwanted rake like always happens with the others. The RCE's didn't drop it low enough for me so I couldn't do that. As for handling, they handle great. Ultimately, springs are cheap and that is why I got them, but coilovers would have given me the feel I am really after. Perhaps sometime in the future I will blow another $1500 and a Saturday morning to do that. For now, the H&R springs are stiff enough to keep me planted on the road better and they help make my car look better too. The 22mm RSB was what gave me the most noticable handling improvement. After my lesson learned however I would recommend the upgraded end links as much as it sucks to spend another $125 on them. I am glad to have my car back to normal again.

Thanks for the help all.

Originally Posted by superscooby

After my lesson learned however I would recommend the upgraded end links as much as it sucks to spend another $125 on them.

You're only around the second person to report a rear endlink failure with an aftermarket RSB. I think it's either a fluke or that endlink wasn't reinstalled properly.