MPP Comfort Coilover making ping sound when turning wheel

[coolioj]

Hey guys, I just installed my MPP Comfort Coilovers last week. I noticed that when turning the front wheels, I can hear a ping sound from one or both of the front coilovers. From some research, I see these issues on other cars, where it seems that it's caused by some binding where the tophat is not allowing the coilover to turn with the wheels. This causes the whoile coilover to not move as one, and only allow a portion to move, causing the spring to ping. I don't see anyone experiencing this on M3's. I removed the tophat from the stock shocks, and mounted them onto the new coilovers per instructions, and tightened them to 15 ft lbs. Then the top locking nut with another 15 ft lbs. I did not include anything else from the stock shock. I do notice that the instructions mention that the fork ears should not be over-torqued and should only be torqued to 13 ft lbs. Problem is, I cannot figure out what part is the fork ears? The only part that sounds like it would be fork ears would be the bottom mount to the control arm, and 13 ft lbs seems very light for that. Could they be talking about the 3 13mm screws that mount to the upper control arm mount? That is supposed to be torqued to 17 ft lbs according to UP.

Anyone have any ideas here? TIA.

 

[Orwell]

Fork ears are on here (see attached picture) for Dual Motor coilovers. The ears pinch together (but don't have to touch) when you torque it on the damper.

I used torque figures provided by beastmode13 on his install thread.

Update with torque that I used for your reference. Tesla has not released any torque specs, use these at your discretion.

Both front and rear top damper mount to car body - 15ft/lb
Front upper control arm pinch joint - 41ft/lb
Front fork collar to damper - 33ft/lb
Sway bar link to damper - 73ft/lb
Lower damper to control arm - 84ft/lb

 

[coolioj]

Fork ears are on here (see attached picture) for Dual Motor coilovers. The ears pinch together (but don't have to touch) when you torque it on the damper.

I used torque figures provided by beastmode13 on his install thread.

Thanks Orwell. Those are the torque specs I used except for the lower damper mount to the control arm which I torqued to 45 ft lbs. as for the fork ears, the instructions say to torque to 13 ft lbs. is that what you did? So this is the black lower part of the coilover? How does this part play in the pinging I am hearing? Does it allow the coil over to spin in its mount?

 

[Orwell]

Yes, 13 ft. lbs. for the fork ears if you have a dual motor Model 3.

The damper should not be spinning in the lower forks which is why there is a guide pin in the picture I posted.

 

[coolioj]

Yes, 13 ft. lbs. for the fork ears if you have a dual motor Model 3.

The damper should not be spinning in the lower forks which is why there is a guide pin in the picture I posted.

So I did touch this bolt on the left side As I thought it might be easier to install the coilover with it seperated, but the right side I didn’t as it was not easier. I will double check the torque on both sides. Thanks.

 

[Orwell]

It should be torqued prior to install to ensure proper seating in the groove.

 

[Orwell]

The all important question is...

Did you torque the bottom of the fork to the LCA at ride height?

I.e. did you lift the suspension assembly with a jack before torquing the 21mm LCA bolt to 84 ft. lbs?

 

[coolioj]

The all important question is...

Did you torque the bottom of the fork to the LCA at ride height?

I.e. did you lift the suspension assembly with a jack before torquing the 21mm LCA bolt to 84 ft. lbs?

 

[coolioj]

Yes I did torque it at ride height. Thanks.

 

[coolioj]

So I loosened everything and re-torqued everything to specs per unplugged and MPP recommended. Did it with the car on it’s own weight and the LCA bolt with the arm lifted to ride height. 84 ft lbs on LCA, 41 ft lbs on knuckle joint, too 3 top hats at 17 ft lbs, fork ears at 13 ft lbs, top control mount chassis bigger 15mm bolts to 46 and smaller 13mm bolts to 26 ft lbs, top hat to coilover nut to 15 ft lbs, then lock bolt to 15 ft lbs. still hearing the ping. Going to give it a couple of days to settle and see. Would be interested to hear from @MountainPass to see if they had any recommendations.

Thanks.

 

[Orwell]

Do you have any pictures?

What is the order of assembly of your front coilovers?

Did you retorque the sway bar link to damper?

 

[coolioj]

Do you have any pictures?

What is the order of assembly of your front coilovers?

Did you retorque the sway bar link to damper?

The only bolt I did not re-torque was the sway bar. I uploaded pics here from yesterday. Thanks.

 

[MountainPass]

We are always happy to help sooner if you shoot us an email too, so please don't hesitate if you have questions! The damper doesn't actually turn at all, you may thinking of a MacPherson style strut. It sounds like everything must be torqued properly since you went over the hardware again. The spring spacer looks very shiny, is there grease on it?

 

[MasterC17]

It sounds like it may be coming from the sway bar end link(s). I would start by torquing those to 65nm. If the noise continues, you may want to try disconnecting the end links and see if the noise is still occurring.

Also, just a heads up it looks like one of the wheel speed sensor clips is not seated on the passenger side. Probably want to throw a zip tie on that before it becomes an issue.

 

[coolioj]

@MountainPass i will try the swaybar torque as well. They are shiny as I tried to sparky a little silicon spray between the top hat and the spring spacer. It’s wiped down now. Will update the thread once I retorque. Thanks.

 

[coolioj]

It sounds like it may be coming from the sway bar end link(s). I would start by torquing those to 65nm. If the noise continues, you may want to try disconnecting the end links and see if the noise is still occurring.

Also, just a heads up it looks like one of the wheel speed sensor clips is not seated on the passenger side. Probably want to throw a zip tie on that before it becomes an issue.

thanks. I am going to try retorquing tonight. Yeah aware of the speed sensor clips. There was no way to take those off without breaking them. Will update the thread after retorquing the swaybar links. I have a feeling you are right them.

 

[Orwell]

thanks. I am going to try retorquing tonight. Yeah aware of the speed sensor clips. There was no way to take those off without breaking them. Will update the thread after retorquing the swaybar links. I have a feeling you are right them.

There is a very easy way to take those off without breaking them. Use a socket just big enough to compress the teeth then just pull it straight out. See picture

I was way more proud of myself than I probably should have been for creatively figuring out this solution.

 

[coolioj]

Thanks. I will know next time. So I torqued to 48 ft lbs the upper sway bar link. The lower one I loosened then tightened again. Not sure what the lower sway bar link is supposed to be. The noise is still there but a bit more pronounced now. No noise while going straight but some when turning at low speed. It’s not creaking but a ping or ring sound when turning full left or right.

@MountainPass what are the correct torque specs for the upper and lower control arm links?

TIA

 

[coolioj]

So over the weekend I retorque the swaybar links. I also took a video to show where the sound is coming from. I spun down the collar, sprayed pb blaster, then spun up the collar a little past desired height, then spun it down a couple of turns to remove any pretension on the spring. Sound still present but not as much. Not sure what to do next. No one else has experienced this?

 

[coolioj]

In case anyone is following along, I'm working with MPP email support. They are going to send me another set of springs. The person I'm working with mentioned to ensure no oil or lubricant is applied to the spring. This will help ensure they stay put under 900 lbs of weight on each side. Will see once I get them.