wolfey2k

Excellent ilmor!
Congrats on the new Shelby! Yeah!
How do you like it? Please tell all.

Your Shelby 500 has the cross member and beefier front suspension parts than ours so you shouldn't hear anything but the road rushing under your wheels! ;-)

Wolfey2k

Embalmer

Wolfey-

He has a Shelby GT, not the GT500. I'm assuming everything coming down the assembly line now has the crossbar.

wolfey2k

Hmm, didn't notice there was a new release from Shelby,,Ford Racing...I just read up on it. It's basically the same mods several GT owners have made to their cars. Only difference is the Shelby emblems and decals. Big deal.
Still I'm glad to hear there are no issues with the suspension making any thunking noise! That is most excellent!

Tantal

I'm glad I ran across this thread and appreciate all the good suggestions and info all of youhaveposted.I've also been dealing with the thunkingin my 07' GT whichstarted at about the 1,000 mile mark or so. If you don't have it, then that is great, I'm glad for you. Butif you do it will in fact wear on your nerves mainly because you have a new car and not a worn out old car, and you want it to ride like a new car, especially when friends and family are riding with you.

I have read over all the pages and wanted to make a little input about my experiences, which may not help but cannot hurt. I'm not afraid to spend some money fixing this, since I was planning to do mods anyway on the suspension. What started out as performance mods turned into a challenge to get rid of this noise.

It would be great to see Ford fixing this, but I do not hold my breath for this to happen soon. I'm sure they will eventually, but when? I really think thye have not completely resolved it enough to relase the fix, or it is caused by a primary design flaw not easily (read financially) acceptable to them.

Forbackground info, I've tried changingstrut assemblies (to FRPP), springs (to Eibach), and strut mounts (to Steeda). All of these changes seemed to correct the thunking at first, but on average in about 25 or less miles it startsagain and slowly gtes worse until it sounds very irritating, at least to me.It always eventually returns.

I think the Steeda strut mounts (and mygreat attention to nut tightening procedures)completely removed it for about three or fourdays, but now it's back but not nearly as bad as it once was. Temperature does seem to make it worse.I do not think you have towear anything out before it starts.

I really believe it's more like something getting loose?What is strange is that every time I remove and install the strut assembly, it almost always goes away whether I change a part or not. In fact it seems like many times when Ijust jack the car up and remove/replace the wheels,it goes away if for only a few miles, once I lower the car again. Maybe it's just the fact That Iretightened all the nuts, and that it's going away until something either loosens up, settles, or movesout of alignment. I once thought maybe it was the struts building up pressure or losing pressure, but I eventuallyruled that out after going through two sets of differnt make struts whichhad the same effect.

After reading many posts here about people changing parts with seemingly good results, and then later hearing it again, I think it'sdue to this same thing. In other words, what seems like a fix is actually not the real reason the noise was gone for a while.

Iwonder if the height of the car, angle of the strut without weight on it, weight applied at the time each nut is tightened or angle of roll bar end links, etc., plays a part is this noise and maybe why the end links get loose on their own? Minehas lost tension onthe passenger side at leasttwice. Is there a bind in the end links causign pressure to loosen the nut?Is there a suspension geometry fault with the design and this is why Ford can't get a quick fix out for us?

I have read the end link nuts cannot be used over again, that you have to buy new ones each time you loosen them. Ford says they can only be torqued only once. The TSB on the '05 fix states you must use new attaching hardware. Has anyone tried this, or are we all using the same original nylon lined nuts each time we install the strut assembly or remove the end links? I plan to order brand new ones.

Now for a couple of stupid questions.Does the car need weight on it before I tighten up any of thesenuts/bolts on the strut or roll bar end links? And how do you keep the strut rod from movingwhen you tighten up the top nut on the strut assembly with a torque wrench? Steeda recommendsa very precise torque reading on these new strut mounts, and I can't really tellif I am there ornot.A regular torque wrench will not allow me to hold the top end of the strut from moving.

Thanks for letting me vent, hehe.



[/align]

Jays Mustang

Hi Tantal, Welcome to the thunking club. Sounds like you've been though mill too. I agree with the nerves bit. Here we buy brand new cars just to have them sound like crap. My suspension noise was the first day out of the dealers lot. So it never felt like a new car. Anyway to one of your questions about endlinks. When I recently installed the solid swaybar directions said to tighten all the bolts when chassic (wheels) are on the ground. I guess it can't hurt to buy new nuts, but they are good ny-lock type nuts and should be able to use a few times without tearing out all the nylon. Mine never loosened as did on some peoples cars. You mentioned you read the thread but I was one to actually remove the swaybar and links from the car and still had the thunking noise. So at least on my car the endlinks have no play in the noise. I agree with design flaw theory. The cold weather factor plays into that. But I feel Ford knows exactly how to fix our cars. They had this problem since the 05 model came out. We've gotten BS reports out of Ford as far as working on it, and testing etc. but they know what's wrong and how to fix it by now.NASA designed rockets and send men into space in less time than Ford has dealt with this problem. I believe Ford is purposely dragging it's feet, be it not wanting to spend the money to fix our cars or waiting forwarrentys to run out. I don't know, but the almighty dollar has to be an issue. Anyways any comments or suggestions are welcome on the thread. A few posts back are Bill Fords address if you want to send him a letter. Mine should be on his desk this morning. Hopefully it will help.

northy_polk

yeah, you know something's wrong when "non-car" people say "what the hell is that awful noise?"

Quote:

I was planning to do mods anyway on the suspension. What started out as performance mods turned into a challenge to get rid of this noise.

that's exactly how i ended up with the multi-thousand dollar suspension build up in my car.

Quote:

It would be great to see Ford fixing this, but I do not hold my breath for this to happen soon. I'm sure they will eventually, but when?

my feelings exactly. with all of the Kafkaesque Twiligh Zone-ish encounters I've had with multiple dealers, i didn't have faith that they'd ever be able to do anything for me but boil my blood.

Quote:

Forbackground info, I've tried changingstrut assemblies (to FRPP), springs (to Eibach), and strut mounts (to Steeda). All of these changes seemed to correct the thunking at first, but on average in about 25 or less miles it startsagain and slowly gtes worse until it sounds very irritating, at least to me.It always eventually returns.

doesn't that just kill you!!!! here you've done all this work and it's just a tease! i can definitely relate. after i spent $2,500 and got it nice and quiet, sure enough it came back. . . but keep reading!

Quote:

I think the Steeda strut mounts (and mygreat attention to nut tightening procedures)completely removed it for about three or fourdays, but now it's back but not nearly as bad as it once was. Temperature does seem to make it worse.I do not think you have towear anything out before it starts.

i think you are correct; you don't have to wear anything out.

Quote:

I really believe it's more like something getting loose?What is strange is that every time I remove and install the strut assembly, it almost always goes away whether I change a part or not. In fact it seems like many times when Ijust jack the car up and remove/replace the wheels,it goes away if for only a few miles, once I lower the car again. Maybe it's just the fact That Iretightened all the nuts, and that it's going away until something either loosens up, settles, or movesout of alignment. I once thought maybe it was the struts building up pressure or losing pressure, but I eventuallyruled that out after going through two sets of differnt make struts whichhad the same effect.

it's GREMLINS. . . this car is DEMON posessed i tellya! well, not exactly, buthow else could such a random, voodoo forumula of switching/tightening/torquing/loading/etc. produce different results for different people???

Quote:

After reading many posts here about people changing parts with seemingly good results, and then later hearing it again, I think it'sdue to this same thing. In other words, what seems like a fix is actually not the real reason the noise was gone for a while.

agreed.

Quote:

Iwonder if the height of the car, angle of the strut without weight on it, weight applied at the time each nut is tightened or angle of roll bar end links, etc., plays a part is this noise and maybe why the end links get loose on their own? Minehas lost tension onthe passenger side at leasttwice. Is there a bind in the end links causign pressure to loosen the nut?Is there a suspension geometry fault with the design and this is why Ford can't get a quick fix out for us?

I think youthinking along the same lines assome of us.why is it usually the passenger side first? what is it with the geometry of the front end that just isn't quite right?

Quote:

I have read the end link nuts cannot be used over again, that you have to buy new ones each time you loosen them. Ford says they can only be torqued only once. The TSB on the '05 fix states you must use new attaching hardware. Has anyone tried this, or are we all using the same original nylon lined nuts each time we install the strut assembly or remove the end links? I plan to order brand new ones.

just use blue loctite/threadlock. it keeps them on there and you can still take them off with "normal" tools if needed. or just buy new NON-FORD nuts. i'm currently running the Steeda endlink nuts with the OEM endlinks. . .

Quote:

Now for a couple of stupid questions.Does the car need weight on it before I tighten up any of thesenuts/bolts on the strut or roll bar end links?

i've done it both ways and it's easier with it unloaded and thewheels offbecause you have better access to the endlink attached tothe strut.

Quote:

And how do you keep the strut rod from movingwhen you tighten up the top nut on the strut assembly with a torque wrench? Steeda recommendsa very precise torque reading on these new strut mounts, and I can't really tellif I am there ornot.A regular torque wrench will not allow me to hold the top end of the strut from moving.

i apologize. . .i don't know! i had somebody else do that work for me. If you email Steeda, they are VERY GOOD about answering your questions and usually very prompt.

I will say that, as you I'm sure have read, i had a strut tower brace [nominal effectiveness but who cares], the GTrac brace and an adjustable swaybar installed. the noise was totally gone and came back somewhat after about 100 miles or so. i tightened the endlinks and it lasted a long time. it started to come back so i took the Steeda street/comp endlinks off and put the OEM endlinks back on with blue threadlock and the Steeda nuts, and i moved theendlinks up to thefurthest forward hole in the swaybar to tighten the suspension up a little more,and have had no problems since. And I know it worked because I autocrossed this weekend!!!! After all that hard driving and swaying and diving in and out of corners, I could drive down my alley which is the perfect test for the thunk and it was still totally silent. Granted, my front suspension is very stiff because i have it set that way and like it that way, but i think the endlinks play a large part in the overall "suspension geometry" problem.

Keep us posted!

Quote:

Thanks for letting me vent, hehe.



[/align]

wcgman

Someone quoted autobuyguide for "mustang recalls" which I am crying foul on. That was a recall for EIBACH - not Ford. Read the recall.

Jays Mustang

Hi Wcgman, I saw that back in Sept. I believe it was struts that Roush used on his cars. Could have been another dealership too that sell modified Mustangs new. Someone mentioned it was limited to around 400 cars.

Jays Mustang

Hey Guys, Well I got the milled ends crossbar yesterday and having it put on this morning. Figured the perfectly milled flats at the center of the bar ends might do more to absorb/transmit suspension noise. I tell you guys this does it for chassic strength now.
Strut Tower Brace
Radiator Support Bars
Solid Swaybar
G-Trac Support Bar
K-Member Support Bar (Homemade)

Now Time For Ford To Fix What's Wrong!

Here's afew pics to show you what I've been up to:


[IMG]local://upfiles/60765/37D323587ECB4E709108259AE184DD83.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/60765/8E7EFC8DDD834517A7C364504CD3FDD8.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/60765/2EF7C06C20B94A4BA4EFEDB6DA0630FB.jpg[/IMG]

Jays Mustang

Hey Guys, Well got the Crossbar on and as figured, didn't do much for the noise. So with all that I done if it's aregular ripple/bump I do hear the noise only with the minor road imperfections has the noise calmed down. I know suspensions make noise on big & regularbumps but it shouldn't be a thunking noise.
So with all the support on, I'm ready for the fix. Bill Ford should start getting those letters on his desk by today. But if he bails out or gives a lame answer I'll put on a decent set of struts and mounts.
For me I want this problem behind me and forget about it, and try to enjoy the summer.