Leaking Strut After H&R Spring Install

[SleakMK]

Approximately 5 weeks ago I had a set of H&R springs installed on my car. I did not get an alignment as the shop said it appeared to be fine after install, although they would have gladly sold me an alignment and initially recommended it.

At first I had no noises (clicks, binding, etc..) but after a couple weeks I began to hear a like click when I would turn the wheel. Car drove fine and no noises while driving unless making slow sharp turns but got progressively worse with time. This past weekend I noticed a few drops of oil under my car but the under tray remained clean and no splatter under the car. After watching it for few days, I could tell it was coming from the passenger side somewhere around the wheel, later confirmed to be what looks like a leaking strut, which can be see in the attached pic. The clicking appears to be worse when turning right (same side as the leaking strut).

I have not taken the wheel off yet but to fully review the issue. I am not sure if this is related to faulty spring install (clicking may be due to this, failed strut due to spring install, or just a faulty strut (probably not likely). I have not tracked the car but do drive it rather spirited at times. Maybe I just blew it out but seems unlikely to me. I don't recall hitting any pot holes or anything that would have cause this either.

I am sure the warranty will not cover this and not sure how to prove faulty spring install (if it is). I am good with paying for another strut and having the dealer install (which I assume would fix the clicking as well if dealer re-installs spring) but hesitant to pull the trigger if there is a potential this will happen again.

If anyone has any thoughts on what happened or how to handle this, it would be greatly appreciated.

Sponsored

 

[Dannyvandelft]

Approximately 5 weeks ago I had a set of H&R springs installed on my car. I did not get an alignment as the shop said it appeared to be fine after install, although they would have gladly sold me an alignment and initially recommended it.

At first I had no noises (clicks, binding, etc..) but after a couple weeks I began to hear a like click when I would turn the wheel. Car drove fine and no noises while driving unless making slow sharp turns but got progressively worse with time. This past weekend I noticed a few drops of oil under my car but the under tray remained clean and no splatter under the car. After watching it for few days, I could tell it was coming from the passenger side somewhere around the wheel, later confirmed to be what looks like a leaking strut, which can be see in the attached pic. The clicking appears to be worse when turning right (same side as the leaking strut).

I have not taken the wheel off yet but to fully review the issue. I am not sure if this is related to faulty spring install (clicking may be due to this, failed strut due to spring install, or just a faulty strut (probably not likely). I have not tracked the car but do drive it rather spirited at times. Maybe I just blew it out but seems unlikely to me. I don't recall hitting any pot holes or anything that would have cause this either.

I am sure the warranty will not cover this and not sure how to prove faulty spring install (if it is). I am good with paying for another strut and having the dealer install (which I assume would fix the clicking as well if dealer re-installs spring) but hesitant to pull the trigger if there is a potential this will happen again.

If anyone has any thoughts on what happened or how to handle this, it would be greatly appreciated.

Common thing to happen on any car. The stock shocks are designed to work with the stock springs. When you swap them out for significantly higher spring rates and shorter travel, you shorten shock life (sometimes dramatically) and this can happen very quickly. Some aftermarket springs are made to work with stock shocks but I don't believe the H&R springs are. You're right that warranty won't pay for it, unless you have the coolest dealer ever. This is all part of the "pay to play" game.

 

[SleakMK]

Should have went coilovers I guess but man, should have lasted longer than this. I'm still leaning towards the installation being a contributing factor.

Anyone have recommendations on a coilover that can provide a stock like ride comfort? Checking out BC's but havent seen many reviews for an A90.

 

[Axix23]

What about throwing your stock springs back on and go into the dealership to get that one shock warranty? Lol.

 

[SleakMK]

Man, that would be quite the effort. Unless I did it myself, probably cheaper in the end to just go coilovers.

 

[kona61]

Man, that would be quite the effort. Unless I did it myself, probably cheaper in the end to just go coilovers.

Doubtful, a good coil over would run you a 1-2k and you need the damper eliminator module.

 

[kappa_md]

Eibach ProKit.

 

[Jason In2details]

Sure its just not that sway bar end link fitting busted seal? and now its clunking around? You need to jack the car up yourself and take wheel off and look little closer. Jack both sides up so both tires are off ground and then see if that sway bar is whats making that sound. Yes shocks can go bad but the springs are not very much shorter and should not have made it go bad. Still dealer most likely will not cover replacement. If during install the shaft was spun like crazy of they scratched the shaft that is most likely what made it go bad. if clamped This will be easy to see after it is removed and inspected and the installer did it wrong.

 

[SleakMK]

I parked it for a couple weeks, just haven't had time to take it in. Taking it to a performance suspension shop next week so we'll find out what the deal is. I got a set of BC coilovers ready to drop in as well so it's going to get fixed either way.

 

[xkenx1995]

Approximately 5 weeks ago I had a set of H&R springs installed on my car. I did not get an alignment as the shop said it appeared to be fine after install, although they would have gladly sold me an alignment and initially recommended it.

At first I had no noises (clicks, binding, etc..) but after a couple weeks I began to hear a like click when I would turn the wheel. Car drove fine and no noises while driving unless making slow sharp turns but got progressively worse with time. This past weekend I noticed a few drops of oil under my car but the under tray remained clean and no splatter under the car. After watching it for few days, I could tell it was coming from the passenger side somewhere around the wheel, later confirmed to be what looks like a leaking strut, which can be see in the attached pic. The clicking appears to be worse when turning right (same side as the leaking strut).

I have not taken the wheel off yet but to fully review the issue. I am not sure if this is related to faulty spring install (clicking may be due to this, failed strut due to spring install, or just a faulty strut (probably not likely). I have not tracked the car but do drive it rather spirited at times. Maybe I just blew it out but seems unlikely to me. I don't recall hitting any pot holes or anything that would have cause this either.

I am sure the warranty will not cover this and not sure how to prove faulty spring install (if it is). I am good with paying for another strut and having the dealer install (which I assume would fix the clicking as well if dealer re-installs spring) but hesitant to pull the trigger if there is a potential this will happen again.

If anyone has any thoughts on what happened or how to handle this, it would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry to revive this thread but same thing is happening to me now. Been a few months since I installed springs with stock struts and it seems to be leaking. I did get that clicking sound a few months in, and now I’m seeing the leaky strut. What did you end up doing? I’m pulling the trigger on coilovers if the issue is in fact the struts. I’m taking it to a shop on Wednesday.

 

[Davidpingu]

Springs was the first thing I wanted to change when I get my car. I was going to get the Z4/eibach ones. Is this an issue mainly with H&R or are owners on other springs seeing the same thing? Last thing I want is for a brand new car to have issues early in its life.

 

[Deighvid]

I'm at 8 months with my Eibachs (but only 3k miles) and no issues here.

 

[SleakMK]

Sorry to revive this thread but same thing is happening to me now. Been a few months since I installed springs with stock struts and it seems to be leaking. I did get that clicking sound a few months in, and now I’m seeing the leaky strut. What did you end up doing? I’m pulling the trigger on coilovers if the issue is in fact the struts. I’m taking it to a shop on Wednesday.

I never was able to determine the exact cause but decided against taking a chance at blowing another stock strut. There were no signs of a faulty spring install, so not sure what caused the failure. I ended up going with BC coil overs, which in the end completely changed the handling and stability of car, so I have no regrets. I suspect this is a risk with any springs, not just H&R. This solved the clicking issue as well, but only for a few months, then came back. I’ve been dealing with that ever since but it hasnt caused any issues or affected the handling at all. I’ve had it inspected by Toyota and they say nothing is loose. I don’t know if the fact the car is lowered puts additional stress on other steering components, creating the noise or what, but would love to figure it out.

Keep in mind, if you go with coil overs, you’ll need the electronic damper delete kit also. I used the one from KW. You’ll lose that function but the coil overs ride so good, I haven’t missed it one bit.

 

[Davidpingu]

I think with the supra being such a capable car in the performance department it’s one car that I probably would have an argument for coilovers on. I’ve been watching the Misha Charoudin YouTube videos and his appraisal of the supra being developed with Bilstein.



From what I can gather there are other components that become misaligned from lowering so if I do it it’s probably going to get expensive.
Interested to know if you miss the damping adjustment of the standard system for street though? I find it useful in my FK8 so would never have considered making changes to the suspension on that car for street use.

Re. the clicking I don’t know much about these cars yet but one possible cause could be subframe movement? 95% of cars come with quite a bit of tolerance on the subframe mounting. A large hole for a narrow bolt. It’s like that so the cars can be put together on an assembly line.
What that means though is that the subframes can have several mm of movement.
Spoon rigid collars were very popular for the Hondas and apparently make a noticeable difference to handling.
Could be worth a try?

https://www.blackhawkjapan.com/products/spoon-83-toyota-supra-50261-a70-000

 

[OneTimeAccount]

I think with the supra being such a capable car in the performance department it’s one car that I probably would have an argument for coilovers on. I’ve been watching the Misha Charoudin YouTube videos and his appraisal of the supra being developed with Bilstein.



From what I can gather there are other components that become misaligned from lowering so if I do it it’s probably going to get expensive.
Interested to know if you miss the damping adjustment of the standard system for street though? I find it useful in my FK8 so would never have considered making changes to the suspension on that car for street use.

Re. the clicking I don’t know much about these cars yet but one possible cause could be subframe movement? 95% of cars come with quite a bit of tolerance on the subframe mounting. A large hole for a narrow bolt. It’s like that so the cars can be put together on an assembly line.
What that means though is that the subframes can have several mm of movement.
Spoon rigid collars were very popular for the Hondas and apparently make a noticeable difference to handling.
Could be worth a try?

https://www.blackhawkjapan.com/products/spoon-83-toyota-supra-50261-a70-000

Thing is, you don't HAVE to lower your car with coilovers even though it's the common thing to do. The benefit with going coilovers, in my opinion, is not only about lowering, it's about having a more predictable, better responding car that inspires more confidence.. If you're concern is handling performance. I just got a set of custom valved CKS coilovers with a spring rate that is pretty stiff. I gained a couple seconds at one of my local tracks just by switching. So coilovers definitely help the performance.

Lowering is actually pretty bad for this car because it throws the roll-center off. I'm still learning about roll center and suspension geometry but from what I gathered so far on this chassis (and others as well), lowering too much will cause a strange jacking effect and make the car behave strange under load through a turn.

Sponsored