Horrible noises and ride, HELP!

[kbuskill]

View attachment 279456
here’s mine as it sits
Right or wrong it doesn’t make noise

Wow... seems like a terrible fit to me.

 

[ks03]

My guess is that it doesn’t matter being under constant spring pressure

Thought I had, that other people who have lowered might be able to better speak to... with lowering keys or being decranked enough, could it just feel like you’re riding around on bump stops?

 

[exp500]

DaveLas- Check Rear control arms too.

 

[SRQYukon]

Did you ever resolve your issue? I never had the clunking sound, but I experience the horrible, almost unbearable ride after my 3/3 drop using Eibach lowering keys and rear coils. Finally scraped the whole kit and stater over with McGaughy's 2" spindles (reinstall stock keys) and Belltech rear coils. Radically improved my ride, but still looking for a little better ride, so I replaced the shocks with Bilstein 4600s. Surprisingly, my final huge improvement came from the Michelin Defender tires. I love the semi-firm ride I have now, but it's still a little jittery over rough pavement. I know, that to some degree, we expect that with stiffer suspension. I'm now waiting on delivery of new Viking coilovers to see if that gives me the last little improvement. Here are a few things I learned along the way that really affect the ride:
1) Try to retain the original suspension geometry as much as possible. Keys generally do not do that unless you opt for adjustable control arms.
2) You absolutely need to be certain that your parts match (i.e., your shock travel and suspension travel are correct). Bottomed-out shocks are gut-wrenching. But even a slightly wrong shock makes a huge difference in ride quality. Measure, measure, measure. Everything.
3) Make sure to check the bump stops. They need to be trimmed or resized (depending on the level of mods your choose. Free travel mod is absolutely needed in the rear if your lowering and shorter bump stops are needed in the front for most drops.
4) With larger drops, the original Panhard bar offsets the differential about 1/2 or more (to the right side, IIRC). An adjustable panhard will correct that and tighten up the slop.
5) In many cases, exhausts, e-brake cables, and other dangling things that had plenty of room before, now come in contact with moving suspension parts. This causes all sorts of weird noises and may contribute to an unpleasant ride.
6) You can't expect larger wheel-tire combos and lowered suspension to work without some mods. Tire clearance is going to be an issue with most lowered setups. The extent is dependent on how low you go, and the wheel/tire size and offset you choose. The 00-06s really don't have that much room in the wheelhouses for both 22+ wheels and 2+ suspension drops without encountering a little tire rub under certain conditions (full lock turns, or negotiating turns that twist the front and rear suspension in opposing direction, etc.)
Anyway, I hoping you've worked out the issue you were having. Maybe give us an update on what you've found.

 

[DaveLaz]

Did you ever resolve your issue? I never had the clunking sound, but I experience the horrible, almost unbearable ride after my 3/3 drop using Eibach lowering keys and rear coils. Finally scraped the whole kit and stater over with McGaughy's 2" spindles (reinstall stock keys) and Belltech rear coils. Radically improved my ride, but still looking for a little better ride, so I replaced the shocks with Bilstein 4600s. Surprisingly, my final huge improvement came from the Michelin Defender tires. I love the semi-firm ride I have now, but it's still a little jittery over rough pavement. I know, that to some degree, we expect that with stiffer suspension. I'm now waiting on delivery of new Viking coilovers to see if that gives me the last little improvement. Here are a few things I learned along the way that really affect the ride:
1) Try to retain the original suspension geometry as much as possible. Keys generally do not do that unless you opt for adjustable control arms.
2) You absolutely need to be certain that your parts match (i.e., your shock travel and suspension travel are correct). Bottomed-out shocks are gut-wrenching. But even a slightly wrong shock makes a huge difference in ride quality. Measure, measure, measure. Everything.
3) Make sure to check the bump stops. They need to be trimmed or resized (depending on the level of mods your choose. Free travel mod is absolutely needed in the rear if your lowering and shorter bump stops are needed in the front for most drops.
4) With larger drops, the original Panhard bar offsets the differential about 1/2 or more (to the right side, IIRC). An adjustable panhard will correct that *** tighten up the slop.
5) In many cases, exhausts, e-brake cables, and other dangling things that had plenty of room before, now come in contact with moving suspension parts. This causes all sort of weird noises and may contribute to an unpleasant ride.
6) You can't expect larger wheel-tire combos and lowered suspension to work without some mods. Tire clearance is going to be an issue with most lowered setups. The extent is dependent on how low you go, and the wheel/tire size and offset you choose. The 00-06s really don't have that much room in the wheelhouses for both 22+ wheels and 2+ suspension drops without encountering a little tire rub under certain conditions (full lock turns, or negotiating turns that twist the front and rear suspension in opposing direction, etc.)
Anyway, I hoping you've worked out the issue you were having. Maybe give us an update on what you've found.

Thanks for the reply! I’ve been waiting for a resolution before updating but I’m still at a loss. I went ahead and replaced the belltech drop shocks for Bilstein 4600s since a couple people suggested it, and maybe the belltechs I had were defective, but it honestly didn’t do much if anything at all. This past weekend I replaced the body mounts with added silicone shims since there was a TSB about it. I’d say between swapping the shocks, and replacing body mounts, my ride went from 1/10 to 2/10. Unfortunately I think I’m done. I can’t afford to waste any more money and time into it. I rely very much on having a large RELIABLE SUV alongside my project cars (early 00’s BMWs). My 20 year old, 330k mile BMW M5 that needs a lot of love, is proving to be more comfy and reliable than my Yukon at the moment. If within the next 6 months my Yukon doesn’t completely fall apart, or if I don’t get CTE, I will be trading it in for a 15’-20’ Tahoe or Escalade.

 

[Rocket Man]

Thanks for the reply! I’ve been waiting for a resolution before updating but I’m still at a loss. I went ahead and replaced the belltech drop shocks for Bilstein 4600s since a couple people suggested it, and maybe the belltechs I had were defective, but it honestly didn’t do much if anything at all. This past weekend I replaced the body mounts with added silicone shims since there was a TSB about it. I’d say between swapping the shocks, and replacing body mounts, my ride went from 1/10 to 2/10. Unfortunately I think I’m done. I can’t afford to waste any more money and time into it. I rely very much on having a large RELIABLE SUV alongside my project cars (early 00’s BMWs). My 20 year old, 330k mile BMW M5 that needs a lot of love, is proving to be more comfy and reliable than my Yukon at the moment. If within the next 6 months my Yukon doesn’t completely fall apart, or if I don’t get CTE, I will be trading it in for a 15’-20’ Tahoe or Escalade.

Strange you’re having an issue. I’m lowered on Belltech springs and lowering spindles on my 02 Denali and it rides great especially considering I’m running 22” wheels. And the NBS are reliable as hell, most will go 400k plus with regular maintenance. You couldn’t pay me to work on a BMW, especially an old one. I hate that stupid overly complicated German engineering.

 

[DaveLaz]

Strange you’re having an issue. I’m lowered on Belltech springs and lowering spindles on my 02 Denali and it rides great especially considering I’m running 22” wheels. And the NBS are reliable as hell, most will go 400k plus with regular maintenance. You couldn’t pay me to work on a BMW, especially an old one. I hate that stupid overly complicated German engineering.

Nothing higher quality than overly complicated German engineering when it works though

 

[Rocket Man]

Nothing higher quality than overly complicated German engineering when it works though

Yeah, it’s that “when it works” stuff though. My daughter owned a VW Passat. I’ll never work on a German car again. So ridiculous. There were so many systems that were stupidly complicated, and yes they do break. All stuff wears out, German or not. Door locks? One went out, it was insanely hard to take the door apart. I had to remove the skin off the outside, the inside panel was just for looks. Stupid. Another time, someone smashed another door and my body shop buddy had a helluva time getting it open so he could replace it and then the wrecking yard couldn’t get any doors to open on a donor since none of them had lock cylinders or even lock knobs- all electronic so impossible to open unless the entire electrical and security system was working. The glovebox latch broke and was impossible to get open so I could fix it, and when I finally did, I had to disassemble half the dash to fix it. I could go on and on. Stupid hard and no need to be designed like that. Like I said, I’ll never work on one again. You need a whole shop full of special tools just to do routine maintenance. You can work on them all you want but it’s a hard pass for me.

 

[Bigkevschopshop]

Did you ever trim the jounce bushings for the front end? Also the rear needs a free travel mod if you hadn't done that yet... If the front end is deep on the jounce bushings, almost collapsing them, the spring rate is insane at that point, a thud will be had when it completely bottoms out on the cup to arm. The rear may be rear bump stops or brackets, but could be the panhard bar bracket hitting frame. Just alot of thoughts of weird things I have seen on these lowered...