Turner Monoball FCAB FAULTY? (creaking and knocking)

[mcfreid]

I recently had Matt Coyne (now at Kassel Perfomance) perform a 100k service (rod bearings, cooling system, vanos bulletproofing). I also asked Matt to replace the original fcabs with TMS Monoballs. Upon first drive, the car was making a pronounced knocking and creaking sound, especially between 30 and 55 mph and between 0 and 5 mph. Below is a sound recording, you can hear the knocks and creaks right at the beginning and then throughout the acceleration, about 10 to 15 times within the clip.

https://vocaroo.com/15PAP8UzDHI

I brought the car back to back to Matt and he believes that the FCABs needed some more grease and that they were causing the knocking/creaking. He regreased them but it did not resolve the issue.

Has anyone else encountered this? The car is back with Matt at this point and we could use some guidance here.

Thanks!

-Michael

[Obioban]

They need to be greased before being installed.

[mcfreid]

They need to be greased before being installed.

I'm 90% sure he greased them before installing. Will double-check with him.

[Ruley]

If that’s the culprit and you decide to replace it with the same thing they’re on back order too. I ordered the preinstalled units 3 weeks ago thinking they’ed be in by now as they were supposed to be in one week ago. Then I got a notification saying they’d be in this week. Then this past Friday they pushed it out till August 4th. I don’t need them just wanted to make the switch in general. So if that’s really the issue, you’ll be waiting.... ouch!

[Nuclear Rabbit]

Sounds just like mine did when I used the wrong grease. You have to use molybdenum grease as it's a very tight / high pressure joint. If you don't want to pay out for the grease gun / special nozzle, I had great results with CRC extreme duty chain lube. It's moly based.. just had to cut down a straw to jam in to the grease port since it doesn't come with one.

[mcfreid]

Sounds just like mine did when I used the wrong grease. You have to use molybdenum grease as it's a very tight / high pressure joint. If you don't want to pay out for the grease gun / special nozzle, I had great results with CRC extreme duty chain lube. It's moly based.. just had to cut down a straw to jam in to the grease port since it doesn't come with one.

Thanks for the tip, I would expect Matt to know this but will confirm. Thank you!

[DanAvoN7]

I've installed 5 sets (very small sample size as I always recommend OEM Lemforder when replacing FCAB's as the majority of cars I work on are street cars) and noticed the same creaking/knocking sound on 3 of the sets. Two of those customer cars we switched to OEM Lemforder and the sound completely went away and the other car the sound didn't bother him as it was a dedicated track car so he left the Turner FCAB's installed. All were pressed in to Genuine OE BMW housings, there was no binding once the bushing was pressed in to the housing, they were greased using Redline CV-2 (contains moly), etc. All of the cars did have original front control arms. I did notice that there is a tolerance issue as some bushings slid on to the control arms with little to no resistance where others required force/pressing of the bushing for it to fit on the control arm. This tolerance issue (and possibly some wear over time on the bushing mounting area) is on the control arm itself. The Lemforder bushing is rubber and does not require a precision machined control arm for it to fit properly. I am not a fan of these and do not recommend them to my customers as the tolerances between the Turner monoball FCAB bushing and front control arm vary too much.

[Casa de Mesa]

I just installed these and both arms were a tight fit. Car is still in the air but I'll report back. I used Redline CV2 as well.

EDIT: Scratch ^^this comment. I got the RTAB monoballs. I read this post too quickly.

[usdmej]

Two of those customer cars we switched to OEM Lemforder and the sound completely went away and the other car the sound didn't bother him as it was a dedicated track car. . . .

so the 3rd car was was fine before the Turner FCAB isntall, experienced creaking/clunking post-Turner FCAB install, but the sound didn't go away after it was swapped back to OEM Lemforder FCABS?

[DanAvoN7]

so the 3rd car was was fine before the Turner FCAB isntall, experienced creaking/clunking post-Turner FCAB install, but the sound didn't go away after it was swapped back to OEM Lemforder FCABS?

No, that is not correct. The 3rd car was never swapped back to OEM Lemforder FCAB's. The 3rd car was fine before the Turner FCAB install and then experienced creaking post-Turner FCAB install when the car went over sharp bumps/joints in the road. The creaking did not bother this customer as it's a track car that only sees street driving to/from the track (there was no noticeable play, just a creak) and so he chose to leave the Turner FCAB's installed.

Edited the original post so it's clear.

[eacmen]

I experienced same issue. Switched back to stock and sold the monoballs. Mine had to be pressed on. Seems that the binding happens on ones that needed to be pressed on.

Not a fan of Turner parts after ECS acquired them.

[mcfreid]

I've installed 5 sets (very small sample size as I always recommend OEM Lemforder when replacing FCAB's as the majority of cars I work on are street cars) and noticed the same creaking/knocking sound on 3 of the sets. Two of those customer cars we switched to OEM Lemforder and the sound completely went away and the other car the sound didn't bother him as it was a dedicated track car so he left the Turner FCAB's installed. All were pressed in to Genuine OE BMW housings, there was no binding once the bushing was pressed in to the housing, they were greased using Redline CV-2 (contains moly), etc. All of the cars did have original front control arms. I did notice that there is a tolerance issue as some bushings slid on to the control arms with little to no resistance where others required force/pressing of the bushing for it to fit on the control arm. This tolerance issue (and possibly some wear over time on the bushing mounting area) is on the control arm itself. The Lemforder bushing is rubber and does not require a precision machined control arm for it to fit properly. I am not a fan of these and do not recommend them to my customers as the tolerances between the Turner monoball FCAB bushing and front control arm vary too much.

The cars that experienced the creaking/knocking had tolerance issues where the fitment was too tight (required pressing/force) or fitment was too loose? Or both?

[BIllybilly2]

Here is the trouble shooting document that we came with when these first came out.

[mcfreid]

Here is the trouble shooting document that we came with when these first came out.

Thank you! I've shared this with Matt, will update here with the latest news.

[Onefastsicilian]

I've had these for over 2 year, I love them and have no issues.. They were a super tight fit going on and I loaded them with the recommended grease that TMS recommended.

To me, the only downfall is the location of the grease fitting.. what a SH*T location. You have to pull the aluminum tray off to grease these things.