Quiet drop links for TPC swaybars.

I couldn't handle the sound of the solid drop links any longer. I replaced the rod ends TPC provided, with some teflon lined ones I purchased from QA1 precision products at http://www.qa1.net/ Cost me about $200 for 8 rod-ends. I just replaced the rod ends. The shaft, adapters, and bolts are used as designed by TPC. The links are still quiet after two track days and about 400 miles of driving. I don't expect these to be silent forever, but if they last 3-4000miles then the experiment has been worth $200 to me. Part numbers: MHML14T x 4 MHMR14T x 4 YMMV justin

I though the noise didn't really bother me until I added the rubber boots and moly grease to the TPC & Tarett hiem joints on my car. It makes quite a difference in the streetability of the car. Glad this solution worked well for you. Keep us posted on the longevity.

How much are the TPC drop links with the teflon ends vs the BillC custom links? Is one solution mechanically better than the other?

The general consensus is that Bill C's adjustable links based on stock are OK for most track use. However I have seen stock Cayman links break on the track when used on a modified car with R comps. TPC or other Heim joint links are much stronger but they all rattle. Two possible solutions are the teflon coated hiem joints or the rubber boots with moly grease. Several ways to go. For me the risk of a broken stock based link is not worth the risk. Teflon coated joints should be quiet but the life may be limited For a daily driver hiem joint links with the rubber boots are very strong on the track and quiet on the street. PS much as I love my TPC equipment, the Tarett links are much easier to get the boots over.

My feelings exactly. Justin

guys, following your convo here... similar concern: i got tarett links with gt3 front bar and tarett rear bar. about 2500 miles on them. lately the left front drop link started rattling over rough pavement. we were able to tighten it up and it's almost gone (for the moment). diverdog, is this the boot set you are using with the tpc bar/links? Rod End Boot you say "moly", are you packing the boot with moly grease and then install them over the ends? if so, does it contain the grease pretty well? and does the boot help quiet the joint, too - or is this only to guard against wear and thus defer the return of the rattle? would appreciate any pointers or more elaborate comments on this topic! :thanks: -aw1.

See this thread http://www.planet-9.com/cayman-boxster-modifications/41887-drop-links.html I think these are the same boots that Tarett sells. They fit over the tarett or tpc heim joints. I packed the boots with different amounts of grease to see if they would leak. The one I over filled did leak. I just wiped it off & no more leakage. Snap ring pliers make the install much easier. I don't think I could have installed them on the tpc ends without them. One of the best mods I've ever done. Quiet as stock and I'm sure the joints will last much longer. No worries about breakage on the track either

hey diverdog, super, thanks for pointing me to the other link/discussion, and for confirming. now on my to-do list! -aw1.

Hi justin, Any update report on the QA1 teflon rod ends you use? Still quite now that they are 11months? Find any better? Thanks, -Stevie

Stevie- They now make a tiny bit of noise, so I'm not sure they are the best solution. Definitely much better than before. I've only covered about 1000 miles, but I hit at least 10 large potholes on the street to and from my house anytime I go anywhere. Otherwise, most of those miles are on the track. So I don't know if they count as being used a lot or barely used. Also I haven't been happy with the quality of the bolts on the TPC links. Car has 3000 miles and is always garaged. the bolts look like ****. I little bit of stainless steel would have been nice. I have purchased a set of powergrid links to try for the front bar. To preempt future noises, not because I need them now. I have much higher hopes of success. They are a completely different design. Powergrid, Inc. justin

Hey justin, Any report on the life of your Powergrid links? I have the QA4 ends and teflon lining is pretty well pounded out now. I am thinking to install the boots with grease like I had with the TTC "bucket of bolts" ends or... dump the QA4 in the same trash bin with the TTCs and put the Powergrid THK resin ball-stud links. It is surprising that the noise has lowered my "quality" optinion on my car as much as it has. When the QA4s were new, I was happy. Not so much now. -Stevie

I bought the Tarrett drop links with the rubber boots, they aren't filled with grease and they don't make a sound.

DMN987S, Not for nothin but, I don't think your southern roads are nearly as un-maintained and weather-beaten as our poor-excuse-for-roads are here on Long Island. I discovered the clunk-in-the-trunk issue back in 2006. :helpme: -Stevie

I have the TPC drop links with the rubber boots and grease injected in them and they are silent.

I haven't done nearly enough miles for a follow up report. I expect them to last a good long time though. I heard online about viper and nissan guys using them so you could google them and ask about long term durability... good luck, Justin

Old thread bump... but this is relevant to me. With some luck, the OP's are still around... Can you describe the noise the dry links make? Is it almost like a harsh GROK or CLINK sort of sound? I've basically R&R'd the entire suspension on my car and am still chasing a noise. It's all monoball (JRZ RS2s, Tarett LCA ends, monoball thrust arms and control arm pucks, Tarett drop links, etc) so I expect some noise. I'm just paranoid I'm missing something and something is getting ready to fail. If the noise I hear is related to NOT having "quiet" drop links then I'm good to go.

OmniGLH- I also have a rear clunk on startup on the passenger side. Thought it was the thrust arm, so replaced both rear arms. Now, I'm thinking it could be the solid red thrust puck on my Tarett Cup LCA's. No grease fitting. Wonder if the moly would seep into the crack around the thrust puck? I could also give the Tarett downlink some Moly under the boots as well.

Yeah that might be what it is. I disconnected my swaybar completely (and put the endlinks on the tool bench) this afternoon and went for a ride around the block - clunk is still there. I think I still have the stock thrust arm bushings on the bench somewhere when I replaced the control arms (ball joint boots ripped)... maybe I'll remove the Tarett pucks and press the OE ones back in (if I can, without ruining them) to see if it goes away. I'm only using the center hole anyways so it doesn't need to be perfectly aligned in the arm...

If you pull out the Tarett Red solid thrust pucks, can you tell if there was metal to metal rubbing happening. That is sort of the noise I hear for just a second at start then nothing.

They are full of scuffs and scratches - but that's from sliding the tuning fork over them to get them lined up... One thing I did not check was how tight of a tolerance there was between the bolt, and the hole in the puck. It may very well be the source? I can consistently get the noise pulling away from a stop in a tight turn. Like, say... a drive-thru. It's so hard to tell the location. The rollbar in the car acts like a giant bell. Any noise that makes it's way up the shock to the strut tower gets transmitted by the bar.

Great tip about the bolt. At least I can squirt some liquid Moly or other lub into that area. Could be the fork, bolt and hole all need some lub in that spot. Was the red thrust puck tight in the LCA. It was not rocking around, even slightly? So, I can focus on the bolt.

Yeah the puck-to-thrust arm clearance was tight. No real slop. And the bolt-thrust clearance (on the unthreaded end) was tight. So my hunch is there is clearance between the bolt and the hole in the puck. It's the latest theory anyways... lol... probably theory number 12 or 13 at this point as I chase this clunk...

I wonder if Ira from Tarett could give us some insight? He replaced an inside monoball fitting that was squaking from my Cup LCA's without charge, but I still had to pay for the labor and alignment. I had Cantrell Motor Sports look over all the rear LCA's carefully when I had my Wavetrac LSD installed. They took the transaxle off to change the ring and bolts to the new LSD . The tech carefully looked of each item for wear or failure. He found nothing, but he did tighten up the issue for about a month, now its returned so I suspect its the Red thrust puck bore being slightly too big for the bolt.

I suppose I could. I've got his inner-LCA-ends on my car too. I've gone through 3 of them, failing axially. I assume it's some kind of epoxy failure or something. It allows the control arm to move fore/aft along the length of the car. THAT was a fun one to find. One up front, which I sent to Tarett for a rebuild and when I got it back - it developed the same issue in just a few hundred miles. I ordered a new one and it's holding up - but then one in the rear failed so I had to buy another new one. I'm chalking it up to the fact that these are monoball items being used in mix-use (street, autocross, and track) that just have a short service life. At any rate, my new control arms arrived today. I'll likely NOT install the Tarett pucks at first, I'll leave the rubber ones in the arms and see if the clunk disappears. While I've got it apart I'll look at how the bolt fits into the puck hole.

Ok I got the new arms in. I opted NOT to install the pucks at first, just because, once I press the OE pucks out, I'm not sure how easy it would be to put them back in if I wanted to run this experiment later. I ran out of time last night to torque everything down, so I torqued it all this morning before my daily team huddle - but then did not have the chance to put it on the ground. If it's not raining by lunch I'll take it for a ride. I'll say, not sure how sound our theory is... the bolt hole in the puck IS pretty precise. IF our theory was correct, I would have expected a lot more movement there. There is more wiggle in the OE puck's hole. Will see if the rubber-isolated OE puck cures it.

Your fix is what I think is the issue.

Ok short drive on lunch - it's quiet. So far, so good. I'll drive it a bit over the next few days but at least initially, it does seem like the pucks were causing the noise. If so, then good to know. I may eventually put them back in. I was mainly concerned something was broken/loose/whatever that I couldn't find. Now that I at least know what the noise is, I won't be so worried.

Exactly, my fear as well. Like a cracked LCA or thrust arm attachment bolt under the passenger seat.

Yup. And my car having a very long, ugly, storied history.... despite having replaced the entire suspension since I've owned it (ENTIRE suspension... control arms, thrust arms, knuckles, axles, shocks, springs, strut/spring mounts, front subframe - because I'd found issues with each of those components due to shoddy workmanship by a shop I won't go into), I'm always now doubly paranoid that something ELSE is screwed up under the car. And I'm not one to let problems "age"... but I have been scratching my head on this final bit of harsh noise for almost a year now. I've paint-markered every bolt. I check that nothing has moved EVERY DRIVE. I re-torque everything every 500-1000 street miles, and before/after EVERY autocross or DE event (and so far, nothing has "softened") I've completely disassembled and reinspected each component probably a dozen times in the last year... hoping that SOMETHING would become visible... and nothing. I took the car for another drive this evening after reconnecting the rear sway bar. Still silent. I'll put some miles on it this weekend but I think it's finally solved!