strangest update..
Installed the tarett camber plates and something instantly isn't right. Springs binding and very loud clunking at any turn of the wheel. My bud has installed more top mounts than he cares to remember. maybe the targets simply won't work properly with lowering springs? Either way there was no way I was going to even drive the car.

Pulled my old top mounts out of the garbage ( believing I wouldn't need them any longer! Ha ) and although they do show some wear and the rubber bits are indeed a bit worse for wear...

The new backing bearing plates (11,on sinkings helpful diagram) have completely eliminated the creaking/crunching that began this odyssey. Well, that and removing lubricating the drivers seat rails r&r tighten etc.

Will buy some OEM top mounts after conversation with my friend from whom I got the taretts.

Wonder what IRA will say?! ... Strange morning for auto repair lol

add: gonna be pissed if someone tells me i need(ed) lower spring perch bearings or whatever they're called.

 

sounds like you are experiencing coil bind. Did you use thrust bearings and upper spring seat assembled and installed properly with the Tarett mount?

 

coil bind is just what it sounds like. my tech has installed lot of these. they weren't ordered until a conversation was had with ira/tarett prior to purchase, confirming nothing else was required. bolt right in, which they did. then pop/bind/clunk to the degree I wouldn't even back the car up and infinitely worse than what I began with!


only new parts were the bearing backing plates which I left in once re-installing the old oem mounts which don't creak at all. what parts did professional tech and parts guys neglect to inform me I *might*?? need?


I'm not gonna speculate what's right/wrong until my source speaks with ira ... again. the parts were clearly marked for 996tt and was told direct fit, no add'l hardware needed.

 

so you did, or did NOT, install new thrust bearings?

coil bind is a pretty simple issue to fix. Your spring can either spin, or it can't.

if you didn't install new thrust bearings and they were in bad shape, you'd be getting mild coil bind prior to all this. Add in the process of removing them, slapping them into a new mount with slightly different properties, and you may have exacerbated the issue.

On my old E46 M3 that used a nearly identical thrust bearing, they were fine on the car, but as soon as I removed them, the bearings and races "came undone" and nearly fell apart in my hands. The design of this type of bearing lends itself to that sort of thing... once they begin to fail, they are often held together by their confines and not by the races and shells themselves.

 

ok fair enough. what if there was NO binding prior to the install of the tarett plates?! all that happened before was outlined in my post.. a VERY slight, barely perceptible creaking. now that I have the old top mounts back in with NEW bearing plates and NO noises at all. this is spite of my visually acknowledging the top mounts can use replacing asap.


add: if thrust bearing and thrust bearing backing plate is one and the same? they are NEW as of yesterday

 

I just mentioned earlier that I had an M3 with no issues... I took it apart, bearings fell apart in my hands. They can fail and be "held in place" so to speak by the mount. So yes anything is possible.

Did you install the Tarett mounts with new OEM thrust bearings? Or did you install those Tarett mounts with the old thrust bearings?

 

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number 11 is the only "new" item that was replaced same time as the camber plates. am i missing something? which is the thrust bearing? as i do not believe that was replaced. i certainly wasn't informed by anyone with whom I've been discussing/buying from that additional parts are/were needed.. ?

 

11 is the thrust bearing. it rests against the upper mount (12). Parts 9 and 10 effectively make up the "upper spring seat" which can freely rotate against the thrust bearing so that your coil springs turn as a whole, rather than binding.

if you were getting coil bind with brand new thrust bearings then I would guess that something wasn't assembled correctly or one of the parts was missing.

 

we've ruled out #1 since all parts went back in as they came out...znd are leaning toward the possibility that something is missing. which does nothing to explain why it's working as it should right now with old oem top mounts with NEW bearing backing plates ( #11 ).

its the mystery of the day, i'm sure it will be figured out soon as there are a few people helping to ascertain what might be wrong. namely, why tarretts bind badly, and oems do not.