Struts move in rear strut mounts, how do I fix it? (Motiational rear strut mounts)
02-12-2003, 03:28 PM
#1
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Struts move in rear strut mounts, how do I fix it? (Motiational rear strut mounts)
My H&R springs KYB AGX shocks and Motivational rear strut mounts are finally in 
. I paid a shop to do it. Everything seems great except I noticed a slight clunking noise from the right rear when I hit a bump. I spent some time looking closely at the rear suspention and pushing down on the car to try to find the noise. I pulled out the trunk liner to look at the strut mounts and noticed when I push down on the car the strut top moves up about an inch and there is a squeaking noise. Both sides are about the same. Should the top of the strut be ale to move like this? How can I fix it? Does it have to go back to the shop 
?
. I paid a shop to do it. Everything seems great except I noticed a slight clunking noise from the right rear when I hit a bump. I spent some time looking closely at the rear suspention and pushing down on the car to try to find the noise. I pulled out the trunk liner to look at the strut mounts and noticed when I push down on the car the strut top moves up about an inch and there is a squeaking noise. Both sides are about the same. Should the top of the strut be ale to move like this? How can I fix it? Does it have to go back to the shop ?
02-12-2003, 04:22 PM
#3
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Originally posted by Chunger
The shop forgot to RETIGHTEN the center nuts after briing the car down from the hoist... Retighten it yourself of you'll damage something....
The shop forgot to RETIGHTEN the center nuts after briing the car down from the hoist... Retighten it yourself of you'll damage something....
02-12-2003, 04:27 PM
#4
Unless the shop messed up the order of the reassembly, it just needs to be tightened down after the weight of the car compresses the rubber parts... i.e. the car must be on the ground.
One difficult part of installing these rear mounts is aligning the strut shaft through the center of the mount... jack up the rear tires and look from the rear tire view that they are indeed seated properly.
One difficult part of installing these rear mounts is aligning the strut shaft through the center of the mount... jack up the rear tires and look from the rear tire view that they are indeed seated properly.
02-13-2003, 12:11 PM
#7
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Originally posted by Chunger
Unless the shop messed up the order of the reassembly, it just needs to be tightened down after the weight of the car compresses the rubber parts... i.e. the car must be on the ground.
One difficult part of installing these rear mounts is aligning the strut shaft through the center of the mount... jack up the rear tires and look from the rear tire view that they are indeed seated properly.
Unless the shop messed up the order of the reassembly, it just needs to be tightened down after the weight of the car compresses the rubber parts... i.e. the car must be on the ground.
One difficult part of installing these rear mounts is aligning the strut shaft through the center of the mount... jack up the rear tires and look from the rear tire view that they are indeed seated properly.
I am not sure what you mean by this
, everything seems to be ok with the suspention now so hopefully the shop got everything else right.
02-13-2003, 12:28 PM
#8
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I've got the exact same slight clunk with AGX/OEM springs. I just recently took the entire rear assy apart and put all new bushings in it. I still have the same clunk. The pistons do move up and down slightly in the rubber mounts, it's sort of normal. I've torqued them with a torque wrench, I've tightened them all the way till I ran out of thread and still the clunk continues. It gets less noticable when it's warm outside.
I thought it might be the valves in the AGX's that are noisey and it's being transmitted up the piston shaft into the cabin slightly. Thats why you hear it right up top by the upper mount. I even went as far as to ride in my trunk so watch the movement of the piston. It's a slight movement totally in sync with the clunk. But everything is isolated with new bushings?
The next step is to put an additional washer in between the stock one and the nut to give me a bit more compression on the bushings to hold the piston a bit firmer.
I'm blaming the very stiff AGX's for causing the noise in the first place. The initial valving is pretty stiff and I think we would probably benifit from stiffer bushings to hold the piston shaft a bit firmer in place. I wasted 25 bucks putting all new OEM bushings in there, the old ones looked pretty good when I took them out.
A softer strut/shock wouldn't transmit so much shock to the upper mounts. The stock bushings are pretty soft and I think thats what's causing the movement and noise when you couple them with the firm AGX's, especially in this cold weather.
I thought it might be the valves in the AGX's that are noisey and it's being transmitted up the piston shaft into the cabin slightly. Thats why you hear it right up top by the upper mount. I even went as far as to ride in my trunk so watch the movement of the piston. It's a slight movement totally in sync with the clunk. But everything is isolated with new bushings?
The next step is to put an additional washer in between the stock one and the nut to give me a bit more compression on the bushings to hold the piston a bit firmer.
I'm blaming the very stiff AGX's for causing the noise in the first place. The initial valving is pretty stiff and I think we would probably benifit from stiffer bushings to hold the piston shaft a bit firmer in place. I wasted 25 bucks putting all new OEM bushings in there, the old ones looked pretty good when I took them out.
A softer strut/shock wouldn't transmit so much shock to the upper mounts. The stock bushings are pretty soft and I think thats what's causing the movement and noise when you couple them with the firm AGX's, especially in this cold weather.
02-13-2003, 04:37 PM
#10
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Posts: 661
I had the same problem. After the install, I was busy and I was pretty sure I did the entire setup correctly (njmaxseltd, thank you again for your knowledge on suspension), so really didn't want to investigate the problem. Yes, It gets less noticable when it's warm outside. also, no sound after driving for over an hour.
The GOOD news is the sound went away after 5 weeks.
Suggest wait for some period of time and see what happen.
The GOOD news is the sound went away after 5 weeks.
Suggest wait for some period of time and see what happen.
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