I put in new Monroe quick struts about six months ago, and I'm getting some play in the passenger side wheel now: http://s397.photobucket.com/user/Dbe...tml?sort=6&o=7 (My camera work wasn't very good, but you can see it best near the end of the video.)

The lower strut bolts are tight, and the upper mounting bolts are tight. Is the only other possibility a bad mount bearing? Do they go bad that quickly?

 

A few months ago, I put on some KYB AGX struts with Moog strut mount bushings and bearings. The passenger side started popping in November. I just ordered two OEM bearings to fix.

 

I'm not so sure if it is the strut bearing. The bad strut bearings I've seen have been detectable from looking at the top mounting bolt of the strut from up under the hood. The nut for the strut rod should be dead center in the round opening in the tower. In fact, if you grab on to the fender and push/pull the car side to side (be careful the hood doesn't come down!), you will see the nut moving in the round opening if the bearing is bad.

I wonder if you have a bad wheel bearing or the axle nut is loose.

 

+1

In the video, it sure looks like some wheel movement is occurring.

 

Nothing wrong with your strut. Check inner and outer tie rod ends, lower ball joint and maybe the wheel bearing too. I'm leaning toward your tie rod ends.

 

Hmm. I just replaced the inner and out tie rods a couple of months ago, and I didn't see any movement there. I didn't see any movement at the ball joint either, or the control arm bushings. (The wheel movement is me moving the wheel back and forth.) Maybe it is a wheel bearing, but the strut is clearly moving when I rock the wheel with on hand between about 12 and 4 positions. The video doesn't capture it all that well.

Should the strut move at all if it's good? I've always thought a bad wheel bearing will just let the wheel wiggle.

And I did try pushing the car side to side, and didn't see any movement in the center stud.

 

The strut is moving because it's bolted to the knuckle which is also moving, along with, what I can see, the outer tie rod. The strut is supposed to rotate freely, the mount is rubber so that allows it to flex slightly too. That's what your seeing as far as the strut goes and seems normal. The hard clunk is metal to metal play, really sounds like a ball joint is shot.

Were both wheels up when you did that or just the one side? If only one side was up, I'd question why there was so much play in the steering, visible by the tie rod moving.

 

Only one wheel up.

 

And the answer is--Bad Ball Joint! Put a new control arm on, and it's all good now. Those of you who got it right, see the moderator for your free copy of our home game.

Side note: I picked up an electric impact wrench a while ago, and a couple of sets of sockets. When I went to AZ to rent an axle nut socket, they didn't have an impact socket. I figured what the hill, I'l gotten both axle nuts off before with a breaker bar. So of course, after a half hour of Aerokroil and cussing, I snapped my breaker bar. I got a 36mm impact socket ($12 from Amazon), and the axle nut spun off in 5 seconds. Not to mention the fact that it made short work of the 22mm bolts under the car. The moral of the story: Power tools rock. I should've bought an impact wrench YEARS ago. If you're going to work on your car at all, that should be one of the first "mods" you shell out for...