This has been driving me crazy for the past month and now I've pin-pointed the problem. When I first installed my front Koni inserts, all was well and good. After a month and half of settling inside the stock strut housing, the Koni insert has become ever so slightly loose inside the housing. We're talking about 1/2 millimeter too loose, but just enough to make for annoying nearly "inaudible" clunk when going over multiple tiny bumps. I can push down on the front of car and place a couple fingers adjustable portion of the Koni strut. When I do this, I can hear a slight clunk and I can feel the strut knock as if there's metal to metal contact. This all very frustrating because I spent $45 on strut bearings I didn't need plus a $50 alignment since replacing strut bearings requires the removal of the strut system.

It appears that the problem with the Koni's is that they expand the stock strut housing just enough to make for this annoying trait. I'm currently pondering a fix and I'll keep everyone posted.


Dave

 

delrin shims?

 

Dave, you might want to try something as simple as using a center punch to ping some indents into the top of the strut body, hopefully denting it enough to contact the Koni insert inside. Do this 4 places around the circumference of the housing to remove all clearances. Just a thought. You might even be able to do this with the struts on the car (wheels removed), at least do 2 or 3 punches, which may be enough. FWIW, I have no problems with clunking at all.

 

Kevin-

I hate being such a car guy. My wife and my friends think I'm crazy because they can't hear nor feel the problem because it's so minor. I don't think it will get any worse.

I'm gonna triple check the bottom strut bolt and make sure that it's tight. Then, with the car jacked up, I'm gonna try to either wedge a rubber isolater in gap between the stock housing and insert or I might try your idea with a punch. Thanks for the help and I'll post back later.


Dave

 

I feel for ya, Dave...I'm tired of always thinking about the struts when I'm driving...takes the pleasure away from it. I was thinking the same thing about putting in some sort of shim to prevent the movement withing the strut.
Right now my right rear shocks are making some noises and WD-40 only lasts for a short while.

I have a bungee cord around the resonator right now as well to prevent it from shifting around sideways and hurting the O2 sensor but I have to insert something else to prevent it from bouncing vertically into the heat shields. This all started when I had a muffler shop fabricate a straight pipe to replace the "s" shaped pipe (that protected the O2 sensor)so I could gain some road clearance. Any suggestions for this? Thanks in advance!