Question for those who've done rear struts

[guitarfish]

I replaced the rear strut mounts on my '08 GP the other day. Once I reassembled the strut/spring/mount unit by releasing the spring tension, it wouldn't line up on the car properly. If I put the knuckle in the bottom slot on the strut, the mount plate was rotated a bit so all the bolts wouldn't line up.

I had to recompress the spring, rotate the mount a small bit, release the spring and retry. I got them pretty close, but not perfect. I have to wrestle with the knuckle to get it back into the strut.

What am I missing? There's no indicator on the new mounts (Moog brand) for where to position it relative to the spring, so I positionied it where it seemed like it should go.

There's got to be an easier way other than trial and error. Any ideas?

FWIW, I'm still getting a lot of noise from the rear, and I'm wondering if I should just replace the struts themselves, so I may be doing this again soon.

[tblake]

Um, I am not sure. I bought a used set of struts springs and mounts for my rear on my GTP with only 35,000 miles on them, so I just swapped them over quick.

Its odd you are still hearing noise.

Have you checked out the tie rod ends back there.

And everything is torqued correctly?

[guitarfish]

Everything was reassembled & tighted down properly. Since I only replaced the mounts, and not the struts themselves, I'm thinking the noise is coming from the struts themselves. But I've been wrong before, lol.

I laid down the back seats and had my head in the trunk while someone drove me around - the rattle noise sounds like it's just on the other side of the strut tower, lower than the mounts, right where the struts are located. Worse on the passenger side, but on both sides.

I'll have to check the other linkage again, but I don't think it's coming from there. Going to price some struts tomorrow.

[tblake]

Its possile you need struts already, but how many miles do you have?

[guitarfish]

65K. I usually go with struts until they start leaking. I've never heard struts making rattling noises before, but I guess anything's possible. The mounts certainly weren't in good shape, fwiw.

[tblake]

I bought a new set of delco front struts a year ago exactly. They started making noise about 2 months after I bought them. I was so ticked

[guitarfish]

Well I just bought a set of Monroe Sensatracs which have a lifetime warranty. I plan to have this car for another 8 more years. Hopefully this quiets things down for a while.

[guitarfish]

It's not my month for car repairs!

I installed one of the new Monroe struts tonight. Took me three tries before I got the mounting plate in the correct alightnment so everything would slide on easily. Got all done, torqued, and took it for a quick spin.

The metallic rattling noise is still there as loud as ever. I'm stunned. When I had the car up I shook everything underneath I could get my hands on, to no avail.

I guess I'll install the other strut this weekend, and then I'm going to have one of my mechanically inclined friends try to figure out where this is coming from.

If you have you're head in the trunk, the noise sounds like it's coming from whatever's on the other side of the strut tower. Of course, the only thing there is the strut, spring, and mount, and they are 100% tight.

I am literally going to go insane from this.

[tblake]

The only other thing I could think of back there could be a tracking bar bushing issue. But then again, What do I know?

[doctorhrdware]

What about the trailing arm, bad bushings causing the noise.

[BNaylor]

Since this is a 2008 model even with his mileage I find worn out suspension components unlikely in this circumstance but you never know for sure. Was this ever in an accident? Maybe it is a structural issue.

[guitarfish]

In may I was backing out of an alleyway and my front left wheel dropped off a curb. The front left corner of the engine cradle landed on the sub and got mangled. A shop replaced it, but didn't do it properly. The forgot the two rear washers, and the cradle dropped a day later. All this was up on the front end of the vehicle. My issue is something loose on the right rear. I feel pretty confident it's not related to the cradle issue, which was a nightmare.

Tommorrow I'm going to put the back wheels up on ramps and see if I can find anything.

[ecartman]

My '04 was doing the same thing when I first got it a couple of years ago and I almost went nuts trying to find the noise. It turned out both rear parking brake cables were loose at the bracket where they mount to the body (the holes on the body where they clip into were actually elongated slightly) causing them and the adjuster to vibrate against the body when going over bumps. I fixed it using a couple of insulated hose clamps bolted together (one clamped to the cable, the other clamped to the control arm near the mid point of each cable). Good Luck!

[guitarfish]

Thanks for that tip, I will check those out!