Rear Strut Shock Knocking

[poppeman]

I have a 99' GTP with 199,000 miles. I drive the very bumpy roads of Chicago. Recently when I go over any small bump, large bump, or when I am going fast and break I get a knocking sound mostly out of the right rear wheel, a quieter knocking out of the left rear wheel. It just sounds like a dry knocking when you go over any little bump or inperfection in the road. I am assumimg that it is the struts. I dont know if i can just replace the shock part for $50 something or if my problem needs to be solved by replacing the whole strut assembly which includes preassembled strut, coil spring, strut mount and strut bearing? Does anyone have an idea what exactly could be causing the problem and how much I should be replacing.

Thanks,
Chris

[rickisrad]

Originally Posted by poppeman

I have a 99' GTP with 199,000 miles. I drive the very bumpy roads of Chicago. Recently when I go over any small bump, large bump, or when I am going fast and break I get a knocking sound mostly out of the right rear wheel, a quieter knocking out of the left rear wheel. It just sounds like a dry knocking when you go over any little bump or inperfection in the road. I am assumimg that it is the struts. I dont know if i can just replace the shock part for $50 something or if my problem needs to be solved by replacing the whole strut assembly which includes preassembled strut, coil spring, strut mount and strut bearing? Does anyone have an idea what exactly could be causing the problem and how much I should be replacing.

Thanks,
Chris

The first thing I would check are your sway bar links. They are the long rod that connects from the sway bar to the strut. They are cheap to replace 18-19 each for MOOG. That would be a definite starting point. See if that is the issue before addressing the struts.

[poppeman]

I jacked my car up this past weekend, and I was looking for the cause of the knocking when i drive over bumps. I looked at the sway bar links, bushings and everything. Banged around with my foot and hammer and could not find anything that could be making the knocking sound with every little pebble i drive over. I am starting to think it is the strut, but am still not convinced. I am willing to replace my struts if that's it, but i don't want to waste the money if that is not the problem.

Any help

[GregGP]

Originally Posted by poppeman

I jacked my car up this past weekend, and I was looking for the cause of the knocking when i drive over bumps. I looked at the sway bar links, bushings and everything. Banged around with my foot and hammer and could not find anything that could be making the knocking sound with every little pebble i drive over. I am starting to think it is the strut, but am still not convinced. I am willing to replace my struts if that's it, but i don't want to waste the money if that is not the problem.

Any help

You may also want to check the wheel hubs, they are fairly inexpensive and can cause a lot of noise.
SAMSUNG-SGH-A867/A867UCHJ3 SHP/VPP/R5 NetFront/3.5 SMM-MMS/1.2.0 profile/MIDP-2.0 configuration/CLDC-1.1

[poppeman]

When i jacked my car up I spun the wheels and they were very smooth and tried to wiggle the tire and seemed very tight. Seems like the hubs are good too.

[rkvons]

Originally Posted by poppeman

I jacked my car up this past weekend, and I was looking for the cause of the knocking when i drive over bumps. I looked at the sway bar links, bushings and everything. Banged around with my foot and hammer and could not find anything that could be making the knocking sound with every little pebble i drive over. I am starting to think it is the strut, but am still not convinced. I am willing to replace my struts if that's it, but i don't want to waste the money if that is not the problem.

Any help

Did you try jiggling your exhaust system around?

[lazer2463]

I had the same problem on my 97 GP it was the upper strut mount worn out.

Link to part below,

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/cat...&parentId=46-0

[poppeman]

If I replace the upper strut mount what is involved? Do I need a spring compression tool. I know that if you purchase the whole strut assembly for $155 it comes with the mount, but combined tools plus just the mount is probably less. Also, if I go with just the mount is it a lot more intrusive work? How did you diagnose that it was just the mount. If I jack my rear of the car up what can I look at, hammer or shake to possibly prove it is the mount. I know that the three screws inside my trunk are nice and tight, that is all i know.

[lazer2463]

Originally Posted by poppeman

If I replace the upper strut mount what is involved? Do I need a spring compression tool. I know that if you purchase the whole strut assembly for $155 it comes with the mount, but combined tools plus just the mount is probably less. Also, if I go with just the mount is it a lot more intrusive work? How did you diagnose that it was just the mount. If I jack my rear of the car up what can I look at, hammer or shake to possibly prove it is the mount. I know that the three screws inside my trunk are nice and tight, that is all i know.

1) Yes, you will need to compress the spring.
2) Its not too difficult either way you do it.
3) Jack up the rear and shake the strut, you should see it move within the mount.

The three screws just hold the mount to the fenderwell. The bushing where the strut mounts in the center of the is what is worn out.

[poppeman]

What is the normal life of the the shock or the whole strut assembly? I have logged 80,000 fairly rough Chicago road miles on these struts. If I replace the mounts now how soon do you think I will be replacing the shock or whole assembly?

[krivasauto]

Originally Posted by poppeman

What is the normal life of the the shock or the whole strut assembly? I have logged 80,000 fairly rough Chicago road miles on these struts. If I replace the mounts now how soon do you think I will be replacing the shock or whole assembly?

Replace mounts and struts. Get another 80K miles.

[JTCROZ]

I had the same issue with my 1999 GTP and come to find out it was my parking brake cable had broken the cable tensioner and both ends of the cable were bouncing off of the exhaust pipes.