[snorky]

catastrophic, no. Your rear suspensions not going to fall off. Detrimental or suboptimal for suspension performance, yes.

Starving the seals on the strut sleeve of grease will cause accelerated wear. There comes a point of no return with wearing the seals. Then, repacking the struts will only provide temporary relief.

[LuVJuGGs]

So what other options I have for replacement cartridges or complete struts.

I know Ohlins but then I wonder about coil overs if I am going to spend so much and I dont want coilovers due to Snow salt etc. So what other choices do I have?

[snorky]

right now, other than ohlins, there aren't many... RB320 suspension is the only other one that comes to mind. If you're on a budget, try to find some low mileage stock struts that don't have clunk yet. then repack them.

[LuVJuGGs]

Thanks for the info Tim. Noknown issues with the RB320 or Ohlins?

[BIG3ETR]

I now have this **** on my 2007 Limited. I had this crap on my early my 2004 STi, and thought them cheap fuggers were getting this under control, well I was dead wrong. Now the crap about the 08's being held and not to be sold...WTF are they not getting in their heads about manufacturing or their suppliers? I'm really starting to get pissed about this...Sorry for the rant, just irritated about stupid crap that should have been cleaned out 4 years ago...

[Pyro]

I've dealt with strut clunk in both rear struts for 40k miles now- still on the original struts. Below 20mph, they clunk frequently & stick occasionally. At normal speeds, they behave normally. I haven't done the lithium grease band-aid; still, the clunk hasn't gotten any worse with time. (obviously, if/when it does, I'll be replacing them)

So my longer-term experience is that it's more of an annoyance than anything. But like some of you, I'm holding out for an affordable alternative to the stock struts.

[EBTurbo]

Originally Posted by snorky

Detrimental or suboptimal for suspension performance, yes.

Starving the seals on the strut sleeve of grease will cause accelerated wear. There comes a point of no return with wearing the seals. Then, repacking the struts will only provide temporary relief.

Tell me what will go wrong with my suspension? if i drive a 100,000mi with this clunking noise, what will be wrong with my suspension?

where are the "seals" on the top of my strut shaft? there is only a bearing in the strut hat. the strut shaft has a threaded section on the top which bolts through the strut hat. no seals.

EB Turbo

[snorky]

Red arrow is pointing to where the seal is. Ohlins fixed perch strut but it's the same:


strut clunk is the shaft binding. it will affect the dampening ability of the struts.

[EBTurbo]

the seal not being lubricated is the cause of the clunking noise? ? or is it coming from the top of the strut?

[snorky]

Originally Posted by EBTurbo

the seal not being lubricated is the cause of the clunking noise? ? or is it coming from the top of the strut?

the seal and shaft not being lubricated causes binding. strut shaft binding is what causes the clunk. i'm trying to think of a good analogy...

[EBTurbo]

So, if you lube the seal the noise will go away for good?

if you just replace just the strut the noise wont go away. you have to replace the hat too. there is no seal in the hat. explain?

you still have the stock strut geometry with the fixed perched Ohlins. have you noticed any clunking noises with them? or you haven't
put enough miles on them to tell?

EB Turbo

[snorky]

Originally Posted by EBTurbo

So, if you lube the seal the noise will go away for good?

if you just replace just the strut the noise wont go away. you have to replace the hat too. there is no seal in the hat. explain?

It depends if the seal is damaged from lack of lubrication. If it's damaged, the grease will leak out and you will have to keep repacking the struts intermittently.

Replacing the strut with an aftermarket strut will make it go away. AFAIK no one has had any problems of clunking with the Ohlins Fixed Perch Struts. If you bought new oem struts, I would recommend repacking or at least inspecting them to make sure they are properly packed.

It has nothing to do with the strut top hat. Look at the picture I posted with the red arrow. The Strut Top hat isn't even in the picture. The red arrow points to the source: it's the seal on the strut shaft. Forget about the strut top hat!

[EBTurbo]

then why when people take their car to the dealer for this concern the dealer replaces both the strut and hat? not just the strut or the hat.


EB Turbo

[snorky]

Originally Posted by EBTurbo

then why when people take their car to the dealer for this concern the dealer replaces both the strut and hat? not just the strut or the hat.


EB Turbo

I have no clue. I was not aware of a standard replacement procedure by the dealer. Every person that I've seen post as I recall, only mentioned the dealer replacing the strut.

[EBTurbo]

I used to work at the dealer and i would see this concern at least twice a week. from my experience with it, you had to replace both the strut and hat to stop the noise. the noise will come back but, it would be considerably longer when both strut and hat were replaced. from my dealing with factory Subaru field representatives and training instructors the problem lies in the rear strut geometry, not the seal.

EB Turbo