[snorky]

Originally Posted by 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

Interesting. That makes sense that it was a geometry problem, otherwise it wouldn't have taken them 4 model years (for the US) to remedy it. A redesign of the geometry would be costly. Temporarily alleviating the problem is cheaper although not very customer friendly. It leaves all 04-07 owners having to replace their struts regularly.

On the flip side, it will be interesting to see if Ohlins FPS owners begin to experience clunk as the miles add up. If they don't, then it's not a geometry problem, it's a stock strut design problem. Ohlins FPS don't change the geometry of the rear suspension.

[LuVJuGGs]

Well any inverted strut will have some stiction, even in a porche. So the strut design needs to accomodate for the difficult application IMO

[snorky]

Originally Posted by LuVJuGGs

Well any inverted strut will have some stiction, even in a porche. So the strut design needs to accomodate for the difficult application IMO

you're talking about old porsches i assume?

[atomicfire]

I got mine replaced by the dealer for free, 200 miles before my warranty went out

Now the replacement struts have a 1 year warranty.

[russtg224]

My 04 was clunking at 45k, I just jacked it up last night, lifted the dust covers up sprayed the strut shafts with some white lithium grease and they don't clunk anymore even after 500+ miles

[snorky]

Originally Posted by russtg224

My 04 was clunking at 45k, I just jacked it up last night, lifted the dust covers up sprayed the strut shafts with some white lithium grease and they don't clunk anymore even after 500+ miles

500 miles? Lithium grease is water based. Report back in a few thousand miles.

[Misanthrope789]

I have heard of guys packing the cartriges with ATF as a dampener instead of grease..

any thoughts on this?

[Urban07STI]

Mine stopped clunking....really strange. For most of the winter it was consistent going slow. I got the clunk after 11K miles in my 07, now at ~14K it's not clunking anymore. I did jack up the rear end the other day, both tire off the ground, maybe something to do with it?

[rasetsu]

Originally Posted by Urban07STI

Mine stopped clunking....really strange. For most of the winter it was consistent going slow. I got the clunk after 11K miles in my 07, now at ~14K it's not clunking anymore. I did jack up the rear end the other day, both tire off the ground, maybe something to do with it?

That had everything to do with it. The struts got relubricated. The clunk will come back.

[Urban07STI]

The clunk will come back.

Excellent......haha, can't wait. Maybe I'll have the dealer lube them up. I'm nearly positive it won't clunk if I bring it in....

[snorky]

Originally Posted by Misanthrope789

I have heard of guys packing the cartriges with ATF as a dampener instead of grease..

any thoughts on this?

I assume you're talking about replacing the oil in the actual damper with ATF. This does not seem possible or at least easy because the dampers filled with nitrogen gas and sealed.

[rasetsu]

Originally Posted by Urban07STI

Excellent......haha, can't wait. Maybe I'll have the dealer lube them up. I'm nearly positive it won't clunk if I bring it in....

It will clunk the dealer will try to blame it on something else if you have any mods. Jack up the car, lift up the dust boots and massage globs of grease onto the struts yourself. Not worth a trip to the dealer.

[snorky]

Originally Posted by rasetsu

It will clunk the dealer will try to blame it on something else if you have any mods. Jack up the car, lift up the dust boots and massage globs of grease onto the struts yourself. Not worth a trip to the dealer.

It's far better and will last longer if you disassemble the struts and repack them.

[LuVJuGGs]

just drive it through some twisties and drive it like it was the monte carlo rally...if ur clunkin means ur not driving it like an STi

Work them struts!!

[BigTrippin]

Does the clunk cause any harm, is it detrimental to the car in any way? I have a pretty severe clunk that I experience under acceleration and braking, and occasionally when shifting spiritedly. . . I knew of the problem and thought it was just noise, is it hurting the car not to fix it?