inspectorlee
Member
- :
- 2001 Protege MP3
I just had new Tokico Blue's and Racing Beat springs install on my MP3. The day after the install, the car rode fine. The next day (day 2), the rear struts started to make this constant clunk, that sounds exactly like a blown strut. Of course, I took it back to the shop, and they're trying to figure out what it is.
Me and my friend (the shop owner) are perplexed as to why it would be clunking. When he installed the struts, he did install new rear strut mounts as well, as my old ones were rusted/rotted away. Also, he mentioned that usually, when putting springs onto a strut, he'll have to use the spring compressor to fit them on, but in my case, did not have to do so as the springs were shorter than expected.
Now, before everyone jumps in and says that it's the swaybar links, I already have the AXR "clunk kit" installed, as well as new endlinks (front and rear) with grease fittings. I even removed the spare tire, the jack, tightened down the sub, etc...just to make sure that it wasn't some random junk in my trunk making the noise (although we both were pretty sure it wasn't any of these).
I'm wondering, however unlikely, that maybe the struts sold to me are "bad". But I'm hesitating to return them to the vendor because I had a horrible experience when I bought them (the struts and springs came as a kit). So this is my last resort.
Basically, what he's trying now is to install a shim to add some height to the rear struts and see if that solves it. I've done as much research as I can, and apparently what we're trying is similar to the "washer fix", i.e. adding a washer to the strut mount.
If anyone has any suggestions (I did search the forums, but if I missed a previous post, feel free to point me to it) feel free to let me know. Thanks in advance.
Me and my friend (the shop owner) are perplexed as to why it would be clunking. When he installed the struts, he did install new rear strut mounts as well, as my old ones were rusted/rotted away. Also, he mentioned that usually, when putting springs onto a strut, he'll have to use the spring compressor to fit them on, but in my case, did not have to do so as the springs were shorter than expected.
Now, before everyone jumps in and says that it's the swaybar links, I already have the AXR "clunk kit" installed, as well as new endlinks (front and rear) with grease fittings. I even removed the spare tire, the jack, tightened down the sub, etc...just to make sure that it wasn't some random junk in my trunk making the noise (although we both were pretty sure it wasn't any of these).
I'm wondering, however unlikely, that maybe the struts sold to me are "bad". But I'm hesitating to return them to the vendor because I had a horrible experience when I bought them (the struts and springs came as a kit). So this is my last resort.
Basically, what he's trying now is to install a shim to add some height to the rear struts and see if that solves it. I've done as much research as I can, and apparently what we're trying is similar to the "washer fix", i.e. adding a washer to the strut mount.
If anyone has any suggestions (I did search the forums, but if I missed a previous post, feel free to point me to it) feel free to let me know. Thanks in advance.
