Strut seats not swaybar bushings?

[thaxman]

I haven't heard anyone else report bad strut mounts yet IIRC.

Got an indy suspension shop to get the Mz5 in the air & they say all 4 sway bushings are fine & I touched them myself, & agree. Background: When going over rough road, the front end rattles all kinds of obnoxious. Sounds like metal-on-metal knocking, so after reading about other people's issues I too thought it was the bushings up front. Although my upper LF end link boot is torn they say that its the seat where the strut bolts up inside the tower & were bouncing the front end some & I could see the strut bolt inside the mount move at a different rate from the body where its bolted. IDK much about shock mounts, so I have no idea if that's normal. Anyway, I've been getting this front end noise for some time now - long before I had the struts changed by a diff indy suspension shop I've had a good relationship with. New indy says that these mounts need to be changed along w/the struts, but, besides Volvo, I've never heard of that being std proceedure.

So anyone else have knocking that what fixed w/new strut mounts?

 

[Wishmaster]

Never had the mounts changed, but did have new end links and struts replaced because they were blown and worn. The bushings looked and felt good, but still had knocking... replaced the bushings and the knocking was gone. Did they remove the bushings and say they looked ok? Because for me, and I think I've read a few posts lately about this, the bushings can look "good", but actually are not.

Had three different shops looking at the suspension at different times, including the dealership, and none of them mentioned the mounts.

 

[Silentnoise713]

I do recall one member who had a broken strut mount and a few Miata owners had broken strut mounts too but I more inclined to agree with Wishmaster’s line of thought. For those who had broken mounts, I think some sort of work was done and over tighten or did not compress the setup properly during reassembly.

I’m sure your mechanic is trustworthy but unless said person is familiar with the short coming of a particular car I would still get a 2nd opinion –unless said person happens to be a suspension specialist in this case

 

[phunky.buddha]

My mounts came out looking intact...

 

[thaxman]

Thanks for your input, guys. I drove it today (I don't get to drive it very often anymore) and tried to listen for where the knocking is coming from. To be truthful, I was expecting that swaybar knock would be really low, like almost from the floorboard, but the knocking seems to be much higher, like behind the dash. Can't really tell if its centered behind the dash like bushings or at the edges like shock towers.

I also raised the hood on the Volvo and bounced the car from the upper radiator support and the shock assemblies moved exactly in unison with the body, unlike the Mz5. I've never looked at this movement in any car before, so IDK what is normal. I'm not sold on this indy though. $900 quote for struts/mounts, front brakes and alignment. Ouch.
This may become a DIY job up to the alignment.

 

[Wishmaster]

If you're willing to DIY... I'd DIY those front bushing first and see what that does. They are a very cheap part, and there are a couple semi-how-to's on the forum that explain how to get it done. Haven't DIY'd them myself, but it doesn't sound difficult, just time consuming. If you have the time, and the part is so cheap that there is no real downside.

After that, from experience, if you still have some knocking and you've been using badly worn bushings for some time, worn bushings over time can and will destroy your end-links... so do those next.

Also for me, the sway bar knock sound didn't sound like it was coming from low down or from the side or more central, just sounded like it was coming from up front.

 

[thaxman]

If you're willing to DIY... I'd DIY those front bushing first and see what that does. They are a very cheap part, and there are a couple semi-how-to's on the forum that explain how to get it done. Haven't DIY'd them myself, but it doesn't sound difficult, just time consuming. If you have the time, and the part is so cheap that there is no real downside.

After that, from experience, if you still have some knocking and you've been using badly worn bushings for some time, worn bushings over time can and will destroy your end-links... so do those next.

Also for me, the sway bar knock sound didn't sound like it was coming from low down or from the side or more central, just sounded like it was coming from up front.

That was from experience? One of my endlinks looks pretty bad up top - just torn rubber, but nonetheless, its the first time I've seen a bad endlink. How does the bushing beat it up so bad?

 

[Wishmaster]

That was from experience? One of my endlinks looks pretty bad up top - just torn rubber, but nonetheless, its the first time I've seen a bad endlink. How does the bushing beat it up so bad?

Ya, when it came time to start fixing up my suspension issues (blown front & rear struts & shocks, worn front end links, and worn bushings front and rear), I did it in stages as some was DIY and some was shop work. Left the front bushings till last... didn't mean to but, I wanted to try and DIY them as the labour was actually kind of expensive for the job... and I'd done the rears myself... end result was I just didn't end up getting to the front bushings until about 9 or 10 months after the front endlinks were done. (it's amazing how time flies isn't it?). When I finally had them done, needed new end links again. Was told the excessive movement from worn bushings can cause pre-mature wear on the end links. Annoying, yes, but my own fault for leaving it for so long.

 

[thaxman]

OK, so as a final request on this, could I ask one or more forum members with stock suspensions (aftermarket struts OK) to open the hood and bounce the front end by putting pressure on the upper radiator support near a headlight and observe whether or not the bolt that protrudes up from the strut through the strut mount and is visible inside the hole in the shock tower moves completely in unison with the body, or if it moves either less or more than the body does? I would like have a baseline for consideration. Thanks in advance to whoever(s) does this.

 

[thaxman]

The new endlinks didn't quite silence the knocking, but reduced it by more than 50%, so I have bushings in my possession. Screw the scheisters and their whole "spring/strut mount" garbage.

"Professional" suspension shop: 0
Forum: 1

 

[Silentnoise713]

My new used car came with a full service history with the Mazda dealer. I see the PO went back to the dealer multiple times complaining about suspension noise coming from the front (has notes). The first "recommend" fix was new front strut mounts, luckily under warranty. Let's just say the car went back three more times and finally the shocks were replaced. Car has no squeaks now and I can say that b/c my previous one sounded like hell (when cold). There's more to it but I'm only going by memory.