WRX STI knocking shocks

[hunter951]

So ever since iv owned my 01 STI the rear struts have had a knock when moving around carparks and going through gutters etc. Now all four are starting to knock, with the back being the worst. I plan on sending it in and getting them stripped and greased & serviced and getting grease nipples added for ease of maintenance in the future. I cant afford to put adjusties in or replace all the struts with new ones...however, i have thought about getting second hand struts and servicing them and chucking them in.

My knowledge on suspension is limited so any info would be choice. Curious to know what others have done, or if the method above has worked.

- - - i do have tein spings in at the moment... which may not be helping with the issue... i am tossing up to whether i should run factory springs again.. - - -

Cheers

[Timmah]

Have you checked your sway bar bushes? They might be dry and causing the knock. With my old wagon the rears became quite noisy, not really a knock and I narrowed it down to the sway bar bushes had become dry.

In saying that I did regrease the struts, it wasn't hard to do, the only hard part was I didn't' realise the bottom of the piston thing (I don't know the name of it) that bolts onto strut casing has a lock key that locks it in place with the strut casing or whatever its' called because it bolts fully down.

Richard does have a full set of STi struts on that shell next to his shed that he would probably sell at a sharp price too.

[Andy_Mac]

Give that a go. 15 odd bucks for a tub of the correct grease and should be able to do all 4 on a WRX, Legacy's use a different style rear shock that Can't be pulled apart in the same way.

http://wrxinfo.com/how_tos/suspension/regreasestruts.htm

[hunter951]

 Timmah said:

Have you checked your sway bar bushes? They might be dry and causing the knock. With my old wagon the rears became quite noisy, not really a knock and I narrowed it down to the sway bar bushes had become dry.

In saying that I did regrease the struts, it wasn't hard to do, the only hard part was I didn't' realise the bottom of the piston thing (I don't know the name of it) that bolts onto strut casing has a lock key that locks it in place with the strut casing or whatever its' called because it bolts fully down.

Richard does have a full set of STi struts on that shell next to his shed that he would probably sell at a sharp price too.

cheers, i didnt think of the sway bars. yea richard will be doing it all for me (im mechanically incapable and will break something) so he'll check everything and service anything that is in need of some attention. It all really depends if my struts are still in good nick when he pulls them all apart. Otherwise i may end up doing thats. Great info cheers man

Edited June 2, 2016 by hunter951

[hunter951]

 Andy_Mac said:

Give that a go. 15 odd bucks for a tub of the correct grease and should be able to do all 4 on a WRX, Legacy's use a different style rear shock that Can't be pulled apart in the same way.

http://wrxinfo.com/how_tos/suspension/regreasestruts.htm

cheers for the link. Think id rather richard do it and add grease nipples at the same time haha

[Timmah]

 hunter951 said:

cheers, i didnt think of the sway bars. yea richard will be doing it all for me (im mechanically incapable and will break something) so he'll check everything and service anything that is in need of some attention. It all really depends if my struts are still in good nick when he pulls them all apart. Otherwise i may end up doing thats. Great info cheers man

That's fair enough, I too and mechanically a cabbage! The Chch roads aren't the best on our suspension

Speaking of struts.. I've yet to get the struts out of the Version 8 wagon he's got at the paddock .. I paid for them a few months ago now

[hunter951]

 Timmah said:

That's fair enough, I too and mechanically a cabbage! The Chch roads aren't the best on our suspension

Speaking of struts.. I've yet to get the struts out of the Version 8 wagon he's got at the paddock .. I paid for them a few months ago now

yea chch road suck balls. kinda why im think going back to factory springs maybe a good option. Car looks good on the teins though... performance has decreased but i dont track it

[Timmah]

 hunter951 said:

yea chch road suck balls. kinda why im think going back to factory springs maybe a good option. Car looks good on the teins though... performance has decreased but i dont track it

May be an idea to keep your eyes out for some STi Pink springs.. will drop the car a little lower than factory, but should still perform well.

[Joker]

tl:dr but your in the right section & there's a sticky for regreasing knocking shocks a near the top

otherwise yea diff bushes & things, its all voodoo

[hunter951]

Anyone selling or know of anyone who would sell some sti pink springs?

[boon]

I'll chuck in there that having got intimately familiar with the internals of an inverted coilover strut when rebuilding mine, if your struts are knocking then the bushings are shagged, period. You can pack the **** out of the lower with grease and that will hide the symptoms but with a macpherson strut suspension setup it will always be loose as a cock in a sock.

[Joker]

yea band aid fix for sure

[hunter951]

 boon said:

I'll chuck in there that having got intimately familiar with the internals of an inverted coilover strut when rebuilding mine, if your struts are knocking then the bushings are shagged, period. You can pack the **** out of the lower with grease and that will hide the symptoms but with a macpherson strut suspension setup it will always be loose as a cock in a sock.

Im assuming you can replace the bushings?

[calebwrx]

Pulling apart and regreasing the rears on my car lasted about 10 000km, then back to knocking again. Now I just live with it.