"Rebuild" 04' STi Struts, Questions

[skid542]

Hopefully in a few weeks I'll my struts installed and will quit barating the BBS with my questions, but I only want to do this once so I'm trying to do it right.

I got a smoking deal on a set of pretty new 04' STi struts. I have been told they are low mileage and they look like it. However, I also know they've been just sitting for some time now. I've heard lots of comments about the inverted strut design clunking due to dried up grease and bad seals.

So, if these were yours, what would you do to refresh them while the struts are out of the car and dissassembled? Is there much that can even be done?

I have not taken one of the assemblies apart yet - want to wait until I'm ready to put it back together, so I'm sure some of this is will be pretty apparent when I do take them apart but this is my first venture into the world of inverted struts.

Any comments, suggestions, and maybe even P/N's would be greatly appreciated.

As always, thank you.

[Dr. Gonzo]

There's a relatively easy fix to the strut clunk in the rear sti struts, though it becomes routine maintenance. My STi had this issue and i replaced the struts before learning the easy way... You just have to jack the rear end off the ground and grease the strut shafts with mobil 1 synthetic grease at every oil change. Unless the strut is completly blown (if this noise has been neglected for a while) this routine maintenance will prevent the dreaded 'clunk'. www.iwsti.com has further info on this issue if its not available here.

[jamal]

take the springs and tops off and remove the insert (the nut on the bottom). Then clean off the shaft, grease things up, and re-assemble. Also check the shafts for scoring. If it's bad you'll need to grease that one really often and it will probably still clunk.

Clunking doesn't mean blown. The clunking comes from the insert sticking in the housing.

One thing you have to be careful about is removing the inserts. There are flats on the shaft that keep it from turning and it's really easy to round them off. Leaning on the strut and hitting it with an impact gun is a pretty good way to insure it doesn't happen.

[skid542]

Thanks guys.

Do you have any recommendations on grease? I have a tendancy to use just gold old fashion chassis grease.

I'm hoping to tear into these next week .

[jamal]

pretty much anything will work. I personally like the red mobil 1 stuff.