When I go over bumps I feel slop in suspension. It's hard to describe because it's not related to steering itself but I can just feel it in the seat / pedals along with rattling noise coming from front.The steering is precise and as it should be no steering problems or loose feeling in steering. When I had wheels off I found a dent in strut itself on passenger side where noise is coming from but bushings seem fine. I was baffled until I came upon a thread talking about the strut mount bushing. Until today I didn't even know what a strut mount bushing was as no other car I've owned has used these. Is there a clear way to determine if this is the problem that doesn't involve removing them? I'm changing to koni yellow / lowering springs soon but would like to go ahead and replace these if need be. For what it's worth my mcs has 100k on it do you guys think I should get these regardless. I do a lot of spirited driving and roads here in Ga are not the smoothest.

 

if you look at the tops of the strut towers, you should be able to see the bushing and where it usually tears. Another likely culprit could be your lower control arm bushings, don't know if you've replaced those or not.

 

The rubber around the "black cap" which snaps on top of the strut nut, will show signs of a tear.

 

-swaybar bushings
-strut tower tops
-swaybar drop links
-failed struts

Check for worn or broken parts in that order. The swaybar bushings are sometimes hard to diagnose--especially the front ones--maybe get some help from a good independent shop on that one.

 

Every production car uses bushings and bearings in some way in the suspension, chances are you didn't care enough to know about them in your previous cars.

I'll echo Helix's suggestions and add that at your high mileage you're in catch-up maintenance mode and new front control arm bushings are needed also, but just FYI they're difficult to replace as the front subframe has to be loosened to access them.

 

I know a car uses bushings bushings and I've worked on just about every car I've owned except for the first 3 I had when I was 16 and didn't know anything. The cars may have had a bushing but not a separate rubber top hat.

 

Thanks for the info I will look and see.

 

Way motor works is about a hour north of me so maybe I can take it to them if I can't find the issue thanks.

 

Definitely check over all the bushings in your suspension like stated already. Slop can definitely be a sign of worn components. Strut top bushings are pretty common in a lot of cars now a day. They're very common, as well, to show a lot of wear with Audi's, VW's, and Mini's. If you're replacing your suspension out anyways, it is always smart to replace the strut mounts as you will be there anyways. 100k on those is definitely a good amount of time. This tech article can help you with the front replacement of those and when you install your Koni's/springs.

If you need any other assistance with other suspension components you can check out all of our tech articles here.

If you need parts you can find them here in our catalog as well.

-Luccia

 

Thanks I will go have a look at that. I have already used one of your articles to replace my supercharger belt and really helped.

 

Glad we could be of assistance and do not hesitate to ask us a question if you have any.

-Luccia