So i was driving today and I hit a bump and something hit real solid, I thought it mighta been my rim hitting the ground. Then a heard a loud clunk when I hit a bump. I think f#$% my struts are blown. So I jack my car up to check out my struts and see if they're blown, As i'm trying to pull the rubber liner thing back i notice its stuck, and once it pops off, out pops the black rubber stopper split down the side. It actually came off the shiny part of the struts and got around the black part. Any idea how much one of these costs? and is it really necessary to have? I really don't wanna take the strut off, have to recoil the spring and all that just for this little stopper.

 

That clunking you heard is telling you yes, you really do need the bump stop, the top of the strut is slamming into the spring seat.

Call Hotchkis, I would think they'd ship you new ones for free, even if the warranty is up. (Before you do that check the condition of the other 3 stops, they may be cracking also.)

You will need to have the strut assembly taken apart again, it's the only way to slide on the new bump stop. If you don't want to mess with spring compressors just remove the strut assy and take it to a suspension shop ... should be pretty cheap for just compressing and reassembling one strut.

 

^^ hmmm okay.

Its the big black stoppers that cracked in half and it looks like the passenger side one is going out as well so I'll be calling up Hotchkis tomorrow to get replacements.

 

Was finally able to get around to calling Hotchkis, I must say i'm glad I went with this company. I called up. Told the guy both front bump stops cracked in half and fell off the struts. He just said Okay, What's your mailing address? And that was it. No questions no nothing. Just okay we'll ship you new ones today. :-D <3 Hotchkis

 

Cool ... most reputable companies will treat their customers fairly in cases like this ... of course the flip side is why did the bump stops fail in the first place ... don't have Hotchkis myself so wondering if this is a common problem?

 

I don't think its a common problem but its happened before. Thinking back on my driving I do think it was my fault. I've taken some pretty hard bumps that I should have slowed down for since I'm lowered. I think enough of those over a large time span is what killed the bump stops. I definitely need to slow down a little bit. Right now I'm driving with-out the bump stops until the come in since they fell out so I'm driving extra carefully.