Hi, i would first like to say that i'm new to the forum/scion community and have tried searching for my question but haven't come up with anything similar. Any help would be appreciated.

I very recently bought a used 2005 scion xB from a private owner that unfortunately didn't take the best care of the car. Before i bought it he had both front shocks replaced because it was making alot of noise when u turned the wheel. I'm not clear on the exact cause but he took it into the dealership and had both front shocks replaced with stock ones. After driving the car for about a week i began to notice a weird thuding noise when i make a left hand turn coming from the right front area. The noise comes even when i stop the car and just turn the wheel in place. I checked it out and seemed to have diagnoised the problem however have no idea how to fix it. Here's what i have seen: As i understand it part of the shocks and spring actually rotate as the wheels are turning. I have check this on the driver side shocks which are fine. However on the passanger side shocks it seems as if the top part of the shock/spring is sticking and only until the torque gets too great does it finally slip and turn making a low thuding noise. However it only happens on a left hand turn. It almost seems as if the shocks needs to be lubricated but i'm not sure if this is correct or not. I apologize if no one can understand my explination. If u need further clarification please ask. I have hesitated to take it into the shop because the warrenty is out on it (only drive-train left) and i am somewhat mechanically inclined and feel i can fix the problem if i knew a solution. Any help would be greatly appreciated. the car is all stock except for 18" wheels. I apologize again for the poor explination.

-Chad

 

replace the strut bearings and see what happens.

 

Thanks for the reply, i searched strut bearings and found some more info that might help. I check again and it seemed like the rubber house is a little off also. I read the spring install guide and it refered to a "paper-like thick bushing" is this the part that you suggest i replace? If so is it possible to find it at an autostore or would i have to get it through the dealer? Sorry i'm not very well versed in the terminology but the procedure seems pretty easy. Thanks for ur help. I'm going to try to take it all apart this weekend and work on it. In the mean time do u think it would be dangerous or harmful for me to drive around like this? I will only be driving to and from school (12 mile round trip city driving). My dad is also concered about taking the strut apart without a spring compressor. He's afraid we won't be able to get it back together. Thanks again.

 

My first thought would be to check all the nuts/bolts. A lot of thuds from the struts come from loose nuts/bolts.

 

The paper like thin bushings is actually made of a foam type material. That is basically just a gasket to keep the grease in the strut bearing.

I would not drive the car because you dont know what the previous owner could have done to it. If you drive it, remember if you lose control and hit someone you will take the liability on your insurance. That is something to think about.

Tell your dad that he WILL need spring compressors to take the strut apart and reassemble it. You can buy a sweet set for about 30-40 bucks at Autozone or a place similiar. Most auto stores will rent them for free with a deposit or a few dollars.

 

I'd suggest compressors with a locking clip on them too. I got a Craftsman set from Sears for about 45 bucks with the safety clips that worked great for my xA and a friends tC.

 

Thanks for all ur help. I just called my local autozone and they said that they do "rent" out spring compressors with a $40 deposit that i can get back when i return them. Just to get everything straight before i go replacing things i posted a picture from the spring replacement thread:



As i understand it the orange thing is the foam like gasket and the piece of metal that it's stuck to is the strut bearing. The piece that the guy is holding is just a metal plate and below that is the strut rubber housing. Please correct me if i'm wrong and i apologize for my noobness , but i guess we all gotta start somewhere. Thanks.

-Chad

 

the other thing you need to make sure of here is that when you take off the top metal piece that the guy is holding in the photo, youll notice there are two flat sides to that inner hole. they need to line up with the two flat sides on the top of the struts piston. If they dont sit right the car will make clunking noise when its driven.

 

Thanks BrianxB and LeroyJMC for your tips/help. I'm giong to try to tackle the job this weekend; i'll let yall know how it turns out.

 

look here at my posts (posts 6 and 7)

thats what happened when things some what go wrong...

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...asc&&start=100

 

Thanks Hornet for the warning and for the nice detailed pics. Hopefully i won't botch things up...but i'm afraid that the person that did the install at the dealer did and the damage is already done. Wish me luck, going to take everything off and check/replace them this weekend.

 

The parts are labeled what is to face what way. You'll see as you disassemble if it wasn't put together right. Just make sure everything is tightened right and you should be ok. Good luck and let us know how it went.

 

Ok here's the report

Ok everything apart today and discovered something really strange. The metal plate at the top of the strut that turns was actually rubbing up against the body of the car. So when u turned the wheel the top part of the strut didn't actually turn. Then when finally the torque was too great it would all of a sudden slip, and because the strut was actually touching part of the body of the car the sound was amplified. Here are some pictures to explain.

Here is the passanger side strut right after we took it off. I don't know if it's just me but to me it looks like it was a little off center.


What was more surprising was that u could see rub marks on the metal plate of the strut. This is the passanger side strut.


Here is a picture of the wheel well where u can sorta see where the strut was rubbing up against the body. I know it's not very clear but couldn't get a good pic taken.


Although it wasn't as bad on the driver side there was also evidence that there was rubbing. This is the driver side strut. The metal plate was also not installed complete straight. The side marked "out" was actually more pointed toward the front of the car.


I don't really know what caused this rubbing but to solve the problem we took the strut apart and ground a little bit off the metal plate so that it would no longer rub on the body. Kind of a half ___ solution bit it worked. Please let me know if anyone has any possible idea what might have caused the strut to rub up against the body like this. I did by the car second-hand, we were thinking that maybe the frame got bent or something. Or maybe when the guy had the struts replaced he put on the wrong ones. Or that they just weren't installed properly and i actually didn't need to grind down any of the metal plate just reinstall it properly. Anyway the problem is now solved. No more thuding when i make turns. But any input on the underlying reason for the rubbing would be greatly appreciated.

Here's a pic of the metal plate after we ground it.


Thanks for all your help and tips on removing the strut. Everything went off without a hitch and the the spring compressors were a great help. Thanks again for everything.

 

Did you realign the rubber spring seat with the plate. The pics make the 2 look mis-aligned. Were the strut bearings still good? That would alow things to get outa wack enough to do the rubbing. That rubbing stuff has me worried. I hope everything is right now.

 

When i put everything back on i aligned everything and double checked after i had tightened everything up. Yea the rubbing does seem to be very strange but everything is working smoothly now, no more rubbing. However, i have yet to determine what actually caused the rubbing in the first place. The bearings looked and felt fine so i didn't feel a need to replace them.

 

Good deal!

 

Hmm....that rubbing would have me a little concerned too, but it's good to hear that all is good now. I'd suggest going back over the bolts in about a week or so to make sure everything is still good and tight too.

 

Ok will do. Thanks again for all ur help and advice.

 

Check all the bolts today and everything seems to be fine. However, i'm still trying to find the root problem that caused the rubbing in the first place. As i was going over things in my head there was alot of stuff that confused me. First:


It seems to me that the only object that keeps the metal plate at the top of the springs seperated from the strut bearing housing that bolts to the car is that little piece of whitish foam. This seems so unrealistic since it doesn't seem like that little piece of foam can support that much weight. I was wondering if anyone knew what actually keeps these 2 seperated. It seems that the force of the spring should push that metal plate up into the strut bearing housing.


Also there is a gap at the top of the strut. I had noticed this even before i took everything apart but it seems like the gap disappears when i took the strut off. It's the same on both sides and i don't understand why/how it's there.

I guess what i'm really asking is if anyone can explain to me in detail the structure/anatomy of the strut and the 2 issues that i don't understand above. If there's a webpage or another thread that you can point me to that would be great. Thanks in advance.