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strut/shock rattle

35K views 44 replies 9 participants last post by  rs/ltz 
#1 ·
Ok, I tried reading thru the sticky posts on front end suspension noises. It is waaayyyy to cluttered with posts to be truly helpful so I am jumping right to the point.

Has anyone purchased aftermarket brand shocks/struts and does that solve the low speed clunking noises when it is cold? Before people start talking about steering rack I am NOT talking about when turning. I drive the car down the road straight and it litterally sounds like the struts are loose in the mounts. The car is a '08 3.6 LTZ with 46K on the clock. The knocking noise is so loud when I first start driving the car I can hear it over the radio at half volume. It quiets down some when you drive for a while.

I am a hydraulic cylinder engineer and designer and I am thinking the GM factory design strut is crap. In the past have heard complaints of cylinders that rattled in cold conditions due to material of the piston and clearance of them in the body tube. Basically many manufactures use aluminum pistons as they are cheap to machine. Where this can cause an issue is the fact the piston is aluminum but the body tube is steel. The expansion rates of these two metals are very different. What is acceptable clearance when warm out, in freezing temps this clearance might open up and allow rattling.

has anyone switched to a different brand and seen this make a difference in cold temps?
 
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#2 ·
Has anyone purchased aftermarket brand shocks/struts and does that solve the low speed clunking noises when it is cold? Before people start talking about steering rack I am NOT talking about when turning. I drive the car down the road straight and it litterally sounds like the struts are loose in the mounts. The car is a '08 3.6 LTZ with 46K on the clock. The knocking noise is so loud when I first start driving the car I can hear it over the radio at half volume. It quiets down some when you drive for a while.

has anyone switched to a different brand and seen this make a difference in cold temps?
I have the same issue on my '11 and I didn't hit 4K yet so it's coming apart and I did some research and I, like you, would like any opinions from those that have jumped to aftermarket struts. Mine were noisy from new but I blamed it on the strut mount until today. It was cold (mid teens this morning) and both struts rattled all day, I could feel it in the strut itself and at the mount. It isn't staying this way. Never had a car at any mileage that had so many front end noises. My father's '10 has been great from day 1 and he's headed for 33K. Like others have said here, erratic quality of the components. So, let's hear it, good, bad or otherwise. In my case I'm not lowering the car, nor modifying it from stock in any way. I'm just not putting the same stuff on the car that I'm taking off.

Following is a list of what I found as far as aftermarket struts and strut mounts. Anyone with more choices, please add them for future reference.

Monroe
SensaTrac struts LH 72200
RH 72199

Strut mount LH 905909
RH 905908

Boot 63619
(would need 2 of these, one for each side if your boots are bad)

KYB
Excel G (GR-2) struts LH 339052
RH 339051

Mount LH SM5447
RH SM5471

Boot (2 req'd) SB101

Carquest

OE replacement twin tube strut LH 1919052
RH 1919051


Gabriel
Ultra strut LH G52028
RH G52029

Moog
strut mount LH K160002
RH K160003
 
#3 ·
My suggestion (and worth about what you paid for it, if anything!) - if you're going to replace, go ahead and get Monroe EZ-Struts with new mounts and springs.

RwP
 
#4 ·
Not available for gen 6 or gen 7 from any manufacturer I've seen. So far looking on other forums, it looks like a split between KYB and Monroe. Gabriel gets little mention. A couple posts I read on other forums about KYB made a reference to production changing from Japan to USA and the quality went down when they were made here. I found one place that had a listing for a Sachs strut as well. I hate to do a job twice, my faith in GM struts is not very good. Whatever was changed the last half dozen years or so, I don't know, but we never used to replace so many struts as we do now. My '91 Century still has the original struts, just replaced the rear shocks last year. The struts are due but that's for the next person that owns the car to worry about. As far as leaking, they don't, but the ride is too soft for me. The Cobalt/HHR struts leaked like crazy, these Z body struts make noise, only other line I ever heard make noise was the early W body in the early 90's. With those you just changed the cartridge, not the whole strut. The KYB's are more expensive by 20 - 30 dollars a piece over the Monroe's. We stock new OE struts. I'm torn between just throwing the OE stuff in and hoping to get a good pair since they're in warranty and taking a gamble and going aftermarket. I was hoping for Bilstein to make something but they stopped with Impala in '07. No listing of Malibu back through '04 start of gen 6. No listing in the ACDelco catalog either, aside from OE stuff we already stock. I know I'm not living with it this way. Today was the icing on the cake. Even had the shop foreman drive it. Went about 200 feet and heard it from both sides. I'm ordering Moog strut mounts. Just made up my mind. If I'm right I'm right, and if I'm wrong, it won't be the first or last time. Now to ponder the struts some more.
 
#5 ·
My fear is that either KYB or Monroe is the factory supplier for GM. These two companies are the biggest suppliers for OE shocks for many car makers. GM, ford, Toyota, they don't make shocks/struts. They are an outside sourced part like most of the car which I understand. I just don't want to buy an one of them and turns out they are just a factory version with a brand name on them. Anyone have a strut pulled out of a car? Is there a manufactures name stamped somewhere on it?

It is possible the Monroe or KYB branded shock may be better then the factory in that they don't "cheap it up" like they do to be low cost bidder. I just ask to avoid a mistake purchase. It takes up so much of the day getting these things swapped out I don't want to do this over and over.
 
#7 ·
Pulled my new GM ones out of the box. Only identificcation I found was a label, BML15420 on it. I don't mind laying out the money to 'upgrade' but am I really upgrading or just putting in a rebadged strut like the OP said? I used Monroe complete assemblies where you get the whole strut, spring, mount and all but it was older stuff and it seemed okay. Nothing to write home about. Talked to a guy here that put KYB's in his Trans Am and he made nothing of them. Said they were okay and that was it. The Sachs struts were $150 a piece the only place I found them but like the Gabriels, you don't hear much of those brands. They're in the background compared to Monroe and KYB. Could be they're just as good or better than Monroe or KYB but it's a well kept secret. At this point, I might just put the OE ones in and see if I get a better pair. If not, I'll go aftermarket. Definitely putting in the Moog mounts, ordered them last night. Might not be better but at least I can say I tried. Still want to ponder this some more, struts still might go aftermarket. I can't say I've ever heard this kind of noise from an aftermarket strut.
 
#9 ·
I am curious to see your results as well. I went to the different manufactures sites and on KYB I came accross a product video. If you ignore the terrible acting in the very begining you can see a cutaway of the shock and you see where the concern of piston fit tolerance and the knocking sound may come from. Additionally you will hear them say they make OE shocks and struts on the same line!!!!!!

http://www.kyb.com/parts/products_gr2.php
 
#10 ·
Yeah, they tell you they use the same high quality parts for both lines, OE and aftermarket. Would you seriously expect them to say otherwise? Do fisherman advertise the rotten catch of the day? My mounts should be here Friday, maybe I'll throw everything in Saturday since it's not a Saturday I have to work. I can't quite swing myself over to putting out money for struts quite yet. I don't have issues with ride quality, it's what I expect from this type of car. Wouldn't mind a less mushy ride sometimes but I don't normally push the car anywhere close to it's limits now so it wouldn't serve a purpose to really change anything. I know changing struts and mounts should fix this noise, did it a couple weeks ago on a Malibu and the guy is happy, writer called him several times for updates and each time he hasn't complained. We stocked everything at our dealership except one of the nuts for the struts at the top, catalog calls out replacing them when struts are done. Talked to a guy tonight that works in an independent garage and he said they use a lot of KYB. He thought it was okay, better than Monroe by a bit but said they've had a few failures soon after installation. Not very encouraging. Still riding the fence on struts but frankly leaning towards just OE replacements for now. I'll update this when I'm done.
 
#13 ·
In the Monroe catalog I didn't see a whole complete unit, strut, mount, spring, boot and so on. I'd put the mount in as well. I got my Moog mounts today and I want to do a side by side comparison with the OE mount, also new sitting with my new struts. Just feeling the Moog mount I thought it seemed more firm at the rubber isolator. I would guess GM is looking at NVH ( noise, vibration and harshness) when they spec out what they want. I've heard some people complain when Moog idler and pitman arms are put in some of the GM trucks that they could feel the road too much. I can't feel a difference except there's less slop in the steering with the Moog stuff. If there's any slight increase in harshness needed to get rid of the slop in those front ends, so be it, I can't stand the loose front end. If the Moog mounts are a little more stiff and they are quiet, I'm good. The rattle is way too annoying in this cold weather to deal with it. Seems 20-25 degrees and under, mine gets progressively worse. Might throw the struts in tomorrow or Friday night and align it this weekend. I don't think you'll go wrong with Monroe. I lean towards Monroe one minute and towards KYB the next. Monroe is lifetime guaranteed? I didn't see what KYB offered for warranty. I had the KYB's up on Amazon today and just stopped short of ordering them. I got to see what I get from this setup I'm putting in, Moog mounts and OE struts. If there's any noise, I'll get whatever I lean towards at that moment.
 
#14 ·
I think the Monroes are lifetime warrantied. I didn't claim on mine after 200,000 miles (!!), I just bought new.

I did it old school - at least partly because I didn't have the cash at one time for the EZ-Struts, I bought the upper mount, lower mount, and struts separately. I reused the old Monroe springs.

BTW - My last put-together I was getting twitchy. I used two sets of the Harbor Freight Macpherson spring compressor sets. They're both trashed now, they're not good enough. I'd recommend to anyone else reading to get the springs,mounts, and struts assembled professionally at a spring shop if you have one that will do it (we have two where I live, I was just being a snotnose about it.)

My two cents, spend where ever you want ;)

RwP
 
#16 ·
Had the 'good fortune' of driving several Malibu's this week in the colder temps and most but not all of them had the same rattle up front. Mine seemed to be towards the most noise and had by far the least mileage. Drove with no radio, no HVAC blower so I could just concentrate on the front end. Then I spoke to two guys that have been around in the business longer than I have. After that, I changed my mind yet again, I ordered KYB struts and they should be here early next week. So now I'll put the KYB struts in with Moog mounts and see where that gets me. The OP is going Monroe and hopefully he does new mounts as well. I think both of us will get rid of the noise. I anticipate some ride quality changes but I don't think it will be significantly more harsh, time will tell. I'll hopefully have them in by next weekend and at that point I'll report back.
 
#18 ·
Fuuny you ask if I'm JUST doing the fronts. I've had concerns about a shock rattle in the back, only heard it a few times, nothing I have in the trunk would make that noise. I can't say I've ever heard that noise in gen 7. Noises are funny though and I'm not doing anything in the back until the front end is quiet. They aren't hard to change, if you're a DIY'er the worst part is compressing the coil spring safely. At work I have a wall mounted spring compressor. I also have the long bolt with 2 fingered hooks on either side like most DIY'ers would use. A decent quality set of that style compressor is okay but you need to use the u-bolts that come with a decent set. Those fingers can and way too often do break on cheapo sets and that spring is under tremendous pressure when you compress it. That can seriously hurt or kill you if it lets loose. You won't have time to react if it breaks, you just have to be fortunate enough to be where the spring isn't flying to. If the stabilizer end link comes off nice, it's a half hour to 45 minute job on each side. A quick strut, or a complete preassembled unit is a piece of cake but as of yet doesn't seem to be available for gen 6 or gen 7 Malibu.

Nice to elongate the holes in the strut a little so there's room for camber adjustment. Not that you can't just swap struts and drive it, but with the price of tires, a GOOD alignment will pay for itself. Notice I said a good alignment, not just a toe and go. I put the car in the middle of spec where adjustments allow and go from there. Cross camber and cross caster need to be in the middle as well in my opinion. Some guys have issues doing anything more than toe, it takes a little more effort than they want to put forth. You should get a printout anytime an alignment is done. Specs should be there showing what your car is at and the allowable range. The person doing the alignment can be dishonest and change those allowable range specs, I've seen it done. You really have to ask around your area, see where the Corvette guys go may help too. A place that does tuner work MAY be somewhere to look as well. An honest alignment takes some time, better part of an hour if you get into adjustments and I've done 2 and 3 hour alignments on vehicles where there's a lot of corrosion and you have to work with that too. I never liked the rear adjustments on these cars as you don't have enough range sometimes and they always seem to be way too negative on camber to start.

I looked at KYB rear shocks, I think somewhere around 50 bucks bought them both on Amazon. I think Moog makes a rear shock mount, so if need be, I'll go there as well. Still kind of irked that with under 4K on the car it sounds this lousy. Noticing too many Malibu's though in this cold weather with the same noise, it made me change my mind on OE struts at the last minute. I wish I had the time to take it apart and put the Moog mounts in with my original struts and then go from there in a process of elimination. Just can't afford that much time right now. Popping in the two most likely causes and seeing where that lands me.
 
#19 ·
well I suppose now we will really get a chance to determine it being OE design if you are going KYB. I am replacing the struts, boots, strut mounts, and rear shocks with Monroe stuff (also EBC sports rotors and pads cause brakes are shot too). Crossing my fingers on no more rattle.

I just can't believe this knock/rattle noise is something GM would allow. They had to have heard this in their testing. Plus keep in mind My car is an '08 and we have brand new '11's doing the same thing. Why has GM not looked into this issue with the strut supplier? I work for CAT in the cylinder and strut division. Let me tell you if we get complaints on a machine, we are on it like stink on a monkey and we don't roll out anywhere near the same number of machines a year!
 
#20 ·
Yeah, we'll see if KYB stuff does any better than OE. I can't see it being worse that's for sure. Anymore you can't go by the label on the part or on the box. The label you see may be slapped on top of another label from a different company. So let's just use KYB and Monroe since we're discussing them anyway. There's no way we REALLY know that Monroe doesn't buy KYB struts and paint them a different color and slap their label on or it could be KYB buys Monroe and does the same thing. We get aftermarket parts sometimes and you can see another label under the one on the box. A lot of parts come from overseas (China) in a white box and all that makes them different is the label on the box.

We have an aftermarket supplier that comes to our shop to do fitment tests on products they're in R&D with and they told us that any given company may be out of inventory of a part from their usual supplier and they just go buy some other suppliers part and put their label on the box. They even admitted they do it. It's the way it is anymore. GM is having issues with suppliers that aren't making the parts right. I guess it's to be expected from time to time but it's way too often since the big move to China made parts. Stuff I used to see Made in Canada or Made in Mexico, now come through Made in China. Really sad.

I would believe most of your noise if not all will be gone. Lower control arms can make noise, the bushings are the cause. If you ever do the LCA's, just go aftermarket, really. Stabilizer end links can make noise too and just go aftermarket. I like what I see from the Moog strut mounts. Obviously a different rubber material. I'm absolutely fine with sacrificing a little ride quality for a quiet front end. There aren't a lot of options for parts. OE or a few aftermarket names. There's going to be good and bad points to each manufacturer. We know the OE stuff is noisy but a decent ride. So you have to adjust your expectations to what you have to work with. In this case we may have to accept a bit more harsh ride for a quiet ride, then again, we may not notice the difference in ride quality either. Do you have noise in the rear end or are you just doing it to freshen things up?
 
#22 ·
Just got the KYB struts today from UPS. The box says Made in Japan. Compressing the strut by hand to a full collapsed position and letting the strut expand out on its own, the KYB expands noticeably quicker. The force required to compress the strut by hand is noticeably higher for the KYB strut as well. Doesn't necessarily mean a great deal except that there are two different struts here, not a repackaged KYB in a GM box. Still doesn't rule out KYB as an OE supplier to GM. The body of the strut is not identical to the OE strut, obviously close, but where the strut is bolted to the knuckle, that stamping is different. I want to measure the diameter of the rod as well, looks thicker on the KYB strut, may be my imagination too.
 
#24 ·
My Malibu is a 2010 2.4L. Factory field rep said this is normal amd Noisy from day one. Dealer and Factory Field rep said I must live with it. When you do your repalcement, Please let us know how it works out and what make parts you use.
I made the mistake of leasing mine but If I buy It I will do a Strut swap.
I appricate all the information all provides on this.
 
#25 ·
Struts are in, alignment done. Very different vehicle now. Never been this quiet since new. Need a good cold day for a real evaluation but I never drove the car so long with the radio off as I did tonight. Only 40ish tonight and struts were warm from being in the shop. Tomorrow morning will tell more. Drove around a bit tonight and I can live with what I have now. I'll give it a 90+% improvement. Ride quality is good, a bit more firm but not enough to really worry about. Feels more solid, probably mind over matter since the noise is gone. KYB strut rod is actually .31mm thinner than the OE strut.
 
#30 ·
Alldata shows 1.9 hrs to replace both struts, 1.2 hrs to do just one. That doesn't include alignment. If you have someone do this, have them grind some adjustment slots in the strut or get some camber adjusting bolts in the estimate so camber can be set correctly. Add to that the price of the mount, bearing, which came with my Moog mounts, and the strut. Out the door could easily be 6 or 7 hundred bucks or more. Be wary of a place that low balls a number, somewhere there's a shortcut being taken most likely.


Had a question about alighment after Strut replacement.
Question now answered with your last post. I have 15,200 miles. Do you suggest replacing both side or could I get by with just the right side?
Will take your advice.
Doing it under warranty, the 'defective part' is only done. So if one strut makes noise, you get one strut. Personally, yes, you do both sides at the same time for best results. If you go aftermarket strut on one side and OE strut on the other, you may not like the result, then again it may not be felt by some people.

Adding to last nights update, still quiet, just like last night. Need a cold morning for final check but much, much, much better than it ever was from new. No regrets.
 
#28 ·
Hjlint - For ALL dampeners (shocks and/or struts), it's highly recommended to swap both sides so that rebound characteristics are matched, avoiding fore-aft sway and other nice handling problems.

If you do just the strut MOUNT - I'd still do both sides, and ask "Why just the mount? Get it all at one time!" *smiles*

RwP
 
#29 ·
Well all back together and happy to report no strut knock at the moment. It is high 20's here so def would have been knocking before. Again I did all new Monroe struts, mounts, boots, and rear shocks (also EBC sports rotors and red stuff pads, holy stopping power Batman!). I will post up after a couple hundred miles to let you know if it stays quiet but I would agree probably 90% or more improvement in front suspension noise. Going to lower tire pressure back to 30lbs and see if that improves it further. Car is much more stable and predictable over bumps
 
#38 ·
You can go here to watch a video that shows the camber bolts being installed and adjusted. Every time I use them, I can't get enough range out of them and I end up grinding the strut holes anyway. The camber bolts are used instead of grinding the slots, not with slots. Either way the adjustment gets made, the bolts tightened and you're good to go. I know when I went to Hunter's alignment school, the instructor harped on the bad things that happen when struts are ground for adjustment. If the bolts are tightened properly, that strut to knuckle mating relationship isn't moving under normal driving conditions.

When I ground my struts, I ground just the upper hole and only the side of the hole towards me, standing next to the rotor, no need to grind these holes inboard, that would allow camber to be more negative and these cars are negative enough already usually. You have to grind both upper holes so the bolt can move freely. It's only necessary to take a little material off, like a 1/16 of an inch is probably more than enough. When I put everything back together, I let the rotor come out at the top as far as it could and snugged the bolts. That gave me the most positive camber I was going to get. When I did the alignment and wanted to adjust camber, I just loosened the strut to knuckle bolts enough to have a little play in the bolt and took my air hammer and laid it against the knuckle and in short bursts just made enough vibration that the weight of the vehicle started to pull camber more negative until I got what I wanted and then I tightened the bolts up and that's it. I'm not saying it's the easiest or best way to do it and most alignment shops want to use the bolts because it's easier for their guy to do the adjustment that way. The bolt kits can be a bit expensive, like 30 or 40 bucks sometimes but grinding the struts isn't cheap either once the struts are in, that's why I do it before I put the strut in. I prefer to do my alignments as close to the middle of the spec range as I can and then go from there if there's a pull issue. Most times, the middle of spec is fine. Good handling and tire wear. Some guys just leave it go as long as you're somewhere in the spec range. To me that's a disservice to the customer. But hey, this is all just my opinion and how I did my car. To each their own.
 
#37 ·
Great info in here guys. I had a 2003 cavalier and around 75k miles i had to replace all four struts as they all rattled (I put the Monroe pre-assembled struts on it and it was better than new and quiet again). Sounds like I can plan on doing this again on my 2011 Malibu LTZ at some point, but its still quiet at 6.5k miles on it.
 
#39 ·
I am over 200 mi on them, still quiet....exactly what I EXPECT. GM service reps on here please take note. It is unfair to ask customers to return multiple times before they get a "good" pair of struts or probably never at all if brand new cars on the lot do this. It is a simple fix seems like, just don't use the GM parts!

I will report back at 1000mi, though I expect the knock to remain gone
 
#40 ·
If you had to chance to compare what came out to what went in, you'd see why you have no noise. I compared new OE parts to my aftermarket parts and there were very obvious differences. Just a little more quality, and we wouldn't be having this discussion. It's a shame but in the long run if that's the worst of my problems, I can deal with it.
 
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