club.liberty.asn.au

First you need to understand what an inverted shock is,



The full shock in black, the beside them the inserts, they larger shaft size slides inside the housing in a Teflon sleeve bearing, this requires grease for lube, the grease used by factory is really bad, so drill and tap to fit grease nipple between the two sleeves, i drill into the body where the spring platform is in contact with the body, it is double thickness, there is grease in there, so shavings don't go in, blow it clean sideways and it leaves hole clean, pump it with grease gun, take 6-10 pumps and goes hard, this then means the housing between the bearings is full, this LMM grease go more like a liquird when warm, same grease as used in drive shafts, extreme pressure and best thing. You don't go near the pistons or gas, that is in the insert.

Good write up here with pics of it pulled down.
http://www.toronto-subaru-club.com/foru ... truts.html

Thanks for that, really helpful, really makes sense when I realized they were inverted, I will probably pull them down later next week and do it,

Thanks again for your explanation, Matt

Hi Guys,

Thought i would share my troubles with the knocking noise, i have just ventured on a roadtrip from the east coast to the west and i was slightly worried about the knocking so i took it to a crew in canberra before i left and it was the top insert strut bolt that had come loose havent had a problem with it again in 4000kms

What sort of useful life are people seeing from the Bilstein shocks

Are they stuffed after 140 000 km or what is the typical life .........

So i finally got a resolution on the knocking noise on my car!

I made a booking and went to Quadrant Suspension in Berwick (Outer South-East VIC): they were a really great bunch of people. The called me back within an hour or two of me dropping my car off to tell me that they checked the struts and couldn't find anything wrong with them. They didn't even charge me for their time to inspect it!

So back to the drawing board so I thought...

Then I took it to Subaru specialist mechanic Lucas Automotive in Moorabbin (South-East VIC) & told them the symptoms. Straight away they thought it was the struts, saying it was a common problem, but as soon as I told them I'd been to Quadrant last week and couldn't fault it, they seemed surprised, but agreed to have a look.

They called me back the next day after doing a full spanner check of the suspension and underbody and taking it on a couple of test drives saying they found the problem was the front crossmember under the car was loose. Apparently had about 1/4 - 1/2 a turn in some of the bolts! It's not something that is ever checked as it's not normally removed for general suspension or maintenance work so it was a bit surprising.

Its been about a week now and I haven't heard a single noise!

So glad now that it all seems to be sorted.

My advice to anyone who has similar problems and have Bilstein struts, check everything is tight top and bottom suspension related and under-body, then take it to Quadrant Suspension if you're in Victoria and get them to check it out. It is apparently the most common thing to cause the knocking sound and although it is expensive to fix, there's not really much other alternative other than getting another set of struts or coilovers. They replace a valve or something in the internals of the struts that fails prematurely with a better quality part which should last the life of the strut/vehicle. Generally more of an issue on the earlier model Libertys with these struts as in later years they addressed some of these issues.

That's awesome that you got it sorted.

Thanks for the update too! I'll check the above before I invest in some new Bilsteins now

wazza wrote:Thanks for the update too! I'll check the above before I invest in some new Bilsteins now

+1 for me too. Thanks for the update.

Reviving a dead thread here.

When everyone has their issues in relation to this does it happen straight away (when cold)or is it more typical that it occurs when the car has been driven for a longer stint?

Mine is after driving for a while.

I redeveloped a knock in my front left suspension. At speed (30km/h+) it doesn't do it but when going slow especially over rough roads or bumps it's that bad that I can feel it through the firewall and accelerator/brake pedals.. I'm thinking the cross member that was posted above^^ however in saying that I had the car up on jacks the other day and had a fiddle with everything and nothing was loose. I did manage to squeeze the rubber back on the coil spring to stop it rubbing on the strut (metal on metal) and that worked for a little while until, I would assume, it was pushed back out again..

It's definitely annoying though.

Mine is most prominent at left full lock going round in circles at 1kph. It's not cv's for me as I had Subaru swap cv from left to right and noise is still coming from front right.

Seeing these are a common issue should this be a sticky?

has anyone tried the fix done by MSGofast above?, it sounds plausible as I have had mine on the hoist and although could get a bit out of the crossmember bolts it didnt change noise. I reckon it is in the shocks as sometimes driving over wet roads stops it (water splashing up) , likewise it used to go away if I sparay around shock with garden hose. Typically front right, but a little in front left.

Dunno if this has been posted in this thread yet or not.

I had and still sorta do have a knock aswell in my front end.

The billies 'dry out' ive been told. Get some spray tac or adhesive spray lubricant. Jack the car up and lift the rubber boot up as far as possible and spray up into the top of the strut so it runs down the shaft. Drop the jack and repeat for other side. And then go or a drive on some bumpy uneven roads and load the suspension to get the lub in the strut and bobs your uncle.

This has to be repeated tho and can only last for a few weeks to months.

Hope this helps

Dreaded knock strikes again

Seem to have developed a knock on front left. I have konis (about 60K old) and whiteline sways. So far this thread has given me some good ideas on what it could be:-

- CV joint
- Shock
- Steering rack bushings
- bearing in axle struts??
- strut tops
- loose bolts

I did find the lower shock bolt for the koni insert loose, tightened it up but still no joy. I also tightened what I could get access to and nothing loose.
I'm thinking strut tops as the car is over 100K old now and as stated before seems to be quite common.

Might have to go to a suspension place. Question is where to take it in Melbourne? Preferably city or inner west.