Curse of the rear struts

[wmcraft]

Finally was able to get my Hyundai in for MD State Inspection at a local shop. Waited for weeks at local Hyundai dealer with no openings, so I moved on.

They said everything passed except the rear struts because of that clunk sound. I replaced the struts weeks ago and put a new set of rubber bushings on. Guy says that I probably put the bushings in wrong. Could be I guess, but the factory service manual stick-drawing doesn't really show it well. Anyone here have photos of how the bushings go in?

I also saw a TSB on the hyundai service site regarding the rear sway D-bushings so I've got a set of those on order. They were only $10 but I've been waiting for over 3 weeks for them to get shipped in to me dealer parts dept. Ugh.

[Admin1]

Here is a picture of the rear strut assy. It is much easer to read than the
service manual!
Aslo I have replace the Sway Bar bushing on the rear for noise as well
What you can do is have some one rock the car side to side(agressively)
go under car an hold the sway bar see if y ou can feel the noise!

[wmcraft]

There are two bushings show above the cup. One is immediately above the cup, but I can't tell if the other is supposed to be above or below the shock mount. If it's supposed to be above the mount (and immediately under the washer) then I've put it back together wrong.

I also notice your diagram shows the bushing beneath the cup. The manual doesn't have it at all.

Thanks,

[wmcraft]

Got it - just needed to further tighten the top nuts.

[Admin1]

Good deal!! How about them sway bar bushings? How are they?

[wmcraft]

Bushings seem ok, but since I've got the taller ones on the way, I'll swap em out anyway. Also, since the rear knock is gone, I can now clearly tell the fronts are on their way out. So I'm sure I'll be doing a front strut replacement in the not too distant future. Good news is they passed the insp. I just want this thing legal so the MVA tag deadlines aren't haunting me anymore.

[wmcraft]

BTW - the shop manual says to use vice grip pliers to hold the shaft on the strut while tightening down the lock nut. Well, that obviously wasn't good enough for me. I bought a tool that made it a lot easier. Anyone that will be doing their own struts should get this.

It has various sizes and one fits right on and lets you use a regular open-end wrench to hold the shaft and a closed -end wrench to tighten the nut. I used a 17mm claw-foot on a torque wrench to make sure it was to spec. Not sure how accurate it is with the claw-foot, but it's much tighter than before and the knock is gone.

http://www.jcwhitney.com/Steering-Suspension-Tools/GP_2017916_N_111+10201+600018015_10101.jcw

[Admin1]

Im glad you got it handled! An good tool as well! Thats what I use on rusty struts!