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'99 9-3 base model, 52,000 miles. There's noise coming from the right front suspension, and it goes like this:
First, it was a loud popping noise any time the car went over a drop in the road surface. It was as if there was a loose connection to the shock, or to something connected to the shock, so that as the suspension was extended by the spring, it took up some play in the system before the shock started to slow the motion. When the play was all taken up, there was a loud bang or pop (above is my diagnosis).
Last week sometime, the character of the noise changed. It's now a much more quiet popping noise, and I'm not yet sure I can characterize exactly what the conditions are that cause it, except that it's much more common.
I took it to the dealer this morning, and I drove it with the mechanic. We had to hunt for manhole covers and rough spots in the road, but we got the noise to occur a couple of times. He showed me a crack in the rubber in the right front strut mount, and I can see that when the car is shaken around, the strut seems to move in the mount much more than the left one. However, because the noise is hard to reproduce on demand, the mechanic can't be sure that replacing the strut mount will solve the problem. We agreed that I'd keep driving the car to see if I can get a better idea of how to reproduce the sound, so he can get a better idea of exactly what's causing it. Since the car is not under warranty, I'd like to diagnose all the problems before paying the labor charges to have it all disassembled and reassembled.
So I've got two questions:
(1) Can anyone help with diagnosis? Specifically, would a crack in the rubber in the strut mount lead to the types of noises I'm hearing? I know the current noise is hard to diagnose, but would the cracked rubber and the additional motion of the strut cause a condition like what I described was happening before last week? Or is it likely that there's something else wrong in there?
(2) (a little more subjective) As long as I'm having the strut mount replaced (along with possibly other stuff if it's broken), should I think about other work? The mechanic says the shocks seem to be in good condition. The car has lived in Boston all its life, so it's had its share of driving through potholes and city streets, and it has 52,000 miles on it. Also, I've considered upgrading to the SE springs. I don't want a lower ride, but stiffer would be nice. Thoughts on upgrading shocks/springs? Basically, if I get new shocks now anyway, I'd want to upgrade them. And what should a set of SE springs cost? If I want to upgrade control arm and other bushings to polyurethane, is now a good time to do that as well?
Thanks for any input,
Matt
'99 base
posted by 12.101.2...
, Mon, 25 Aug 2003 15:11:26
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