Hi there, got a knocking noise that I believe is coming from the suspension top mount on the front near side, how easy is this to replace as I can't find a good vid of it on youtube or on the net, also should you replace the shock at the same time or is it dependant on wear, not much experience with suspension so any help would be great!
Also whats the costs of a repair like this?!

Many thanks!!

 

Easy enough to change , there's good videos on YouTube as to how to remove the strut , once you have that out use a couple of spring compressors to compress the coil spring and undo the top nut , hardest bit I found was getting the top nut on and off , you have use an Allan key to stop the shock spinning . Not that hard ...

 

Ahh thanks matty sound like something I could do then, il check out those vids online, guess il have to order a oem part for replacement?

 

Yea mate , I got two off "import car parts" , your talkin about £80 a corner

 

Rattlegun makes it cake, never succeeded with the "proper way" without bending or snapping an Allen key!

 

Fonzey, how do you do it with an impact wrench?

Small doses of pressing the trigger to avoid the spinning?

 

Check if the nuts are loose on the top mount. big nut 50nm, 3xsmall low torque 25nm irrc do not over torque as they snap easily.

lower damper bolts are 220nm (new age spec)

Removal

I recommend you crack the top nut bolt while the car is on the ground and strut is installed. You need a deep well socket.

1. jack up car, put on jack stand preferable both side. remove rear seat.
2. You can remove the sway bar to make it easier, but no needed per se.
3. Remove the lower two bolts.
4. loosen the three small bolts
5. move the damper away from the control arm and support the control arm with wood. make sure you do not stretch the brake line or ABS line.
6. remove 3 mall top bolts
7 damper should fall into your hand.

reverse to reinstall.

8. to make it easy to line up the bolt holes. Put a jack with a wood under the control arm and slowly jack up the arm until the bolt holes line up. You can only get one at a time.

9. a hammer and punch can help get the bolts out and back in. Once you have 3 thread visible. use a nut to pull it in.

 

Yep just a short sharp blast seems to "shock" it free, had success on OEM struts, BC coilovers and KW coilovers with this method.

NEVER let the strut spin like crazy, will burn out seals etc. Even if you just nip the shock unit between the coils with your fingers (use gloves or a rag incase it spins, to stop burned fingers) the small amount of pressure you can apply is normally enough combined with rattle gun.

Heard of people using molegrips on shock units too... but really wouldn't fancy that. Every job I've ever done which resorted to molegrips ended up in disaster