06 hawk wrx sti rear suspension
 

So I have the dreaded rear knock from the back. No worries, I have done shocks before on other cars with similar problems.

I read up about how to do it on here and various other places.

I got the shock off the car, undid the top nut and got rid of all of the spring and dust cover etc.

But I could not under any circumstances get the nut off the bottom of the strut.

Am I doing something wrong?

I realise that there is meant to be a point, on twisting the shock where the shock locks in and so it can be undone? On mine I could feel as I twisted the shock, get to a point at which it appeared to slot into some sort of section, but the second I went to turn it, it all just began turning again.

So after about five hours of carefully cutting the nut away I got the shock out.

On inspecting where the end of the shock that I had been trying to remove, it appears that the threaded end is completely round, however the strut housing is a slight oval shape.

Surely I should have a slightly oval end to lock into the oval casing?

So I never would have been able to get it off any other way other than the way I did it today.

Have I got the wrong type of shocks in there?

I still have to do the other side and am really tempted to just bin the rear suspension and buy all new stuff.

Any advice? Am I being really stupid? Would an air impact wrench have helped with the bottom nut?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Sorry for the essay

Car has only done 28k and doesnt come from a background that someone would have got the shocks wrong

I had the same issues, luckily I had bought some second hand shocks to "refurb" so I could take my time, and simply swap over when I was ready. I've not swapped over yet - but I made such a mess of my strut inserts of my second set that I'm planning on taking the damper internals from my car and putting them into my spare drilled/tapped/nippled strut housings.

My solution was to grind a slot in the end of the bolt so I could stick a flat headed screwdriver in and hold the shaft still whilst undoing the bolt.

I'm really hoping that the set which is currently fitted to the car comes off with a quick blast of the impact gun. If it doesn't, I'll probably go for the grinder method again... just will try to do it a bit neater this time.

If I mess up again... it's coilover time!

Yea I tried the whole slot method and it just didn't want to know at all. Seems strange though that there isn't any lug inside the strut housing as it just spins and spins. What a stupid design. I have pretty much decided I am just going to buy new struts as then I know where I am with them. I have also bought an impact wrench (been meaning to get one for ages) so hopefully when it comes to the other side at least I can get the strut off quicker.

I was thinking, is it worth trying to get the nut loose on the bottom of the strut with the car jacked up before you undo anything. At least then if you cant it will save you a shed load of hassle

I bought an impact gun too for this job, but as I'd already "broken" the bolt loose with my wrench it was too late to benefit from the shock and awe of the impact gun.

My nut was strangley sticking on the last thread, probably dirt/corrosion buildup just stopping it from coming the rest of the way.

I'm hoping when I dismantle my "on car" suspension that it just pings right off with my impact gun.

yea, good luck with that. I guess it is a bit of a one time lucky job with those nuts then. Poor design imo

The poor design of the bottom nut pales in significance to the fact we need to dismantle these shocks after 30k miles in the first place!!

haha! good point. One that I overlooked!