I got this rattle on the left front side of the car. I am suspecting that it is needing front shocks. It started as a minor rattle and progressively got louder. Has anybody experienced this? I only have 72k miles. So I was not expecting this so soon. But my big tires and the poor road conditions did not help. I was just wondering what it took to replace. I know that I will need a spring compressor. But other than that, is there anything else?

 

Unless you have a decent workshop/garage, and all the right tools, I recommend you don't try to do it yourself!
I bought lowering springs for my old XFS a few years ago, and I attempted to fit them myself, but I had no hope of getting the front strut assembly out of the car, there were just too many suspension components in the way.
I ended up taking the car to my exhaust/brakes/suspension go-to workshop, and even with the car up on a hoist and after undoing several suspension arm connections and bolts and pushing arms out of the way, two of them really struggled to get the front strut assemblies out.

 

I never had a shock (or strut rattle when it needed replaced). They either leak or they simply turn into a pogo stick. I would first check all your bushings and other rubber bits (i.e. your sway bar links and bushings first as they tend to wear fairly quick and then the arm bushings and even the cushion on the spring of the strut. Not knowing what the upper strut mount is made out of that also could be the source. Never had an issue with those on any of our cars except the XK8 is known for the upper mounts failing. They actually crush and you loose a few ticks of ride height then break apart creating a rattle. That said if I was replacing these I would also probably replace the strut unless they were very pricey since you need to take the assembly apart anyways to replace.

 

I agree with TreVoRTasmin.


The first thing to usually start rattling is the swaybar end links


They are simple to replace and fairly inexpensive.


You can test by grabbing the links with your hand and twisting them. If they move with just your hand, they are bad. They should be very stiff and hard to turn and wiggle.


It is best to do this with the weight of the car on the suspension, not with the wheels dangling at full drop.

 

Also check to see of its the shock mount bushing. Mine was completely melted and caused a lot of clunk and play in suspension. I had a write-up I was working on just hadn't finished. It's essentially the same process. Maybe I can get it uploaded if you're interested let me know.

 

EK BALAM, Yes I am interested if you can upload it. That would be great! Thanks again!

 

I see they haven't solved that issue since the xk8. Looks like what most XK8s get. Sharky, check the other stuff first as 70k and the time seems early for major failures of the strut mounts.

 

***Full disclosure***I am not a mechanic lol, but I was ableto get the job done so….I may be off on the size of a socket to use on a boltor 2, and I’m not sure on torque specs. Sorry ahead of time if there are extra steps.


Disconnect the negative cable from the battery, and open thehood of the vehicle.


You will need to move the coolant reservoir out of the wayto access the top of the strut assembly. Using a 10 mm socket, remove the 3 nuts/bolts holding the reservoir andplace them aside.






You can tie a rope to the reservoir and anchor it somewhereon the vehicle to hold it out of the way.





As you can see, my bushing was in pretty bad shape…..








Disconnect the CATS adaptive dampening electrical connectorand zip tie it out of the way for now. Next,loosen the 4 nuts (14 mm) holding the shock mount to the vehicle.





****At this point, loosen the wheel lug nuts, raise thevehicle, and place on a jack stand securely for the remaining work to be done.*****


You will need a 50 mm hex bit socket to remove the boltholding the bottom of the strut in place. You may need to manipulate the positioning of the suspension in order toease the bolt out.


You will need to remove the sway bar end link using a 15 mmsocket for the upper nut. The lower nutcan be removed by holding the bolt in place with a 13 mm crescent wrench andusing the 15 mm socket to loosen the opposite end (Sorry, I didn’t remember totake a pic of this).You may need tojack up the lower control arm in order to relieve any stress on the end linkbolt (just makes it easier).






I’m not sure if the next step is needed or not, but it didmake it a lot easier to maneuver the strut assembly out. Remove the bolts from the upper arm of thesuspension.






The nut for the left side of arm is located under the hoodnext to the air filter box and can be removed with a 17 mm socket/wrench.





The other nut is located right under the brake fluid reservoir. You can remove the plastic compartment doorto reveal the reservoir.If you removethe wiper arms and plastic shroud where the arms sticks out of you would havemore room I believe to access this other bolt.





Once these are removed, you may want to have some rope andsomeone else handy since after removing the bolts of the upper arm, the wheelknuckle will drop with the arm. I hadsomeone help hold the wheel knuckle so the brake hoses did not have stress onthem while I maneuvered the strut assembly out.Then, we tied the wheel knuckle to the resulting hole where the strutwas mounted at the top.I also had smallstool under the rotor/caliper for extra support just in case.





Once the strut assembly is removed, you will need tocompress the spring to alleviate tension at the top where strut mount isattached. ****This can be potentiallydangerous if done incorrectly, so I recommend using a decent set of springcompressors, and following the instructions.Avoid using power tools if you can.The compressors in my picture failed on me near the end of compression(luckily the new shock mount and nut were already attached so no harm done)



Once it has been compressed, you can use anallen wrench and pliers to loosen the top nut. Once the nut has been removed, you can swap out the old shock mount forthe new one, and tighten the nut back on. Once it is tightened, you can uncompress the springs. Then, you’ll just have to follow the reverseprocess and tighten everything back up. I believe an alignment is needed after this procedure.

 

Wow, sorry didn't mean to mess up my post but I was at work. Looked fine before I posted it. There were supposed to be pics with these instructions.