i have some nocking on my front end when i hit bumps in the road. i inspected the ball joints; all looks good but my shocks seem to have a lot of space on the upper end. this does not seem normal. see pics. what is the best course of action, replace or will replacing the strut bellows eleminate the knocking. the shocks seem to react normal when pressing down on both sides of the front end.

chris

 

chris: I have the same problem, although my shocks do not have the slack on the upper end that yours do. If this was my car, I'd replace the shocks from source of your choice (239.50 each from dealer MND2140AD, boot dampner MND2148AB @ 15.50 x 2, Bumper, stop MND2150AB x 2 @ 14.50) PLUS upper end bushings. You don't get these from dealer when you buy the shock from them. If you do a search on this site, or contact British Motor Parts, there are upper bushing kits for around 60.00. Total cost around 539.00 and you can do it yourself, search posts, there are plenty here. At a minmum replace the shocks and upper bushings. Boots and bump stops may be reusable to save a few pennies. From the pictures you clearly have a shock issue. Although your symptoms are also referred to in many post about the anti sway bar end links and bushings. I would look at this also cost about 226.00 dealer, or 82.20 dealer bushings/ebay for end links. Part numbers provided for reference only. Let the dealer tell you what you need, but this way you're informed going in. Good luck.

 

could be lower shock bushes, grab the lower part of the shock and rock it to and fro, if there's play they need swapping. The boot should fit into the upper part of the shock housing, you need to slide it up the shock and push it back into the cup seen in your picture. There's a number of things that cause a knock, I found engine mounts caused my mystery knock after replacing everything bar the shocks. One thing at a time until it's gone eh?!

 

My mistake. Thought I was looking at where the mount bushing should be....didn't think about it being where the boot fits into mount. Could still be the shocks though as Sean pointed out regarding the lower bushing.

 

went to inspect lower bushings as sugested. couldn't get tire off. some meat head previous owner has varying lugs on tires. seems i have mostly 22mm lugs with several other size lugs. might be 23 mm or 1". and wouldn't know i don't have 23 mm or 1 " sockets. strange.

what are the corect lug nut sizes for this car. it seems my lugs wrench that came with car is 22mm.

chris

thanks for the info so far though. i'll work my way through your comments and suggestions.