Rep Power: 258

hey i hit a series of bumps on the freeway and my rear started making this metal clanking noise. My mechanic said it was the oem strut bushing hitting the spring so he just razor bladed it off. He said it installation of the coilovers required him to cut the strut bushing in half and now he just has to cut more. Well he did and the noise is gone, but I was wondering do I need to replace them or whatever? I have never heard the term strut/shock bushing before, basically what it is or was, is a black plastic thing that surrounds the coilover from the top.

 
Rep Power: 270

i think your referring to the bump stop in the back... and yes.. some require you to cut it.. otherwise if you lower it enough you would be riding on them...

 
Rep Power: 258

why is it that before I hit the bumps on the freeway, the bumpstops only half cut were only and didnt make noises. Could it be my shocks are a little worn from being too low? So the bump stops do not matter / i can go without them?

 
Rep Power: 245

bump stops are there so your struts dont bottom out when you hit a pothole or speed bump. They need to be cut when you lower your car so your not riding on them all the time and so they wont interfere with normal suspension travel

 
Rep Power: 258

i don't think these are the bump stops - when I had just springs on they already cut them, when I installed coilovers they were already pre cut.
Based on pictures that Ive looked up, the thing that my mechanic cut were thin black peices of plastic, as if they were a cup surrounding the top of the coilover.
If these are the bump stops, then how come they were clanking with my coilovers to make a noise?

Can I do completely without the bump stops?

 
Rep Power: 388

Hmm. maybe dust guards?

 
Rep Power: 258

my mechanic called it "oem shock/strut bushings" and he was able to slice away at it with a razor blade.

 
Rep Power: 270

yea... thats the dust sheild.. which should have been cut... but if your running on stock struts.. your going to blow them.. and you'll have that a lot more...

i ran skunk2 sleeve'd coils slammed on stock struts for about 2yrs... when i took them off the struts were not completely gone, but i did end up snapping a spring which led me to my new progress coilovers :-)

 
Rep Power: 258

im running on tein basic coilovers.

my mechanic told me the "bushings" or rather the dust covers were cut by half - but for some reason he had to cut more.

so I don't need the dust covers at all?