Phoenix R

It's been a while since I did my struts, but I don't remember any way the nut could be "overtightened" to cause too much of the threaded shaft to show above the upper nut. From what I remember, I torqued the star nut, assembled everything, then torqued the upper nut until everything was tight as could be. It seems the only way the shaft would stick out too far is if a part were left out or the shaft is longer than factory.

Sure sounds like the spring seat has failed based on your #2 above. I have the same rattling noise when going over rough pavement, too. I can easily spin the big washer (#2 in the diagram) by hand on my car, which was how I diagnosed the problem based oninput from Trent and JRL (thanks again, guys). You're looking at new spring seats at minimum. I chose to get new seats, struts, strut mount/bearings, bump stops, and bolts based on recommendations from the group, plus I plan on keeping the car for a long time. I didn't realize the strut mounts actually had a bearing in them (and therefore is a wear item) so I didn't order them along with the other parts. They just arrived today, so I don't have an excuse to put off tackling the job any longer.

That's a good question. I don't know the answer, but it sure has me wondering.

Again, thanks for the information. I haven't started mine yet because when I read your writeup and saw the torque values for the strut bolts I realized they were TTY bolts and I needed to get new ones. They are currently on order from IPD, along with new strut mounts/bearings (yet another might-as-well-as-long-as-I'm-in-there). As I said above, I decided to get new ones. They are torque-to-yield bolts, as signified by the additional turn amount after the torque value is reached. From Wikipedia: Torque to yield fasteners are mounting hardware which is torqued beyond the state of elasticity and therefore undergoes plastic transformation, causing it to become permanently elongated. Torque to yield (TTY) bolts are often used on cylinder heads in modern combustion engines for the sake of saving weight and to obtain a more precise clamping load. Compared to normally tightened hardware, a smaller sized TTY bolt/screw may be used while still maintaining the same clamping force. A drawback with TTY hardware is that it normally has to be replaced when loosened, for example when the cylinder head is removed. Since you didn't go wild when tightening them back they may be OK. It seems as though most of the load would be 90º to the bolt axis and not much, if any, along its axis (as there would be with a head bolt clamping the head to the block). If you wanted to replace them you could do them one at a time and not alter your camber. You should be able to get Grade 8 (or better) bolts from the hardware store - they aren't anything special, they just need to be the correct length and diameter.

Thanks for the detailed writeup! I have the new struts and this will take the guesswork out of the install. Thanks again! What type of stands did you use under the subframe? The ones I have are 15 tall at their lowest setting. How does that compare to the ones you used?