ball joint

[clutch1]

The bearing's prolly between those two halves, just go to NAPA or where ever you prefer for parts and ask for the upper strut mount bearing part, they'll give you what you need.

[AleroDrime]

are you familair with set ups in general or this setup specificaly, ive had this apart myself, and do not remember any such part, i though you may have meant if was inside the rubber or the red circle

[Beholder88]

There should be a bolt in the middle hole there on the top. Take that off and the whole piece should come off. Not sure if that requires you to compress the spring or not, I would verify that one for sure.

[clutch1]

Originally Posted by AleroRacing

are you familair with set ups in general or this setup specificaly, ive had this apart myself, and do not remember any such part, i though you may have meant if was inside the rubber or the red circle

Just in general. I guarantee there is SOME sort of bearing. All McPhearson struts have them. I've had the struts apart on the Alero before, but that was like 3 years ago just changing springs so I don't remember specifically which part houses the bearing.

Also, you will want to compress them in some way. Otherwise as soon as the nut comes off it could get ugly. Plus to put them back together you'll need the spring compressed down.

[AleroDrime]

im thinking of using the compressing device and really trying to torque the nut down farther, afraid of getting it too tight though, could it be to tight?

[A57]

Originally Posted by AleroRacing

just to clarify, the red or the green?

the strut plate is the one in green is the one you bolt to the strut tower..

that is a bearing for the strut to turn as clutch1 said...

Imo just wear on the plate cause it to got bad...

hope this helps.

[AleroDrime]

Originally Posted by Beholder88

There should be a bolt in the middle hole there on the top. Take that off and the whole piece should come off. Not sure if that requires you to compress the spring or not, I would verify that one for sure.

yes dear god compress it and dont ever undo that thing untill the strut is off and compressed

[clutch1]

Originally Posted by AleroRacing

im thinking of using the compressing device and really trying to torque the nut down farther, afraid of getting it too tight though, could it be to tight?

Why? Tightening it slightly won't solve your problem. You need a new bearing.

[AleroDrime]

maybe its just not tight enough, could some one take a pic of how much thread they have showing?

[goldalero99]

Originally Posted by clutch1

The upper strut mount has a large ball bearing that gets sandwiched between the top of the spring and the bottom of the metal plate that bolts to the car's body. This allows the bottom of the strut to rotate with the knuckle when steering, but the top doesn't since it's fixed the body.

These ball bearings get water in them and rust out sometimes, and won't rotate freely. Simple as that. The other side may not have gotten water in it, who knows, it could be on its way out, too.

The popping you hear is the spring getting tension trying to turn, then when it finally goes "pop" it just did turn like it was trying to.

You just gotta pull the strut, compress it (if you don't wanna die), remove the nut from the top, pull off everything above the strut and replace it, put it all back together and back onto the car.

I agree. Still sounds like a problem with the upper strut mount and the bearings in there. How confident are you with the mechanics at this shop?
I hope you didn't replace the ball joints for no reason.

[Th0r]

How aggressive do you drive?
My car is lowered with aftermarket struts and rides stiff as hell. I drive pretty hard, and screw around on tracks with friends every so often. I'm in need of my third strut mount (popping noise) since I lowered it 15k ago and I've just attributed it to hard driving on a stiff suspension.

[clutch1]

Originally Posted by AleroRacing

maybe its just not tight enough, could some one take a pic of how much thread they have showing?

Well the spring is enacting prolly a couple hundred pounds of force pushing up on the plate it rests on, which in turn presses on the nut. I don't think that's the case.


Also, Thor, since I put air ride on my car my upper plates have also been deteriorating. The rubber bushing is starting to bulge out the top... prolly not so good.. they ride stiff as hell so I'm assuming it certainly does do a number on a car to have stiff springs/airbags/ etc.

[AleroDrime]

I drive pretty reasonably 6 otta 7 days a week, and the lower one was effed up

[undersc0re]

My struts creak when turning usually day after driving through rain wet roads then go quiet another day later, weird its like the water drives out the lube then it dries up and then finally driving around again loosens them up and the wearing metal acts as lube? Weird if you ask me but its been doing this since maybe a year after I bought the car 7 or 8 years ago!