Okay so here's the situation. I live in calgary canada so we have to gravel our roads during winter. Well now occasionally when i turn corners or hit a bit of a bump in the road i'll hear a banging noise coming from my driver side wheel well, I first thought it was something with my suspension because our roads are terrible. Today Mitsu told me it was rocks and crap from the roads stuck in my "strut housing" and that it will cost me 210$ to clean it out. BUT they said it is an easy job to do myself. 2 things are I don't have a pressure washer or anything to lift my car. I am a total "noob" when it comes to this kind of stuff. If anyone could help me out that would be awesome because i don't want to pay 210 for something like that.

Thanks

 

I have the same problem living in Regina. I just use a regular hose and set the nozel to high and just put my hand in the wheel wells as far as I can and spray away. So far it seems to be working. the noise goes away. At least for a couple of weeks then it back from the crappy roads again.

 

Just get in there real deep like. It seems like the problem will just come back after you pay 210 to fix it temporarily. I'd much rather try it myself with a hose and save the money.

 

You could spend less than half that and have something to lift the car with, and jackstands to hold it up once it's lifted.

 

If you have access to a air hose and a compressor; I blow all the rocks and debris out everytime I change my oil. Lift the car up with a car jack - you don't even need to remove the wheel.

 

ether way after cleaning it take into mind about greasing those parts so things cant stick to them anymore to save this problem in the future.

 

Thanks for the replies guys, I'll give a hose a shot when i get home from work today because i really don't want to pay 210 just to have it come back in less then a month as there is a lot of gravel on our roads right now. I'll get back to you guys with what worked when i got a chance.
Thanks again.

 

gingivitis,
I live in Edmonton, AB, and -my- dealer told me he'll clean out all 4 for me for 50 bucks... feel like doing a road trip? lol

 

oh and also, he said he'll cut the rubber lip off so rocks wont pile up in there anymore.

 

I had the exact same problem living in saskatchewan, took my car to the dealer and they said they would charge me to take it in and get looked at when they already knew it was rocks in the strut housing. So they just came out to my car and pulled a few decent sized rocks out of there in the parking lot and problem has been fixed ever since.

If you just stick your hand up in the fender and feel the spring and follow it down to where it sits there will a cup shaped piece where rocks and things like to collect, if you feel around in there you will notice there are rocks if you pull them out you will see marks/scuffs on the rocks from when you hit bumps and the spring doesn't compress correctly. Pull the rocks out and it will be good as new.