if the damper leaked out its fluids then dirt and road grime will build up and cake itself all over the suspension components. I had one of the rear shocks loose a seal on the Lancer GTS I had before my RA, and the amount of dirt and grime that built up on it was disgusting. It literally looked like it could have had 100K dirt road miles on it, even though the car never left asphalt.

 

Yeah I guess thats the trouble I am having. How can I tell if it leaked or not? Or is it pretty much impossible to tell? I am also thinking of order new end links, but I am wanting to know how to tell if mine are shot first :P

 

well, in my case, as I cleaned off the caked on grime, I could see it was moist with an oily substance the closer to metal i got.

 

If you take the strut assembly apart, and all of the gas/oil is gone, the piston should compress very easily and not return from its compressed state. (Or possibly return REALLY slowly)

My Eclipse GSX's stock suspension was shot. When I took it off, the struts just collapsed into themselves from their own weight!

 

Yeah I am just trying to find a way to tell without taking the strut out

I may just bite the bullet and get some coils...

 

So went and got it checked out at another lcoal shop and it is definitely my front right end link. They said Moog makes a replacement end link that is way better than stock so I am going to go with those.

 

So did this fix everything? Just curious cause I've got Swift Springs in my garage which I had installed by some dodgy shop and I got a clunking type of sound. Once I took them out and put the stock springs back on the clunk stopped.

I really dislike the stock ride height of these cars (4WD like). Thinking of taking the car to a proper suspension shop and getting them installed and wrapped to prevent coil binding. I just dont want a newish car having all these crap clunk noises.

Sorry to Hijack your thread.

 

My springs make a squeeky noise when turning the wheel when moving really slow or stopped. I thought it was just the spring rubbing on itself though where the silence rubber wasnt there am I right?

 

Yeah after I installed the new end links it all went away. If you push up on the sway bar when its sitting flat does it make the clunking sound? if so, its your endlinks

 

It made the noise from the first day I put them on so I think its the springs. Its not much of a clunck its more of a rubbing noise.

 

Good job! My keyword on this is the Sway bar! Just have to sway on the bar! When I changed my struts, I was noob back then and had to cut my endlinks. So I bought one from auto value for $22. Surprisingly, that link is still working fine!

 

Did you cut the bump stops when you installed the springs?

 

No I didnt. My two buddies with a Xs helped me install them and told me they didnt cut theirs so I didnt cut mine even though it said to in the tein directions.