Suspension Noise in Cold Weather
 

Last winter the front right suspension started making a "knocking" noise every time I'd go over a rolling bump. I said I'd wait until the weather got nicer to take a look. However, when the weather did get warmer, the noise went away and somehow I forgot about the issue. Now that cold mornings are upon us, the noise is back. So yes, whatever it is it's tied to the temp and because of that I'm thinking it's something rubbery/plastic-y. Dealer replaced sway bar bushings last fall, so I'm guessing that can't be it.

Thoughts???

The two obvious items would be control arm bushings or a strut mount...I would start with checking for excessive play in the control arm bushings...also look for cracks in the bushing. Just my .02

You know I think you might have nailed it with the strut mount because like I said, the noise is only noticeable over light rolling bumps when the strut is working, and like I said, the sway bar bushings were replaced.

Strut mounts are relatively cheap, so I'm willing to take a chance and replace them myself to see if that takes care of it. With that said though, how easy is it? I don't have to take the entire spring/strut assembly out, or do I? Is it going to require an alignment afterwards too?

i had my strut mount replaced yesterday but a small garage that i thought might not have an idea about the whole thing but at the end of the day it solved the problem that i have been battling with for 8months. i have even placed an order for lower front control arm. Now am enjoying the cat more than ever.
again you dont need to remove the whole strut and NO u dont need to do alignment afterwards. Good luck

Great. As long a I don't need to compress/decompress the strut to do this I'm in. I'd rather take my chances with Russian Roulette than compressing the spring at home.

I've placed the order from JPLV, tackle it next week.

Unfortunately I can't see how you'd change the mount without first compressing the spring...it's not that bad if you have air... just out of curiosity what are your concerns with compressing the spring yourself?

After getting the part and looking at it closely, yeah, I need to take off the strut assembly and compress the springs.

It's not that I don't know how to do it, I just have this bloody fear that my manual compressor set will fail somehow. But, I got the parts and I'm not going to pay someone $200+ to install $60 worth of parts that I don't even know are 100% the culprit, so I'll be tackling the job myself.

Should I be changing the strut bearings while at it as well?

Yep!...if you're going through the trouble you might as well...now, I just ordered the parts through Auto Parts Warehouse and for 35$ dollars each they claim that they come with the bearings as well...I guess we'll see if that's true or not in a couple of days...the Jag dealer wanted almost a hundred for each side.

http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/im...1890450OES.JPG
OES Genuine Shock and Strut Mount 2002-2007 Jaguar X-Type Part #: W0133-1890450 In stock

Through JPLV I'm looking at around $150 total with shipping for mounts and bearings (still need to get bearings). Wish I had known to check APW. In any regard, please update us on whether you got the bearings with the mount once you get them.

Will do...hey what does JPLV stand for?

Jaguar Porsche of Las Vegas (or Gaudin Jaguar). Only get my parts through them, great prices matched with great service.

Very nice...thanks for the clarification...I received the parts yesterday and they did not come with the bearings...although they were genuine Jag parts...so I guess I'll see about getting the bearings.

Thanks for the update. Guess I'll be ordering the bearings as well. If I'm already taking this apart and spending a whole lot of money, might the bumpers need replacing or is that something that doesn't go bad?

Like I said, JPLV is great, Mark at parts is a pleasure to deal with even from 2500 miles away.

Direct JPLV Porsche Parts.com