I'm hearing and feeling a fair amount of rattling when I hit bumps, e.g. potholes, at moderate speed. I think it's gotten worse over time. I believe the sound is coming form the passenger side. I pulled the front wheels off and took these pictures this morning. I pulled the boots out of the way to make the pictures. The boots are shredded of course but the car has about 217,000 miles with the first 156,000 as NYC taxi. I've owned it 5 1/2 years. I don't have any experience with suspension components. Do these struts look ok? Suspected bad strut (passenger side) Driver side
That strut has minor oil at the shock body cap. If that is the only oil, I would say it is okay.....BUT 217K miles, it is time for shock/ strut replacement. As for your description of a rattle, I would be inclined to say your shocks are not the issue, unless the mounting bushings have failed. Additionally, in regard to shocks, there should be a large rubber grommet (bump joust) on the shaft at the top of the strut; if that failed I would expect a complaint of clunk rather than rattle. Good hunting.
I would say probably a good time to replace the struts and that lower control arm bushing. (I would get a polyurethane bushing replacement). The bump stop looks good/still intact, meaning the strut isn’t worn out (yet). They can disintegrate, presumably from the top of the strut body impacting them. I have seen that…
