2nd failed strut mount RF

[marco7]

Okay, the first strut mount was oem new along with some new seats, bearings, insulators, coils and struts(the struts were actually ac/delco from rockauto, the rest was from gm dealer parts counter.

So far the right strut mount has failed on just normal potholes, nothing too deep, just a hard hit that seems to leave other vehicles unaffected.

Tires are new, michelins primacy mxvs...no complaints with them.

I am taking it in this week to the dealer since the last time they were the ones who installed their oem mounts.

I am wondering if:

1. The rockauto struts are faulty, causing this to reoccur?

2. The dealer's oem new coil springs for my car may have been for the wrong year.

Or are they just faulty parts that have been sitting on the shelf too long?

I did all this because the car had always ridden a little rougher than expected for a caddy with 19k on the clock

(which is what it had when I bought it.) I once rented the same model(base 04) back in 2004 and it drove 1,000X better than my caddy drives. I drove that rental for 2 weeks, and put about 2500 miles on it.

That's the reason I bought my 2000 base, to get that same ride.

[hjb981]

Hi Marco7, I think that it would help if you described more in detail how the strut mounts failed. In other words, what are the symptoms? When you say mounts, I think of the part that bolts to the frame of the car - do those ever break? But I may be wrong, and there are people on this board that are much more knowledgeable than I who may have better answers. Anyway, if the dealer did the work for you the last time, don't you have warranty on it then (but maybe that's tricky with the struts not being sold by the dealer - I am surprised that they even worked with those parts)? Since the dealer did the work, I assume that the car was aligned afterward (if not, that should be done).

/Jonas

[BodybyFisher]

Okay, the first strut mount was oem new along with some new seats, bearings, insulators, coils and struts(the struts were actually ac/delco from rockauto, the rest was from gm dealer parts counter.

So far the right strut mount has failed on just normal potholes, nothing too deep, just a hard hit that seems to leave other vehicles unaffected.

Tires are new, michelins primacy mxvs...no complaints with them.

I am taking it in this week to the dealer since the last time they were the ones who installed their oem mounts.

I am wondering if:

1. The rockauto struts are faulty, causing this to reoccur?

2. The dealer's oem new coil springs for my car may have been for the wrong year.

Or are they just faulty parts that have been sitting on the shelf too long?

I did all this because the car had always ridden a little rougher than expected for a caddy with 19k on the clock

(which is what it had when I bought it.) I once rented the same model(base 04) back in 2004 and it drove 1,000X better than my caddy drives. I drove that rental for 2 weeks, and put about 2500 miles on it.

That's the reason I bought my 2000 base, to get that same ride.

This is a very confusing post

What is your complaint? What are the symptoms? What makes you think the strut mount is bad?, again... How long ago/how many miles ago did the dealer install the strut mount? Was the ROCKAUTO strut installed at the same time?

Who installed the ROCKAUTO strut?, the dealer? Was an alignment done at that time? Was the strut installed correctly at that time, there is a VERY specific alignment of the strut, strut mount and spring that MUST be performed, who assembled the strut assembly? If the strut assembly was assembled wrong, it will stress the strut and damage it and the mount.

Different cars even the same year cars ride differently, ask TexasJim. Plus how do you expect to RENT a car and compare it to a car that you purchased. What kind of tires did the rental car have on it? What was the rental car's tire pressure? What kind of roads did you drive the rental car on? Did the cars have the same suspension? You can not compare cars this way

What makes you think that the coil spring is the wrong part number or for the wrong year?

Explain what you mean by "had always ridden a little rougher"

Try not to COMPLAIN here, try to provide FACTS and DETAILS. Struts are like Shock Absorbers, to me, they only last about 60,000 miles and they are toast, period and that is being kind. Strut mounts to me are worn out more quickly by turning the wheels, do you parallel park often, that is the type of back and forth steering that would more quickly wear the mount out.

However, as I said, if the strut, strut mount and spring were not propertly aligned it will put stress in the assembly and wear out quicker

[marco7]

Okay, the first strut mount was oem new along with some new seats, bearings, insulators, coils and struts(the struts were actually ac/delco from rockauto, the rest was from gm dealer parts counter.

So far the right strut mount has failed on just normal potholes, nothing too deep, just a hard hit that seems to leave other vehicles unaffected.

Tires are new, michelins primacy mxvs...no complaints with them.

I am taking it in this week to the dealer since the last time they were the ones who installed their oem mounts.

I am wondering if:

1. The rockauto struts are faulty, causing this to reoccur?

2. The dealer's oem new coil springs for my car may have been for the wrong year.

Or are they just faulty parts that have been sitting on the shelf too long?

I did all this because the car had always ridden a little rougher than expected for a caddy with 19k on the clock

(which is what it had when I bought it.) I once rented the same model(base 04) back in 2004 and it drove 1,000X better than my caddy drives. I drove that rental for 2 weeks, and put about 2500 miles on it.

That's the reason I bought my 2000 base, to get that same ride.

This is a very confusing post

What is your complaint? What are the symptoms? What makes you think the strut mount is bad?, again... How long ago/how many miles ago did the dealer install the strut mount? Was the ROCKAUTO strut installed at the same time?

Who installed the ROCKAUTO strut?, the dealer? Was an alignment done at that time? Was the strut installed correctly at that time, there is a VERY specific alignment of the strut, strut mount and spring that MUST be performed, who assembled the strut assembly? If the strut assembly was assembled wrong, it will stress the strut and damage it and the mount.

Different cars even the same year cars ride differently, ask TexasJim. Plus how do you expect to RENT a car and compare it to a car that you purchased. What kind of tires did the rental car have on it? What was the rental car's tire pressure? What kind of roads did you drive the rental car on? Did the cars have the same suspension? You can not compare cars this way

What makes you think that the coil spring is the wrong part number or for the wrong year?

Explain what you mean by "had always ridden a little rougher"

Try not to COMPLAIN here, try to provide FACTS and DETAILS. Struts are like Shock Absorbers, to me, they only last about 60,000 miles and they are toast, period and that is being kind. Strut mounts to me are worn out more quickly by turning the wheels, do you parallel park often, that is the type of back and forth steering that would more quickly wear the mount out.

However, as I said, if the strut, strut mount and spring were not propertly aligned it will put stress in the assembly and wear out quicker

Allright, sorry for any confusion.

I originally bought all the parts from the dealer with the exception of the (FE1, soft) struts which I bought online at rockauto.

I install everything myself and the car drives much tighter and after an alignment very smoothly. However, it is still NOT the cushy ride that i remembered from that '05 rental. That car was smooth like glass, nothing really jarred it even deep potholes around NYC.

So before I went buying new parts to regain that ride I first did some investigating, it appears that some of the front suspension parts on the 2000 base deville were changed over in the 2001/02 model year. I believe the control arms were changed asa well as some other parts like tie rod ends.

I did not replace the control arms just the springs, seats, bearings, insulators, struts, and strut mounts.

I did initially buy the strut mounts (ac/delco) from rockauto, when I received them I was surprised to see that the quality appeared to be much different than what was coming off the car. The strut mount from ac delco(rockauto) came with a hard rubber surface that mates to the underside of the car's strut tower. The original oem part coming off the car had a nice cork materialas a mating suurface. With the acdelco mount you also get the strut mount bearing included. The ac delco strut mount was made in China, when I went to the dealer parts counter the strut mount had the cork liner and was mad in Portugal.

So I went with all OEM stuff except for the struts, since the box that i saw at the dealer's parts counter said made in Mexico on it, just like the acdelco struts I rec'd from rockauto.

I installed everything, torque'd to spec. I then had it aligned at NTB. For the first several weeks everything was fine, but it was nothing like that '04 I rented. I had hoped that maybe the new oem springs (that the dealer cross referenced) were just too new to give that cush ride, some miles would have to be put on to see a change.

That never happened. Instead, I have been having the RF strut mount fail. The top of the strut rod goes through the middle of the strut mount and is tightened to spec. On my car, the rubber core surrounding the strut rod will crack and then fail by allowing the strut top with nut to extend upward(about 1.5 inches), hitting the bottom of the hood when you drive over any small imperfection in the road.

Not sure the reason for the failures. I was surprised to see that both new strut rods had very light resistance to them...I could easily push the rod down into the cylinder with 2 fingers, but there was some paperwork in the box stating that this is by design.

I believe the OEM bearing was reused, so it may be the culprit.

thanks.

[hjb981]

Maybe the '04 had road sensing suspension. That should make a difference in ride quality. Or maybe it had standard wheels, while yours have larger rims with low profile tires (of course I don't know if you do - just an idea if you do), making the ride rougher. But then again, that does not explain why the mounts fail, and maybe the difference in ride is related to whatever makes the mounts fail.

[marco7]

This week i took it into the dealer(a chevy dlr) and they once again honored the warranty on the strut mount and its bearing, since i had receipts for the 2 parts from the parts counter.

But they also stated the rf strut assembly was faulty, so it had to go.

Problem is i bought those from rockauto so i asked for the old part back which they obliged me.

The bill for the strut part was something like $249 and labor was $200. Ouch.

I called Rockauto and they said that they would have sent a new replacement part out for the repair had they known, great but i needed to be getting on down the road that day.

The RA guy said he'd try and get acdelco to refund the price I paid($150) or at the very least have another strut sent to me.

I could ebay it to recoup some of my costs.

It's driving fine now, maybe a little too much air in those tires, they always seem to over-fill the tires making them firm.

I 'll check it out tomorrow before I leave.

thanks for the posts from hjb and BbF!

[BodybyFisher]

I am not sure what the dealer replaced for $249 in parts but and AC DELCO strut mount at rockauto is $60

I dont know of any strut that is $150 for these cars, is this a standard suspension because rockauto has an FE3 strut for $600

MAYBE that is the reason why you felt a difference between this car and the rental, maybe the rental had an FE3 suspension, someone suggested that above

[marco7]

I am not sure what the dealer replaced for $249 in parts but and AC DELCO strut mount at rockauto is $60

I dont know of any strut that is $150 for these cars, is this a standard suspension because rockauto has an FE3 strut for $600

MAYBE that is the reason why you felt a difference between this car and the rental, maybe the rental had an FE3 suspension, someone suggested that above

The strut ASSEMBLY was replaced by dealer for $249 as I stated above.

The rented Deville was a base deville. My wheels are the same 16" rim size as the '04.

"ACDelco" and what you get from the dealer parts counter(acdelco) differs in quality, at least that's been my experience to date.

New problem though, RF control arms creaks and moans like a banshee.

Ordered an oem replacement, if that helps the ride quality I'll on that side I'll replace the LF as well.

Also the RR oem replacement shock is seizing up on me. Cadillac/GM doesn't even offer the original rear shocks anymore. Instead they're a rebadged gabriel hijacker set.

Besides the suspension issues, this car has way too many problems at 89K miles.

Love the looks, acceleration and the roominess of the vehicle, but it has been the most problematic car I've owned.

Can't even get it inspected due to TCC solenoid fault triggering the CEL.

Service Security warning on the dash about 50% of the time.

[BodybyFisher]

Its not just a mileage thing, its also a time thing, the car is now 11 model years old.

Many smart owners watch repair costs and when the annual cost of repairs rises to the monthly cost of a new car, its time to trade it in

Its probably time to sell if you don't do your own work. DIYers can afford to keep these cars as they can mitigate some of the repair costs, if you must take them in for repairs, it can be too expensive.

[marco7]

Its not just a mileage thing, its also a time thing, the car is now 11 model years old.

Many smart owners watch repair costs and when the annual cost of repairs rises to the monthly cost of a new car, its time to trade it in

Its probably time to sell if you don't do your own work. DIYers can afford to keep these cars as they can mitigate some of the repair costs, if you must take them in for repairs, it can be too expensive.

Good point, I often forget that since the body style is still fresh.

[BodybyFisher]

I was thinking about your problem last night and wanted to say more.

At 83K miles you have only done 8300 miles per year on average and possibly less depending upon when the car was put into service.

If you have not owned it since it was new it is possible that it has more than 83K miles on it, my neighbor manages to have her odometer turned back all the time, not saying that happened but its possible. Also if you do not know the history, it could have been abused at a young age.

The problem with age is that rubber dries and cracks, grease dries up and no longer lubricates, etc.

Not driving the car a lot also creates problems.

If you want to attempt to do some of this work yourself, let us know, we can help. Where are you located?