New struts for Focus ST - G-Street legal

My Focus was making an incessant clunking on the front left corner, and the mechanic says they recommend a new strut assembly for both sides.  Strut, spring, and bearing/mount, all new.

Gut checks first:  Would I really need to replace the springs?  Seems like not.  Would a ton of noise really just be coming from the strut mount/bearing?  Not from the strut itself?  Yes to replacing both sides (if I bought OEM)?

I'd like to do a little bit of an upgrade as long as I'm replacing parts.  What struts are the hot ticket for G-street on these cars?  Seems a bit limited in availability. 

I can get a Bilstein B8, though they say those are designed for use with lowering springs.

Koni makes a sport shock for the back end, and they offer a complete package with lowering springs.  But I don't see a factory replacement front strut.

What else?

I just did all four corners of our daughter's Focus SE, but we were going for cheapness and comfort.  I did stock in the rear and Sachs struts with the original springs and new upper mounts up front.  It made an amazing difference, but the originals were at 150k miles.

If you do the work yourself, get/make a strut spreader.  It worked so much better than hammering a screwdriver or chisel into the knuckle so that it would slip off.  I ovaled a 9mm Allen socket.

Definitely do both sides.  The new struts will probably change the ride height.  At least it did on ours.

Thanks, Joe.

I can't find a whole lot of options, so I'm just going to buy the Bilsteins from Rock Auto.

I'm going to reuse the springs.  No problems there.

Definitely do new mounts. It's more likely that that's the source of the noise than the strut itself. And if it's anything like the fiesta, a new lower spring pad (assuming it has one) is probably a good idea as well.

I would avoid loaded struts like the plague.  The springs are usually wildly off as far as rate and ride height are concerned.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

Good info, thanks.  I ordered new Bilstein B8's and new mounts/bearings.  I'm just going to reuse the springs unless there's damage.  Can't imagine there would be.

Got the struts in and I'm having a little confusion.  The Bilsteins didn't come with those fancy blue boots that I expected.  Just in case I ordered some KYB boots, but they clearly don't fit.

I can't seem to find the Bilstein version anywhere, and all the pics of the Focus application don't have them.  Am I missing something?  Are they not supposed to have boots?

The Sachs struts didn't come with boots, so I ordered the Sachs boots.  They do not lock onto the strut like the stock boots, but cover well enough.  In my case, the stock bellows weren't too bad at 150k miles and could have been reused in a pinch.  But that Focus has the DSP6 transmission, so I expect it to die next week.  Been thinking that for at least 3 years.

This is turning out to be way more confusing that I'd hoped.

Short story - the bump stops I bought don't fit the Bilstein shocks.  I've found out that OEM bump stops for the ST are exclusively for that model. 

I'm assuming/hoping that what I got was the regular ones from Rock Auto, and that some proper OEM ones will fit.  The Rock

Super frustrating...

Of course, there's also the option of upgrading the whole car - to an RS. ;)

jstein77 said:

Of course, there's also the option of upgrading the whole car - to an RS. ;)

Riiiiiiiight.  Let me ask the wife.

I did a bunch more digging, and it turns out the Bilstein B8 front shocks for the ST are an "upside-down" design and the bump stop is built in.  So no external stop required.

Fingers crossed...

TVR Scott said:

This is turning out to be way more confusing that I'd hoped.

Short story - the bump stops I bought don't fit the Bilstein shocks.  I've found out that OEM bump stops for the ST are exclusively for that model. 

I'm assuming/hoping that what I got was the regular ones from Rock Auto, and that some proper OEM ones will fit.  The Rock

Super frustrating...

Bilstien B8's are typically inverted in a strut application so a stock bump stop will not work, in fact those inverted struts will have the bump stops inside them integral to the strut. If your struts look like the pic below that is the case.

Edit: you figured it out while I was posting!

In reply to adam525i :

Thanks for chiming in with the verification!  I always appreciate getting a confirmation on this kind of thing.

I think my mechanic thinks I'm totally nuts.  This has been such a mess that I feel like he's ready to burn my phone number out of his system.

Well, my mechanic did indeed fire me - at least for these struts.  They feel like deleting the oem bump stop takes it away from the factory design.  They say they're not a race shop and they don't want to get into every variation that could walk in the door. It's fine.  I understand their point of view.

On the bright side, it wasn't making any horrible clunking noises on the way home.  If the clunk is gone, then so is the problem!

I don't know what to do next.  I'll have to think about it some more.