Front End Clunks

[David Conner]

Blu,
What brand name are the struts?
I bet they are >not< Boge.
Are they KYB?
Maybe the shop didn't even specify the brand name.

KYB and maybe other brands are smaller diameter than the stock Boge.
Normally there is a very nice spacer supplied with the strut which must be
installed to keep the strut body from clunking around inside the housing.
If the spacer is left out you will get the low speed parking lot clunking
exactly as you describe.  Naturally it would begin right after strut
replacement.  I know about this from experience... bought a car with
clunking exactly as you describe... checked all sorts of things, finally
disassembled the strut altogether and found this little skinny tube
flopping around inside the housing.  I fabricated a spacer out of thick
sheet stock and jammed it in the gap.  This solved the problem.  In your
case I guess you'll be taking it back to the shop that did the work.  It
was interesting to review the service records from the car I had.  First
there was a receipt for the strut replacement, then a series of visits with
customer complains of clunking noise.  All sorts of other work was done
(and paid for) chasing the clunking noise but the struts were never checked!

Fixing this problem may take care of the braking clunk, but I don't know.

Please let us know what you find.

As far as their  performance, I thought the KYB were a poor substitute for
Boge.

Dave C.