[Howdy]

This is the DIY I put together for a couple of other forums. If it's considered a repeat of BMH-255's DIY feel free to delete this thread. I was in two minds if it should be posted.

1) The first step is to remove the strut from the car, then the top hat and spring from the strut. The instructions for this can be found elsewhere.


2) Locate 14mm nut on under side of strut and remove. This can be the hardest part of he job, if it will not remove because the piston of the damper is spinning try compressing the damper to put pressure on the piston. If the nut still can't be removed you will have to use a rattle gun.


3) Remove the damper from the strut.


4) Remove yellow grease from the bump stop.


5) Remove as much of the yellow grease as you can from inside the strut using a spatula or something log enough to get a fair way down the strut.
There is a 15mm gap between the seal at the top of the strut and a sleeve that is 30mm long. There is then a 80mm gap between the top sleeve and the bottom sleeve. You'll need something long enough to reach down the strut to a depth of 125mm.


6) Use your finger to remove yellow grease from between the seal and the top sleeve.




7) Use a rag or your wife's good kitchen wipes to remove the last of the grease, twisting as you push the rag into the strut.
You may have to do this step a number of times to remove all the grease.


Using Castrol LMM grease and the spatula shovel in the new grease between the seal and the two sleeves.
It is not too critical on the placement of the grease as the damper is used to evenly distribute the grease.
There is enough grease in a 500g container to do ~10 struts.


9) Carefully insert the damper back into the strut to evenly distribute the grease between the sleeves.
This step will need to be carried out a number of times until the desired amount of grease in evenly distributed.
Wipe excess grease from bump stop each time the damper is removed to check the distribution of the grease.


10) After the damper has been replaced for the final time refit the 14mm nut to the piston on the underside of the strut.
Make sure the flats on the bottom of the piston slot into the groove at the base of the strut before tightening the 14mm nut.


11) Clean up excess grease from around the seal.

12) Refit spring and top hat to strut and refit back into car.

[Scot]

So this is done on the standard MY05 WRX (non STI) strut?

My struts have been making a crunching noise for quite some time but i could never get a straight answer on whether the re-grease could be done on the MY05 wrx strut! Some people were telling me you could and others said you can't and could only do it on the STI!

[BMH]

Scot, on Oct 12 2008, 10:36 PM, said:

So this is done on the standard MY05 WRX (non STI) strut?

My struts have been making a crunching noise for quite some time but i could never get a straight answer on whether the re-grease could be done on the MY05 wrx strut! Some people were telling me you could and others said you can't and could only do it on the STI!

05 up ran the inverted struts in both wrx and sti. Its was only the earlier model rexies you couldnt do it to.

[Scot]

BMH-255, on Oct 12 2008, 09:46 PM, said:

05 up ran the inverted struts in both wrx and sti. Its was only the earlier model rexies you couldnt do it to.

Thanks for that i just had a few people including people from suspension places tell me it couldn't be done! Either they don't know what they are talking about or they wanted to sell me something!

[BMH]

Scot, on Oct 12 2008, 11:53 PM, said:

Thanks for that i just had a few people including people from suspension places tell me it couldn't be done! Either they don't know what they are talking about or they wanted to sell me something!

I would say, "It's a little from column a, and a little from column b"

[Grifter]

tip: when removing the top hats and springs, make sure you have some damn good spring compressors in place BEFORE you start loosening the top nut, and stand back when you undo it anyway (just for safety)

[Mikey]

You can definitely do them on the MY05 WRX

[jayare]

I successfully did the re-grease on my MY05 wagon with no troubles on the weekend - thanks Mikey!

If in doubt - although there shouldn't be - jack your car up and feel for the nut at the bottom of your struts. This will tell you if you can re-grease them or not.

Another thing is, Howdy's DIY looks like it was based on the MY05 struts - not the STI ones as they're black and not red.

[Asymmetry]

sweet DIY!

can you get new seals?

[SCO03Y]

wow - totally different to my03 ... now i know what inverted struts are ...
what u should have done was replace them with koni inserts