I have recently installed H&R springs and STI (replica) strut bars on my 2002 WRX. Everything else is factory. For the first two months everything was fine. I took it as easy as I could, but there is major road constuction going on around me. So, to the point, within the last month I have been hearing a clunk while going over dips in the road. Kinda sounds like a loose shock. I do not hear it while (accidentally of course) hitting holes in the road. Pulling in and out of driveways, and like I said dips in the road. It sounds as if something is loose in the front and rear (hard to tell though). It is not horrible, but it annoys me much. Today I decided to take a look at the springs, etc. to see if anything was loose. I found that nothing was loose, but while taking off the front tires I noticed that it took many pumps on the jack to get the tire of the ground. I don't know if that is normal, I can not remember what the stock setup looked like prior, but I do not remember it taking that much. I did notice that the rear suspension lifted much quicker. I honestly do not remember it taking that much to get the tire off the ground. Could this be a blown shock? Would the wheel hang lower (while jacked up) if a shock was blown? I attached some pictures so that you can see what I am blabbing about. Can someone please help diagnose this prob. Thanks.

 

This is the pic I was refering to above. Thanks

 

Does it happen if you grab the fender and pull it up and down hard? How much travel does the shock have when you push down hard, and does it come back up hard and immediate, or sloppy and slow? (sounds like a skin flick ) Upgrading springs and not shocks puts major wear on your shocks, which aren't made to handle the excess stress that stiffer, lower springs put on them.

 

That is the strange thing. I can not repeat the noise when pulling or pushing on the car. The ride feels the same as when I first got the springs installed, but it seems like after the springs settled I started to hear the noise. It sounds like it is coming from the back of the car. It is happening more often than before. Now smaller bumps in the road are creating the noise. It really sounds as if it is a loose shock, but all has indicated that the shock is tight. If a strut was bad I would assume that the ride would change, but this is not the case. I am going to get in and check it out more in depth tomorrow, but I am still looking for help. Thanks to all that have given advice.

 

Hey boner, is your sway bar hitting something? Just a guess. After all, I would have had sway bar clearence issues had I gone lower than 40mm, remember? I dunno, maybe you Subbie folks have the same thing, just in back.