Rear Strut Location?

[drock03]

I took a quick look at my rear struts last night in an effort to locate my annoying noise. I had the seats folded down in the back but didn't remove the black plastic cover behind the seats. I'm assuming this is how you get to the top of the rear struts??? Does anyone know for sure? Doesn't look like I can get access through the trunk but it was late, dark and rainy.

[drock03]

Never mind...found it on the board under "two questions"
Be better if topic was listed in Subject line. Its time consuming to click on all these vague subject headings

[captainpimp]

it seems to me the problems you have been complaining about are the same ones ive had. i just replaced springs, struts myself. i heard the noise before and after the strut install. i inspected the strut mounts, everything looked normal.
from what ive heard its supposed to be the mounts. no problem exists, it's just an annoying nuisance. anybody else comment, is that correct??

[drock03]

So do you hear a noise only in the rain or is it all the time? What about the strut mounts could cause this problem? Did replacing your rear suspension help at all?

[Strider327]

Either its a bearing or you didn't tighten up the middle bolt that holds the spring, boot, etc under it. Start there, if problem still exists then go to shop or something.

[captainpimp]

i usually here the rattling in the morning and it always coincides when the radio is off....
i torqued everything to spec and double checked it because i didnt want to tear the car apart again. also, i left the seat out for a week to go back and check the strut mount bolts again. they were fine.
the noise sounds the same before and after strut replacement.
also, i bought my car brand new, and its been making that noise for as long as i can remember. i put on rsb, struts, springs, rotors, and pads in the last few months. i checked everything i could think of on the old parts and around the car while working on it to determine where the noise came from. couldnt find it, car still rides fine...par for the course IMO.

[drock03]

did you replace the bearings too? I just went to the car wash and soaked my strut towers from the wheel wells and wal-la...noise is back. It sounds like bearing to me and I know this is a dealer item only. I hate to do it, but I may take the time to pop it out for an inspection. What do you think?

[captainpimp]

well, i inspected mine when i had it all out..seemed fine. i have no desire to pull the struts out again if its just a nuisance noise, which i believe. until i have a problem, if i have a problem, i will leave it as is.
are u replacing struts? replace the mounts if you want when you do the struts. i heard the mounts were just as much $ as the struts though. i didnt think about doing until i was mounting the rear tein/tokico assembly. too late by that time. plus, what if i still had the noise. wasted money then.
so, IMO dont do it. hope that helps.

[drock03]

I wasn't planning on replacing the struts just the bearings. The noise I'm hearing is pretty loud and annoying. I can hear it pretty clearly even over the radio. I may look into replacing the mounts, but before I buy anthing I need a close look at the top of the struts. Thanks for the info