OK, I'm about to pull the trigger over at FCP Groton for some new front end parts. I still can't find the source of the metal on metal rattle, so I'm going to just replace as much as I can afford to replace and hope I get whatever the problem is.

Main question- the bushings for the control arms- are they pressed in? I can save a ton of money just buying the bushings, but I don't have a press..

 

Yes the bushings are pressed in.

 

OK, $500 later, I now have new rear shocks, and a full front end rebulid kit- control arms, ball joints, front struts, tie rod ends (outer) and sway bar links....now all I have to do is put them on!

 

Let us know how it goes.

 

Done with the front- what a beating that was. Shouldn't have been that hard, but found out along the way that the spring compressors have to be just a certain way, or they won't fit up into the strut tower. I probably compressed and re-compressed 15 times.....Other than that, it was pretty straightforward. Only thing is I still get vibration in the steering wheel like the tie rod ends are bad- but I just replaced them....the outers anyway. Now it's looking like I should have done the inners too..

The best news is that the rattling noise has stopped. I suspect it may have been the sway bar link on the driver's side, since the boot basically disintegrated when I removed it. Guess MAYBE I could have gotten away with just replacing those, but at 100K miles with original suspension, it was only a matter of time anyway.

So, I don't know what it costs labor wise to have somebody do what I did, but given that it took me about 16hrs total and I'm still not happy, it might be worth it.

 

why do novmax struts donot last on my 960>?

 

Tires or rims usually cause vibrations. Bad tie rods will just have some play in the steering.