I am a two year owner of a 2007 S2000 and am not familiar technically speaking so please go easy on me. My issue is an going one that no one seems able to answer. About a 1.5 years ago I had rattling issues and took it to PepBoys. They said to replace the front two struts. They could not "order" parts as Honda didn't have them or make them. From their recommendation I ordered some aftermarket Konis that were shipped to me and had them installed. No rattles no problems after that.(Keep in mind just the struts were replaced nothing else in the assembly.)

Early this year same issue. PepBoys says rear struts need replacing. I got them fixed and no issues.

Now the last few weeks I hear rattling out of the front struts and I take it back in for inspection. PepBoys says it requires a strut mount. After they get the Monroe part they disassemble the housing and find this does not fit. Furthermore, the service manager says the front strut was missing a bushing. I am already $250 in the hole on labor and I have not come closer to any fixing this before and I dont seem to have any reliable transportation. My car is currently sitting in their bay in pieces. I dont know whether to have him put back together and take to Honda dealership, which he said could be a safety issue.

I understand this is a limited edition vehicle and parts have to be ordered. However, I find it frustrating to keep being without a vehicle each time this happens and am on the verge of selling this car.

I live in Dallas and the roads are horrible if anyone is familiar but I find that hard to be the sole reason. I am not driving over curbs, going off roading, or abusing it. I drive the car 6-7k miles a year and it only has 55k miles on it. The service manager suggested replacing the whole assembly up front (bushings, nuts, struts, coils, and all) to assure reliability, quality, continuity, etc. I would have assumed they would have just made me do that the first time. However, this is a new service manager then the one who suggested I do everything before up until today. I learned a lot about struts today for the first time in my life. However, I have more questions than answers now. Please help!

Options? Suggestions? Can anyone shed light on my situation? Are there any companies that sell right parts?

S.O.S.

 

PepBoys? That's your problem....

Not able to get parts from Honda? Bullshit. Honda makes and/or sells every part for the car.

http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/...SHOCK+ABSORBER

Take your money to a shop who is actually reputable and knows what they're doing and aren't just throwing cheap aftermarket parts at it. (not that there is anything wrong with konis)

 

I didn't even know Pep Boys worked on cars!! I thought they just sold shitty parts!!

 

I was a service writer for pep boys for 3 months and had only 1 honda ever in the shop for anything other than tires, oil, or brakes. Probably the reason honda didn't "have or make the parts" anymore was because they didn't have their credit card set up with honda to order parts, so that would require 30 seconds of more work to get things set up.

Just go honda yourself and order the parts you need. They can almost always get them by the next morning. Then just drop em off at pep boys and call it a day. You will save some money doing this yourself as they tax their markup as well.

 

Thanks it's just annoying to sink almost two grand now on Struts. I am/was starting to think the car has reliability issues. I'm a little skeptical but I'll take it to the Honda dealer on Monday. I am still concerned about the roads here in Dallas. I don't know if anyone else owns one and in lives in an urban area with poorly surfaced roads but it seems to give a beating to these kind of cars.

 

If you want to save money don't bring it to honda. Find a good tuner shop. They will most likely do as good of a job if not better for half the price.

 

sounds like you should get to know the local Honda S2000 community...

 

Strut mount as in isolator bushing/rose bushing? Or top hat? Those fools don't know what the hell they're talking about, if you replaced the dampers then all your old hardware should still be there, and those are metal reinforced bushings so it's not likely that they are bad. My guess is they did something wrong, or lost one of your isolator bushings. There is a metal collar that the shock shaft goes through, and if the isolator bushings are drilled out too much it won't be snug and can cause excess lateral loads on the shaft. If they didn't install it properly they basically owe you as they caused more damage than they fixed.

 

" About a 1.5 years ago I had rattling issues and took it to PepBoys. They said to replace the front two struts...


Early this year same issue. PepBoys says rear struts need replacing. I got them fixed and no issues. "


Hard to believe that the same rattling noise could be attributed to the front struts and the rear struts. I maybe a bit cynical, but it sounds like that they want to sell you shocks and the labor involved in R&R.

In any event, Pep Boys should find the real fault and be able to definitively tell you why the thing is rattling. Wholesale change-outs without finding the original fault is going to be very $$$. Did they replace the rubber suspension mount-support? Number 7 on the diagram. The rubber surround sometimes cracks or the included bearing can get noisy -> extra play and noise, esp with bumps.

Good luck!


http://www.corsportusa.com/store/cat...shasr00s2k.png

 

Clearly they do not know the vehicle well. I am going to have the dealership do a diagnosis first. I am going to forget every thing the guy and Pepboys has been telling me. Unfortunately I don't know of any import shops in my area and am I loathing of trying out someone "new" without any referral. As much as I hate dealers and at they charge, at least they can be pinned on any follow up or screw up. I paid what i got so to speak which is garbage. Thanks for all the diagrams and knowledge guys.