"Percival P. Cassidy" wrote:

> > I can't believe that (a) you've never read or remembered any of
> > my previous posts regarding suspension on my '00 300m
>
> Sorry, but I don't recall reading your posts about replacing sway-
> bar bushings.

See below.

> In the meantime, however, I had bought new sway-bar bushings
> anyway (as being easier to replace, perhaps, than the inner
> tie-rod-end bushings, and because I could not detect play in
> the steering), but I haven't yet installed them.

Apparently, 300m with PHP had a front sway bar that was 1" in diameter,
while regular 300m the swaybar was something like 1/16" smaller. Hence
when you look up the part, you'll be asked if you had php.

Personally, I'd get the smaller bushing. It will take longer to develop
play because of a tighter fit. Will probably be half the price.

> I did look at the struts when I was under the car changing the oil
> a couple of days ago, and although the rubber pads at the bottom of
> the springs were a mess, the struts themselves didn't seem to be in
> bad shape.

Have a look at this:
http://www.crankshift.com/wp-content...rson-strut.jpg

See the round lower plate that is holding up the spring? Either from
the top or the bottom, look at how that plate is welded to the strut
tube. It's very common for that weld or the part of the plate around
the weld to break down due to rust.

> What struts did you buy?

Monroe quick struts. They come fully assembled with spring.

> There don't seem to be any aftermarket ones that are compatible
> with the Performance Handling Package, and I see recommendations
> to use the genuine MoPar ones.

A year or two ago I was reading a lot about this on a couple of the
chrysler / 300m web forums. I wasn't focusing on any differences
between regular and php, but honestly I think you'd be fine using the
regular struts. I *believe* there were discussions on those boards
about using the regular aftermarket struts on the php, but I don't
remember if there was a consensus that yes, the regular struts are ok
(from a size / fit pov).

What I do remember is that about a year or two prior to me buying my
first monroe quickstrut, there were many documented cases of these
struts either not being designed right or not being assembled correctly
at the factory. So a lot of people were down on them because of that.
I think there is something that is not quite right with the first one I
bought back in Dec. 2012.

Example:

-----------
After a lot of wasted time I finally found a couple posts for other cars
that had similar problems that came from Monroe not properly tightening
the top strut nut to anywhere close to 60ft/lbs. After fighting my way
to gain acess to the top nut I found that it must have just been put on
finger tight.

http://www.amazon.ca/Monroe-171957-Q.../dp/B000C55L0M
-----------


> How many miles on your '00 300M?

As of right now - 120k miles.


===============
Subject: '02 300M: When to replace struts?
Date: Sat, 11 May 2013 22:12:53 -0400
From: MoPar Man >
Newsgroups: rec.autos.makers.chrysler

"Percival P. Cassidy" wrote:

> 126K miles now. Is there any particular mileage at which it would
> be advisable to replace the struts? I'm not aware of any
> significant problems, but any deterioration would have been very
> gradual and probably not noticeable. Any way of testing?

I have replaced the two front struts and one rear strut on my '00 300m.
It has about 112k miles on it.

The rear strut was replaced because back in Dec. 2011 or Jan 2012 (I
forget exactly when) I hadn't yet put my snow tires on the back wheels,
and going down a slight hill with a slight bend I spun around and the
rear tire hit the curb flat-on and bent the rim (chrome Razor-Star
factory original) and bent the rear spindle down about 5 degrees. The
outer surface of the rim was deeply cracked for a few inches, but the
rim and tire remained air-tight. After the impact, that wheel continued
to turn true (no wobble) but the wheel/tire was riding on an angle
relative to true verticle (by about an inch at the top of the tire). I
continued to drive the car like that for almost a year (only
short-distance, inner city driving - nothing faster than 50 mph) until I
fixed it. It turns out that the bearing race had cracked, but the
cracked piece stayed put. I bought a new bearing, knuckle (with axle),
and quick strut. But I suspect that there was something wrong with that
strut before the impact.

To answer your question more directly...

One of my front struts failed some-what catastrophically this past Dec
24 - the day before a 100 mile highway drive to visit relatives. The
lower plate that the spring rides on had become detached from the
strut-tube due to rust, and the spring forced the plate into contact
with the steering arm and torsion-link arm located about 1 inch down the
tube. Those arms are very strong and prevented the plate from
contacting the tire (just barely). I bought a Monroe quick-strut that
day, and by 10 pm Dec 24 I had the new strut mounted and ready for the
drive the next morning.

About 2 months ago I replaced the other front strut because I noticed
that about half of the weld holding the lower plate to the strut tube
was basically gone - again due to rust.

So here's a picture of what a new strut looks like:

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxMjAw/z/yQ4AAOxyA4ZRPkAh/$T2eC16hHJIQE9qUHu0VFBRPk!gzQLQ~~60_12.JPG?set_id= 880000500F

The lower spring-seat is the round plate under the spring. It is welded
to the strut tube. That weld is what will rust away. It will be easier
to see that weld if you jack up the front of the car and slide the
corrogated protector tube up to get a clear view of the weld.

My 300m has some surface rust along the bottom edge of some of the
doors, but otherwise I wouldn't have thought that there could be any
place on or under the car that would be suffering rust dammage to that
extent that I saw on those struts.

I've already replaced the front sway-bar links once a few years ago, and
the front sway bar bushings. During all this work I replaced the front
sway-bar bushings a second time - and found the new set to be too loose
so I had to modify them to fit better. I also replaced the rear sway
bar bushings.

Since I still have a noticable knock in the front end, I'm going to
replace the lower control arms next, and the front tension-bar to frame
bushings while I'm at it.

At some point this year I'm also going to replace the front wheel
bearings, but those axle nuts are going to be a bitch to take off...