This past weekend I replaced my front pads and rotors, hub assemblies, front stuts, and cleaned and adjusted the rear brakes. I can't say how much better the brakes feel now, night and day difference. The old hub assemblies felt pretty good but I believe they were contributing to the brake pulsation and they were easy to replace so I did those as well. The struts I used were the Monroe Quick Strut which replaces all of the parts on the strut and you can put them on in about 15 minutes once the wheel is off. They ride great but I have one issue with them, they make a little noise when turning the wheel at low speeds. Now this could be just because they are brand new and need to be broken in a little, has anyone else used these and noticed any noise? It really seems to be mainly the right one, the drivers is quiet. I checked the top strut nut already to make sure it was torqued at the factory and it was tight. All other bolts were torqued to factory specs.

 

Did you check the end links? How many miles on the HHR-check ball joints? What kind of noise-clunk, chatter, squeel, grind, scrape?

 

The end links and sway bar are a non-issue on my HHR, it's long since been removed. The ball joints, tie rod ends and control arm bushings are all in good shape. The noise is almost like a squeaking or rubbing sound. To me, it looks like the monroe struts have isolators on the bottom of the spring to stop metal to metal contact between the spring and strut and this may be where the noise is coming from. It only does it when you turn the wheel, say going into a parking space. There is no noise on bumps, railroad tracks, etc. There is also no noise if you are sitting still in park and turn the wheel back and forth. It has to be a turn of the wheel in combination with loading one side of the vehicle in motion. It's not a huge deal, especially considering the ease and cost of the quick struts compared to replacing all of the parts and having to compress the spring. Just wondering if anyone else had a similiar experience.

 

Oh, I forgot, I have 63,000 miles on my 06 2LT