SuperDave

Maybe this may help someone…. I have had a front suspension rattle on my 2011 R/T for years. Tried everything, new struts, sway bar bushings, sway bar stabilizer links (twice, which seemed to help every time initially) and also replaced the lower control arms (that was not a waste of money as they were worn out). Vehicle has 230000 km on it so it doesn’t owe me much but the rattle on rough roads was driving me crazy. Sounds like a strut was broken etc. Most of the work was done at different local mechanics but this week i decided to do the work myself and figure out the problem once and for all. I looked over all the bodywork, fender panels, adding new fasteners and push pins everywhere as they were worn out. Didn’t help. Finally decided to replace the stabilizer sway bar links one more time as they’re inexpensive and it seemed to help initially before but only for a day or two. What i discovered was the strut and the stabilizer cross bar holes to mount the sway bar links are oversized. i inspected the old sway bar links and there was wear on the threads even though they we’re crazy torqued down. The hole on the strut that receives the sway bar link also showed some sign of wear and elongation. Poor manufacturing standards. I was able to fabricate a shim/washer that took up most of the excess slack from the oversized holes and installed the new sway bar links. The car has never been so quiet since.

Maybe a one off thing but when I turned back the rear calipers it also caused air to enter the abs system giving me a fault and the abs brakes would engage with medium braking. So I ended up bleeding that the abs system as well in the rear. The abs is electronic but tied into a vacuum line system which ended up producing the fault. If ur brakes are severely worn I would recommend opening the bleed port to relieve excess pressure before resetting the calipers.

I took it into my local budget brake and muffler. It turned out to be the master cylinder. I guess it didn't like the fluid pushback. He also mentioned the problems he's seen with the journeys brakes. Definitely helping keep him in business! When I do the larger disc upgrade I will do all four at once

Great post frog box! I did my fronts a month ago and wanted to do the upgrade but I had trouble sourcing the parts used from the wrecker so in the end I just ended up replacing the fronts with aftermarket better quality parts. I regret not doing the upgrade though as brake performance isn't much better and I'll probably be faced with warped rotors again in 12 months or so..... Anyways I thought my brake problems were over for at least a while when this week I took a look at the rears and they're literally down to the metal! I have a 2011 R/T with 75k on it. I can't remember the last time I've replaced rear brakes on any vehicle. Poor design all around. I now have an interesting problem. I wound in the rear brake pistons and replaced the rotors and pads but I now have a soft brake pedal. I bled the brakes but it's still there. Really spongy and I can brake right to the floor. I'm thinking that when I wound the pistons back in the brake fluid pushing back up through the master cylinder may have damaged it somehow?? Has anyone experienced this?? Thx