Just finished replacing both front struts. The noise is gone. When I pulled the struts out both had play, the passenger much more than the driverside. New BWIs in, they’re nice.
The job isn’t the easiest, but not the most difficult. Access to the top mount bolts are difficult, had to use my “good enough” torque spec for a couple of them (supposed to be 52 lb-ft for all 3). Also tightening the air line can get annoying.
I’m not going to beat on arnott too much, they were good struts while I had them. I wasn’t easy on them, I did a lot of off-roading with them, never really slowed down for dips or speed bumps (unless they were abnormally big). The air bags held up well, they didn’t leak but the failure that they had is certainly abnormal. It’s definitely a weak point for these struts because my drivers side was starting to develop the same issue. They rode great tho. In fact I’m struggling to say that I like the oem ride more… but that my take some time for me to fully analyze. At first glance tho I believe the arnotts were slightly stiffer but better at absorbing speed bumps and dips. The BWIs are definitely softer, noticeable more soft than the rears where the arnotts felt more similar to the rears. Still need time to undo the behavior of the BWIs.
Anyway here’s a video of the play in each strut vs the new BWIs.
