STRUT RUB
 

Anyone had this problem?

How did you come to notice it was a problem?

Was it a rubbing sound when wheel was cut a certain way, driving or inspected?
Thanks.

I had strut rub on my '05 (stock 17" rims) and fixed it with an alignment. I inspected the car myself after seeing many "strut rub" threads on LS1GTO.com. I didn't have the severe inner tire wear that some have had. My tires actually looked brand new, but the struts were worn down to bare metal in a couple of spots. If your car has under 10K then GM should cover it under warranty. Be sure to have them push the camber to the max positive end of the spec, then you should have at least 1/4" clearance and no rubbing. Following my alignment I repainted the worn areas and have seen no evidence of rubbing...that was almost 15K miles ago.

Thanks Jeff.

I am going to have it taken in for a look see Monday. I cant get on the ground easily anymore and know its rubbing, so I'll let the dealer fix it.

Ive got a few more trim/body pieces that keep falling off, messing up.

Second time having small trim parts replaced/fixed.

My trunk lock LATCH BAR screw keeps coming loose and getting off center and trunk will not open.
Ive tightened it twice, and not stripped.

I still love her though, lol. A fun car to drive.

What I know about strut rub and premature tire wear.....
 

I stole this from a reply I made in the Lobby about strut rub:

There are 2 issues that affect the 2004-2006 GTO front ends....

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The reason there is strut rub and tire wear on the new GTO s is a combination of reasons:

1. GM fitted the car with 245 tires instead of 235 that Holden used causing really tight clearance between the inner side wall and the strut casing (less than 1/4 of an inch) when everything was tight and in correct relation to all the other parts it wasn't a problem.
2. The boat ride was with the cars tied down and spacers in the front springs thereby eliminating any give to the suspension and the only give there was, was the rubber upper strut bushings and they were hammered out and compressed. In 2004 the cars were also shipped on convoys to the dealers with the suspension locked with the spacers intact. This also caused upper strut bearing failure in some cases. Some time in 2005 (not sure of exactly when), the spacers were removed after the boat trip and were not shipped to the dealers on convoys eliminating some of the suspension failure but not all of it. The rubber parts were already compressed and allowed the top of the strut to move about and cause a sidewall strut interferance issue along with alignment issues. Most times there is only a slight polishing of the strut by the inner sidewall. In extreme instances the suspension would move enough to cause the tire to contact the weld on the strut and would cause a sidewall failure. This was only in the worst case scenario and didn't affect very many units.
3.There is also a fluid filled strut isolator bushing on the front lower strut locating arm attached to the lower control arm. In some cases the fluid leaks out and the allows the lower control arm to move to the rear upon braking and also causes toe out when under hard braking (the reason there is premature wear on the inner tread). When aligned statically the car would fall within specs but going down the road the suspension would be moving all over and causing premature tire wear. I have done alot of research on the subject, as my own car was affected by these 2 maladies and had a real fight with Pontiac over them. I finally did get the problem fixed under warranty and also received a extended warranty on all front end parts from Pontiac for all the aggrivation incured. Anyone wanting to check these 2 issues themselves can do it in about 10 minutes without any special tools or skills.
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Thanks,

I searched after I posted and read it. Ive been reading some on LS2 also, hoping to understand the problem so I am prepared if the dealer claim's its no problem.

Great post.

You wonder why they didn't just tweak the wheel offset 1/4". Mine had it and a camber adjustment fixed it.

I was a t the local GM dealership and a guy was there with an 06 GTO that had torn the front tire to shreds... He said it was the third time it had happened and he didn't trust driving the car to Muskogee from where we were and that is only 35 miles away! I would be raising hell if I had a new car that I couldn't trust to drive to the next town over :(

After taking mine back to dealer they "found" the inner fender was miss alinged and fixed it.
Had a new lock put in as well, short fixed in acc. socket, light in trunk replaced.
Last time in, replaced ac vent assembly on door, door lock on pass side and t/c switch.

All this started under 5K miles. Hope they got it all fixed.

I will be driving it to OC cruise in Maryland from NC but these struts will be in the back of my mind.

Still a blast to drive! :D

I have some staggered size BFG Z rated G force for sale for this reason.
Still have the t*ts on them.

I have had no problems with my 05 m6 and it has 35000 on it now , the last owner raced the crap out it and me and my wife drive it like we stole it ! we are very happy with it !

my 04 has never had a problem with stock or aftermarket rims using stock BFG tires.

Although my 2004 made it to 36K miles with the stock tires, there was bad strut rub. Per LS1GTO.com threads, I checked the strut mount bushings and they were collapsed. I replaced them with Pedders strut bushings and also put in Lovells front radius rod bushings as the originals are known to leak. I had it realigned and put on Bridgestone Pontenza RE-01Rs. 1000 miles latter, so far no rub. And it rides and handles great !

FYI...for anyone who doesn't know this,

According to my Service Tech......

Many dealers are having a difficult time obtaining certain parts for the new age GTO's. Pontiac has authorized dealers to use after market parts as replacement parts for parts that will take some time to arrive.

Case in point: A local GTO owner had strut problems and the struts were not to arrive for some time maybe a month or more......the dealer installed Pedders on this lucky guy's GTO as a warranted item. Tie Rod ends is an example of difficult parts to obtain.

If any dealer states you have to wait some time for parts, check into this.

Thanks for the info on the parts situation.

I drove mine from NC to Ocean City MD for the cruise and it was AOK.

Saw quite a few new GTOs up there.

I have some bad tire roar with original tires, espically in rear. Kind of loud on highway.

She will roll at 85 mph like 65, a very friendly ride.

If you are having road noise in the rear even after the tires are rotated maybe it's a loud rear? There have been rear end whine problems with these. The rear end gear oil needs to have a friction modifier added to it. Some rear ends have had premature gear oil "wear out" where the viscosity has broken down and the oil has had to be replaced. A loud rear can give the impression of road noise.

Thanks for that info, I will have to look into it.

Car has low miles and I had it serviced again prior to this trip to fix some parts that had fallen off or broken.

Seems louder now.

Is this info on the rear oil modifer in the Pontiac dealer system or coming from the owner community?

The Friction Modifier is a required additive. I believe it's only an once or so. You can only get it through Pontiac I believe as it has it's own part number.

Here is a link to Rear End Clunking I made sticky in the GTO Forum.
http://www.gtoforum.com/f3/growling-...ng-rear-14102/

You may not experience rear end clunking but if you have a noisy rear the oil may be breaking down. My rear was changed out at 9K miles and the new rear which had only about 8 or 9K if I recall had to have new oil added.

I used to work for Dana and I can tell you Dana did not use the best oils unless a specified oil was requested by their customer.