Tein + GR-2 woes... Options

[phokur]

Ok, so I finally made the plunge and picked up some KYB GR-2s and Tein S-techs since my rears went out. The installation was pretty smooth until I lowered the car. (I should add in I got strut cartridges for the front that just replaced the shock, the rears were full strut assemblies.) The car made very odd rubber-on-rubber sounding grinds and pops. I put it on the lift and watched the springs, they torqued with the top half rigid and the bottom half turning. I figured it must be the upper bearings so I put a healthy amount of axle grease on them and reassembled the struts. Then popping is much less now, but still noticeable going into and coming out of left turns. I know my driver front axle is bad, so I will be replacing that next; but I think the sound is strut related. Any ideas?

[phokur]

Hi there, thanks for the reply.

I've taken apart the strut 3 or 4 times to check the grooves. I also drop it to pop it in just incase it's close but not in. The only odd thing with the groove I noticed is the top where the spring contacts the top plate. The plate is obviously angled to take the spring at a certain direction, but the groove looks like it is at the oposite side of the plate than it needs to be... if that makes any sense. It's a very rubber on rubber noise, I'd compare it with new tires turning on clean cement while the car is stationary. Is there anything other than those bearings that could possibly need lube?