Struts fail after 6 months? Options

[Galcobar]

Well, your top photo isn't working, and the one I can see doesn't show the bottom spring seat, the gland nut, or the strut rod nut -- if any of those are set wrong wrong, you can easily account for unnecessary stress on your shocks. Nor can I see if you've got a good set of bumpstops in place.

However, it looks like you didn't replace your strut mounts if the rust is any indication, and your upper spring seat isolator is mis-aligned to the spring seat. I cannot determine if your spring seat and spring were correctly aligned on install since I'm looking at removed pieces.

I purchased my KYB GR-2 from jdmwerks13 as well, not had a problem with them on my Eibach Pro-kit.

[phokur]

Thanks for all the help, but I finally figured it out!
It seems when I tightened the nut to secure the strut cartridge in the canister it wasn't quite tight enough. Both sides eventually worked themselves loose and the strut was bumping up and down. So I tightened the crap out of them and the sound is completely gone!

[Galcobar]

That nut you left loose is the gland nut I mentioned.

[supaneko]

I hate to be a thread digger but after reading the posts within here, I am a little concerned about the combination of suspension parts I purchased to lower my ST hatchback.

I bought the 1.5" Eibach Sportlines as well as a set (front/rear) of KYB GR-2's. Before I ordered them, I was assured that these would be just fine. If I replace the strut mounts (is this actually necessary?) and replace the bumper stops (can I use the Toyota OEM's?), would that help to lessen the chance to blowing my struts?

[azian_advanced]

if your strut mounts and bump stops are fine, theres no need to replace them. so replacing them won't reduce the likeliness of your struts to blow.

[KAOS]

I hate to be a thread digger but after reading the posts within here, I am a little concerned about the combination of suspension parts I purchased to lower my ST hatchback.

I bought the 1.5" Eibach Sportlines as well as a set (front/rear) of KYB GR-2's. Before I ordered them, I was assured that these would be just fine. If I replace the strut mounts (is this actually necessary?) and replace the bumper stops (can I use the Toyota OEM's?), would that help to lessen the chance to blowing my struts?

If you're intention is to lower your car - replacing the bump stops won't help, you actually have to CUT them. There's four humps in a bump stop, and when I lowered my car I cut the lower two humps off. (the spring manufacturer actually recommends that you cut a bit off to allow strut travel)