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I just replaced both front struts on my 2004 Accord V6 coupe (121k) as the right strut was leaking.
Now I have a slight popping/creak when turning the wheels (usually to the right) when the car is not moving or moving very slowly. It sounds and feels like its coming from the firewall area (rack and pinion?). I did not notice this sound before the struts were replaced (with MONROE Quick Struts).
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I have Never had good luck with any Monroe product.
That being said, if the old units were so weak that it,road too low, now that it’s up more then there may be other issues starting to show themselves.
Have you checked the tie rods and ball joints? The suspension arms?It sounds like you’re describing a ball joint noise. Honda can be bad for it. Since your 04 Accord should have a double wishbone suspension, the strut doesn’t actually turn with the hub. The hub is suspended between the control arms. With a friend carefully turning the wheel inside the car, if you stick a couple of fingers on any of the ball joints you should be able to feel the grinding. This has to be done on the ground with the suspension loaded. If it’s not the ball joints you can keep feeling around related components until you feel the popping or creaking. Try also the sway bar and related parts and the power steering system and related components. Other suspension bushings too. A mechanics stethoscope may help.
I just had the alignment checked about a month before I noticed the strut leak, so I would expect that any other suspension defects would have ben found then (?).
In my experience, Monroe shocks & struts are almost always garbage right out of the box. When they weren’t garbage out of the box, they were garbage within three months of installation.
That aside; if the noise showed up immediately after installation, make sure all your nuts & bolts were tightened first. And, make sure that you loosen ad retighten the control arm fasteners with the weight of the car on the ground depending on what you took apart. It’s possible that your control arm bushings are stressed at the moment and they’re trying to untwist themselves.
A month ago is long enough to consider the option that more parts have since gotten loose. Daily mileage, your typical road conditions, driving habits, & whatnot can all make good parts go bad rather fast. It’s possible that when you smacked on the knuckle to free the ball joint, you caught that ball joint on its last legs and did it in. You just gotta get the car back in the air and shake the steering & suspension down again.
A creaking ball joint does not automatically make it a bad ball joint. I’ve seen several where there is no play in them but they make noise. Especially on “non-serviceable” joint with no grease fittings, the lubricating material in them just dries up or is lost due to a ripped boot, etc.
It’s not a practice I’d recommend on a customer car or a new car, but for my older rolling jalopies, those sealed for life (short life) suspension joints get injected with a grease gun fitted with a syringe needle.
Sure, the needle punctures the rubber, but the rubber is kind of self sealing. Pump up the rubber seal until it swells a bit from the extra grease. But don’t blow the seal apart.
I started doing this years ago with no problems.
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