Design Change to Strut Assemblies

Important: The new strut assemblies will be referred to as the second design strut assembles in this bulletin. The previous design of the strut assemblies will be referred to as the first design.

Second design front and rear suspension strut assemblies were phased into production for all vehicles built after and including VIN XZ194236. Second design strut assemblies are built with a strut damper that has a black molded polymer bumper stop. The first design strut assemblies were built with a strut damper that has a gray steel bumper stop. The bumper stop is located at the top of the strut body tube. Second design strut assemblies are interchangeable with first design strut assemblies and will back service all 1991-1999 vehicles.

Important: When servicing 1991 - 1999 model year vehicles that were built before and including VIN XZ136280 with a second design strut damper, the dust boot assembly must be replaced. Failure to replace the dust boot assembly may result in a clicking noise from the strut assembly. A new dust boot may be ordered separately, but is also available in the strut bearing support assembly.

Second design strut assemblies require a second design dust boot assembly. The second design dust boot will back service vehicles originally equipped with the first design dust boot. However, when installing a second design strut assembly on a vehicle originally equipped with a first design strut assembly, the second design dust boot must also be installed. All vehicles built after and including VIN XZ136281 were built with the second design dust boot assembly. A visual comparison between the first and second design strut assembly dust boot will not reveal any significant differences. The second design strut assembly dust boot has four shortened retainer notches that are at the bottom of the dust boot assembly.