mookie

Thank you so much for the info. I'll bore you with the details. I have a '98 ES300 with 235,000 highway miles on it. It started as a rattle in the front end, especially on rough roads and more pronounced in colder weather. I mentioned it to my mechanic (whom I trust), and after road testing the car suggested new struts ($500). I declined, but over time the rattle turned into a loud clunking noise. I had the car back to the mechanic to balance the tires, described the noise, and even showed him a printout of this thread. He told me he didn't think the fix would work, because the struts were hitting "metal on metal", and no amount of lubrication would work. I again declined the new struts, and decided to fix it myself. I followed the instructions in the first post, and took it a step further by cleaning and lubricating the bump stops on the strut (inside the boot). Problem completely solved for about $4 and 30 minutes of my time.