Strut housing internal rust

[AggieZ]

I took the struts out of the strut housings and found that a couple of them literally had rusty water in them. The walls of the struts on all 4 were rusted. I used a straight stick with a rag on the end to feel the walls of the strut housings and they are very rough. I have read that it is important when installing struts to put oil in the housing, as the oil dissipates the heat from the struts. I think its important to make sure that the oil evenly coats the struts when I put the new struts back in. I am sure I need to remove the rust from the inside of the strut housings. How would it be best to do this? Should I use naval jelly?

My idea is to use a drill with a long shaft with a sanding sponge attached to the end of the shaft to remove the rust and smooth the walls of the housing.

Thanks for any advise on this.

AggieZ

[Curtis240Z]

As long as the replacement strut goes in without restriction you can leave the rust. Since replacement struts are cartridges and not strut internals like the OEM units, the top nut does not keep water from entering the housing. So putting oil in the strut cavity would be a bad thing because water would settle on the bottom and rust would continue to grow. Koni recommends anti-freeze because it also dissapates heat and has anticorrosion properties which mixes with water.

[AggieZ]

Not the answer I expected. I am glad I asked.

Thanks for finding that out and for the info Curtis240Z. I'm impressed.