Part recommendations and repair advice?

Hello all,

The Alaskan winter has not been kind to my 2010 MS3, and the generally terrible road conditions up here don't really help much either. I've been chasing a clunk in my passenger front suspension for a few months now and narrowed it down to the shock, so I'm looking to do all 4 while I'm at it. That said, I need to maintain stock ride height because I already scrape as is. I bought the car with Bilstein's all around, but couldn't find a model number on them. I'd prefer to upgrade if possible, but most kits I've found seem to lower the car. Does anyone know of any kits that for sure do not drop the car at all?

Also,

I've been hearing a squeak on engine shutoff and when downshifting, as well as when the AC kicks on. I'm fairly certain it's a belt or pulley, but has anyone run into this issue?

Finally,

My driver's rear brakes have been clunking intermittently. The passenger side was doing the same thing last summer, but when I got the brakes apart nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, and the noise stopped after I put them back together. Has this happened to any of you all? I'd like to find a more permanent solution if possible.

 

Your only option for stock height is stock springs. Some people have put Mazda 5 springs on to lift the car if you wanted to do that

 

Shocks won't affect ride hide, but different shocks will feel different. If you are stock springs and just swap out shocks ride height won't change.

 

Bilstein has B6 series dampers for stock height cars and B8 series for cars on lowering springs. Everything is here on their site.

 

They sell lift kit adapters. Throw some General Grabber All Terrains on there and be good to go lol.



https://risingtuning.com/lift-kits/product-770

As for the AC it could be the compressor clutch catching. Have someone turn the AC on and off while you watch the compressor. It should disengage smoothly but if it's dragging you'll be able to see it stutter off or on.