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Me clunk too. I just did this last week.
But I can tell you for certain that if you put whatever struts in the tube and screw down the gland nut (the big goofy one pressing the body of the strut itself and holding it into the strut tube assembly), and you have ANY amount of threads showing (which most setups will) after tightening it down...then you DON"T need the spacers. That should be the good news as doing that removal again would be a bummer.
I found my Bilstein Touring struts had a slightly longer piston flange than my stock struts. When the piston came up through the new upper strut mounts I needed to add a 5/8" ID x 7/8" OD washer (a pain to find, I made some) in between the strut mount bearing and the strut nut so it pressed and locked down on the bearing.
There is no certain # of threads you need exposed on top. Toss that concept away. You need the nut to have enough threads on the piston to lock down onto the bearing, and not hang up one or two threads short or on the outside edge of the bearing. Does that make sense? Tighten the nut to 15 pounds.
And I'm not saying this is even your problem, but this seems to be a typical issue, so it's worth a look. This was my experience and solutions are documented in a few other places on the board.
Keep in mind too, that new struts mean increased stresses on other suspension parts that might be making more noise now as a result. Suspect everything-- ball joints, tie rod inners and outers, wheel bearings---and test it all out.
Hopefully some of the other guys who've done a few strut replacements on a 200 car can chime in their obstacles too.
I kind of doubt its the sway bar unless you see metal touching other metal.
Good luck!
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