Yeah, they just replaced the struts, or at least that is what they told me.
I have to take my wife's 2.5rs in for a broken window this week, so I will ask the service manager for some details on the repair.
My car has actually made that strange groaning sound since very early in its life. I have just never been able to consistantly reproduce the sound untill lately. So i think that my stut or struts may have been defective from the start.