diff --git a/test/instrumentation/main.go b/test/instrumentation/main.go
index f28a0bda6fb..c8027679719 100644
--- a/test/instrumentation/main.go
+++ b/test/instrumentation/main.go
@@ -37,16 +37,14 @@ const (
 	// Should equal to final directory name of kubeMetricImportPath
 	kubeMetricsDefaultImportName = "metrics"
 
-	kubeURLRoot = "k8s.io/kubernetes"
+	kubeURLRoot = "k8s.io/kubernetes/"
 )
 
 var (
 	// env configs
-	GOROOT string = os.Getenv("GOROOT")
-	GOOS string = os.Getenv("GOOS")
+	GOROOT    string = os.Getenv("GOROOT")
+	GOOS      string = os.Getenv("GOOS")
 	KUBE_ROOT string = os.Getenv("KUBE_ROOT")
-
-	kubeRootDeSuffixed string = kubeRootDesuffix(KUBE_ROOT)
 )
 
 func main() {
@@ -191,16 +189,13 @@ func globalVariableDeclarations(tree *ast.File) map[string]ast.Expr {
 	return consts
 }
 
-func kubeRootDesuffix(kubeRoot string) string {
-	return strings.Replace(kubeRoot, kubeURLRoot, "", 1) // k8s/k8s refs need this stripped
-}
-
 func localImportPath(importExpr string) (string, error) {
 	// parse directory path
 	pathPrefix := "unknown"
 	if strings.Contains(importExpr, kubeURLRoot) {
 		// search k/k local checkout
-		pathPrefix = kubeRootDeSuffixed
+		pathPrefix = KUBE_ROOT
+		importExpr = strings.Replace(importExpr, kubeURLRoot, "", 1)
 	} else if strings.Contains(importExpr, "k8s.io/") {
 		// search k/k/staging local checkout
 		pathPrefix = strings.Join([]string{KUBE_ROOT, "staging", "src"}, string(os.PathSeparator))
@@ -214,7 +209,9 @@ func localImportPath(importExpr string) (string, error) {
 		// stdlib -> prefix with GOROOT
 		pathPrefix = strings.Join([]string{GOROOT, "src"}, string(os.PathSeparator))
 	} // ToDo: support non go mod
-	importDirectory := strings.Join([]string{pathPrefix, strings.Trim(importExpr, "\"")}, string(os.PathSeparator))
+
+	crossPlatformImportExpr := strings.Replace(importExpr, "/", string(os.PathSeparator), 0)
+	importDirectory := strings.Join([]string{pathPrefix, strings.Trim(crossPlatformImportExpr, "\"")}, string(os.PathSeparator))
 
 	return importDirectory, nil
 }
@@ -236,7 +233,7 @@ func importedGlobalVariableDeclaration(localVariables map[string]ast.Expr, impor
 			fmt.Fprint(os.Stderr, err.Error())
 			continue
 		}
-	
+
 		files, err := ioutil.ReadDir(importDirectory)
 		if err != nil {
 			//fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "failed to read import path directory %s with error %w, skipping\n", importDirectory, err)
@@ -260,7 +257,7 @@ func importedGlobalVariableDeclaration(localVariables map[string]ast.Expr, impor
 			}
 
 			fileset := token.NewFileSet()
-			tree, err := parser.ParseFile(fileset, strings.Join([]string{importDirectory,file.Name()}, string(os.PathSeparator)), nil, parser.AllErrors)
+			tree, err := parser.ParseFile(fileset, strings.Join([]string{importDirectory, file.Name()}, string(os.PathSeparator)), nil, parser.AllErrors)
 			if err != nil {
 				return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to parse path %s with error %w", im.Path.Value, err)
 			}
diff --git a/test/instrumentation/main_test.go b/test/instrumentation/main_test.go
index 0e6d70608fa..0045017a34b 100644
--- a/test/instrumentation/main_test.go
+++ b/test/instrumentation/main_test.go
@@ -18,7 +18,9 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"os"
 	"reflect"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
 	"k8s.io/component-base/metrics"
@@ -118,9 +120,9 @@ var _ = NewCounter(
 
 func TestStableMetric(t *testing.T) {
 	for _, test := range []struct {
-		testName  string
-		src       string
-		metric    metric
+		testName string
+		src      string
+		metric   metric
 		kubeRoot string
 	}{
 		{
@@ -464,7 +466,7 @@ var _ = metrics.NewCounter(
 				Subsystem:      "kubelet",
 				Type:           counterMetricType,
 			},
-			kubeRoot:  "/home/pchristopher/go/src/k8s.io/kubernetes",
+			kubeRoot: "/home/pchristopher/go/src/k8s.io/kubernetes",
 			src: `
 package test
 import compbasemetrics "k8s.io/component-base/metrics"
@@ -483,10 +485,8 @@ var _ = compbasemetrics.NewCounter(
 			if test.kubeRoot != "" {
 				priorKRoot := KUBE_ROOT
 				KUBE_ROOT = test.kubeRoot
-				kubeRootDeSuffixed = kubeRootDesuffix(KUBE_ROOT)
-				defer func(){
+				defer func() {
 					KUBE_ROOT = priorKRoot
-					kubeRootDeSuffixed = kubeRootDesuffix(KUBE_ROOT)
 				}()
 			}
 
@@ -738,3 +738,56 @@ var _ = metrics.NewHistogram(
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func Test_localImportPath(t *testing.T) {
+	KUBE_ROOT = "/home/pchristopher/go/src/k8s.io/kubernetes"
+	GOROOT := os.Getenv("GOROOT")
+
+	for _, test := range []struct {
+		name         string
+		importExpr   string
+		expectedPath string
+		errorExp     bool
+	}{
+		{
+			name:         "k8s local package",
+			importExpr:   "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/metrics",
+			expectedPath: strings.Join([]string{KUBE_ROOT, "pkg", "kubelet", "metrics"}, string(os.PathSeparator)),
+			errorExp:     false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:         "k8s staging package",
+			importExpr:   "k8s.io/kubelet/metrics",
+			expectedPath: strings.Join([]string{KUBE_ROOT, "staging", "src", "k8s.io", "kubelet", "metrics"}, string(os.PathSeparator)),
+			errorExp:     false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:         "public package",
+			importExpr:   "github.com/thisisnot/thesoundofthetrain",
+			errorExp:     true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:         "stl package",
+			importExpr:   "os",
+			expectedPath: strings.Join([]string{GOROOT, "src", "os"}, string(os.PathSeparator)),
+			errorExp:     false,
+		},
+	} {
+		t.Run(test.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			path, err := localImportPath(test.importExpr)
+			if test.errorExp {
+				if err == nil {
+					t.Error("did not receive error as expected")
+				}
+			} else {
+				if err != nil {
+					t.Errorf("received unexpected error %s", err)
+				}
+			}
+
+			if path != test.expectedPath {
+				t.Errorf("did not received expected path.  \nwant: %s \ngot:  %s", test.expectedPath, path)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/test/instrumentation/stability-utils.sh b/test/instrumentation/stability-utils.sh
index f1dd406df42..1b32ce97438 100644
--- a/test/instrumentation/stability-utils.sh
+++ b/test/instrumentation/stability-utils.sh
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ kube::validate::stablemetrics() {
 kube::update::stablemetrics() {
   stability_check_setup
   temp_file=$(mktemp)
-  doCheckStability=$(find_files_to_check | grep -E ".*.go" | grep -v ".*_test.go" | sort | xargs -L 200 go run "test/instrumentation/main.go" "test/instrumentation/decode_metric.go" "test/instrumentation/find_stable_metric.go" "test/instrumentation/error.go" "test/instrumentation/metric.go" -- 1>"${temp_file}")
+  doCheckStability=$(find_files_to_check | grep -E ".*.go" | grep -v ".*_test.go" | sort | KUBE_ROOT=${KUBE_ROOT} xargs -L 200 go run "test/instrumentation/main.go" "test/instrumentation/decode_metric.go" "test/instrumentation/find_stable_metric.go" "test/instrumentation/error.go" "test/instrumentation/metric.go" -- 1>"${temp_file}")
 
   if ! $doCheckStability; then
     echo "${red}!!! updating golden list of metrics has failed! ${reset}" >&2