Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Suspension Strut Problems

hey guys, im havin a problem with my struts. They seem to be lifting up through the top of the strut towers, and now there is a clunking noise when i turn the wheel. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks guys!

brent hattan

Thank you. I was just going to post about this. I was at the track today and when I opened up the hood to cool of the engine I notced the top mounts (on the front strut towers) were shifted from the usual center in my OMP STB. If I moved the car thy would go back into place (the center). It even wore through a bit of the rubber on the mount.

Maybe this is something Terry can advise us on. I'm a little hesitant to drive the car until I hear otherwise. Maybe this is somehting I just didn't notice before.

BTW, I have GC's as well with Koni's and I checked the the bolts on the top and they were still torqued to the manfacturers recomendations.

Anyone? Any thoughts?

The only thing that holds the strut/spring to the tower is the single nut and the rubber bonded washer on the tower,if the struts 'drop' when you jack up the car either the washer is worn, the outer nut is loose, or the taper rubber top mounts are worn...

Well, everything is all tight - no loose nuts. I do belive that is problem is a result of my Ground Controls and perhaps poor engineering of these afermarket parts.

Terry, maybe you can tell me if this makes sense. The original springs are much larger in diameter compared to the ground controls and use a much larger diameter thrust bearing than the gound controls do. This OE thrust bearing on the front struts runs on the outer edges of the upper strut mount (or near - correct me if I am wrong). With thte ground controls we have a much smaller diameter spring that has a top cap/hat. The thrust bearing on this top cap is much, much smaller than the orignal ones (as we have seen form other pictures/problems). This smaller thrust bearing is located much closer to the strut rod and the centre of the upper strut mount. I think that by having a much smaller thrust bearing that rides on the center of the upper strut mount is causing premature wear on the upper strut mount due to the forces of the spings/suspension being directed to a much smaller and more concentrated area compared to the orignal spring/Thrust bearing set up.

I guess I'll try replacing the upper strut mounts and see if this fixes it up.

I'm not sure about this, but does this seem like sound reasoning/causes? Does anyone else have any ideas? I hope this doesn't make me sound like an idiot (besides this last statement).

Well, I replaced the front strut mounts and it seems to have fixed the problem (mostly I think). Maybe it is just paranoia but, I still "think" I can see the to retainer caps on the strut towers moving/shifting a bit now in the holes in my OMP bar. This is far less than before I replaced the upper strut mounts.

Is there anything else I should be looking at now to make sure I have the broble fixed 100%? I don't want to be doing a half-assed job and have to fix other things later, because I neglected them now.

Thanks

Timeless,
you are correct,with most coil overs the load (vehicle & spring) is directied to the smaller area under the top suspension mount Vs being supported by the whole tower .The coil over top bearings,whatever the make ,have a far smaller surface area than the stoc spring bearings.With coil overs its not a 'fit it & forget it' set up, if you race ,auto X or have regular track days etc you must check these on a regular basis.I know I say it a lot but once you get into pure 'custom' set ups on any system on your vehicle you need to become more of a 'gearhead'...your car is no longer stoc so check it out on a regular basis..

Oh trust me...I know. I usualll try and check as much as possible the week before I hit the track. I definitely know alot more (and still constantly learning more) about my car than I did even 6 months ago.

While I'm at it, do you recommend inspecting anything else related to the front susp?