First let me say I'm not one to usually do this kind of post, but right now I'm not happy at all. My factory front mounts were shot so I bought O.E.M.'s non-coilover non-camber front mounts. That's around $200. Put them on yesterday. After figuring out how to do it (they didn't come with instructions), we noticed that the middle of the strut where it gets bolted down is sticking up pretty far. We closed the hood and it cleared, so no worries. Well not today. I now have a massive dent on both sides of my hood where the strut tops have almost rubbed all the way through the hood (passenger side is obviously much worse).
You can see the welts in the hood on both sides. Crappy cell pictures do the dents no justice.
And another problem. The only reason I bought these mounts was to get rid of the clunking noise of the busted old mounts. Well that solved that problem. But now, every time I turn the wheel even at all, I get this terrible squealing noise. One noise traded for an even worse noise.
I guess s1lver and I will be putting the stock mounts back on asap. O.E.M. I know there will be nothing you can do about the hood or anything like that but I would at least like to return the mounts. The night I ordered them you even said they would be black if I ordered them that night, and I got stuck with some nasty gold color. I was so excited to get these on and think my suspension would finally be complete, but after one day they have caused nothing but more grief. I don't think a reputable business would send out out a product like this, let alone send out badly machined bushings the first time, and then not even send out instructions, so I would like to hear what you have to say. Between Jason, S1lver and I, we figured out what seems like the only possible way they would work, and I'm not satisfied. Like I said I'm not one to make this kind of post, but I just want it out there.
Why not contact Mark and see if you guys can resolve this and he can change his design so this does not happen again? I have bought from OEM and he has always been great with everything. Mark is a pretty reasonable guy to deal with.
Please post pics of how you put them together. Not sure, But I and many others have been running these with no problems at all. What happened that the strut rod actually came up to far?
Mark
http://www.overkillengineeringmotorsports.com/
to the OP
I would have to say that coming on here and saying that the mounts are no good and that OEM's mounts damaged your hood and what not is not a very good way to get anything done.
if it has only been one day it would appear to me that you didn't do a few things to prevent any damage.
you may have put it together wrong(didn't use a part that you should have or whatever)
yes there may not have been instructions but I am sure if you had contacted OEM they would have sent you some instructions to help out(maybe they just forgot to include them).
You knew that they were sticking up really high but you decided that it was ok and drove on them anyway(this would be my first indication that something was wrong)
and whatever noises you are getting, are in my opinion likely from not putting them together properly.
I do not know how you put them together, so this is just a guess, but if other people have been driving on these then it may not be the OEM mount, but in fact something that you failed to do properly.
As far as the color of the mount, did you specify on your payment to them what color you wanted, if so, why did you not contact them to try to get the correct color instead of just mounting them anyway.
for me, when I replace something on my car, I make sure it looks similar to what I am replacing, and that the end result is close to the same, if it is not, I usually didn't do something right.
well, this is my 2 cents, I have purchased things from OEM with zero issues at all, great customer service in my books.
I received mine and am very satisfied. Although it seems pretty self explanatory on how to put them in, i would have REALLY liked them to come with instructions. This overlooked area is somewhat odd. Even the cheapest eBay intake comes with instructions for all applications, and the intake costs from like 25-40 bucks. When i put mine i I greased all parts that would have metal on metal contact, like the solid front mounts, the rotational bearing and spacer(OEM provides these) and the rear spherical bearing.
And really how else would you handle this problem. Not only is he telling OEM but also others. Maybe there is a problem which we should all be aware of. This is exactly what a possible consumer would be looking for when spending 400 plus on front/rear mounts. The OP didnt bash the seller just clearly demonstrated his frustrations. I would assume(although i shouldn't) that most cavalier/sunfire owners dont exactly have 1) a large amount of money to spend on modding/upgrading 2) Are still quite young(a reason for low income) so when they spend 400 plus on just suspension mounts, they want the product to be worth every single penny, and if it doesn't they should be encouraged to voice their concerns. Before i bought mine i researched every thread in these forums on the OEM mounts which helped alot (mainly for gathering instructions from others who installed them).
I will be doing a write up tomorrow. Sorry for the lack of instructions. I will upload it as a PDF on my site. If there is something that you see that I am doing wrong please tell me and I will do what I can to correct it, like the instructions.
Mark
http://www.overkillengineeringmotorsports.com/
well as far as i know anytime you install polyurethane in anything you need to apply some sort of lubricating grease to the surfaces to prevent 'noises'.
you certainly are told to do it on sway bar bushings and other stuff for our cars so the same stands to reason in my book.
I'm tired of wasting my time... now I'm breakin' free.
I did the very same thing to my hood.
The cause, in my case was that I opted not to use the aluminum "spacers" that came with the struts. They didn't fit over the diameter of my Koni's, so I figured they weren't needed.
Closed the hood and now my hood has a nipple.
I took those spacers, drilled 'em out to fit over the koni threads and put them back in the back and there is ample clearance now.
Hindsight is 20/20
I was not bashing at all, nothing gets accomplished by blaming someone else. It's just that considering I had Chris (S1lver) and Jason (Sndsgood) help with the install, I didn't think we could go wrong. Maybe we did, I'm not saying we didn't mess it up. We put them together and it made sense. They stuck up higher than the factory mounts, but they cleared the hood when I shut it. Meaning they had to have come up when I was driving. And we used the aluminum spacers. It's not the end of the world. Out of all this I have decide to change up my entire suspension anyway and just get it done with what I've always wanted. I'm simply just trying to find out what went wrong or what we did wrong so that people don't have this problem in the future. Maybe by looking at those instructions you post tomorrow I'll see what is different.
Did yours bow up? Cause mine did (after the spacers) but it hasn't affected the ride at all...
No the mounts haven't seemed to change at all after riding on them for 2 days, which is why I can't figure out why they pushed up on the hood. Ride height and handling didn't noticeably change either. Like I said, hopefully the instructions Mark posts will fill in the missing details.
well... i know that when i ordered my MRZ performance strut tower caps i had to specify weather i had koni yellows or not because apparently their rods stick up slightly higher than stock.
i noticed in your profile that you have d-specs... maybe they are the same way and have a taller rod?
in which case an adjustment will be needed to be made to the mounts made for yellows/d-specs to accommodate.
I'm tired of wasting my time... now I'm breakin' free.
I have D-Specs and didn't have a problem with them at all. The only thing I was upset about was no instructions, but it was simple enough to kind of piece it together yourself. I'm happy with the product and would consider them again.
lowslowcav wrote:Although it seems pretty self explanatory
This is the biggest fail of any company that sells a product. This is why owner's manuals and instruction manuals are growing into phone books. Never assume anyone knows anything.
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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -
it looked like his metal bushing was thicker than all of the pics online.
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my carDomain updated 5/8/09 Goal to be forged by Labor Day!
Viper98912 wrote:This is the biggest fail of any company that sells a product. This is why owner's manuals and instruction manuals are growing into phone books. Never assume anyone knows anything.
No truer words have ever been spoken lol
M62, 42's, ZZP 3", ZZP S3 H/E
214whp 190wtq
Here you go guys, please let me know if something is out of place at all.
How to Install OEM Front Solid Mounts
So your factory mounts are clunking, I am gonna take a guess, the car is lowered? Weather its lowered 1” or 4” these solid mounts can take any sort of beating that you can toss at them. Factory mounts get there degree of camber change with rubber. While yes it does work, its not the best material to use for longevity. So you now have the mounts, this is the install guide on how to put them on your vehicle. If you have further questions, please feel free to e-mail us as this is a very basic instruction sheet.
Info@overkillengineeringmotorsports.com
Tools:
1. Hammer
2. 13MM wrench
3. 21MM socket
4. 19MM socket
5. Spring Compressor
First things first, take the wheel of 19MM socket
Next thing take the 3 13mm nuts/ bolt off
Once the 13mm nuts are off take the 21mm nuts off. don’t take them all the way off, put them back on a couple threads so that you don’t mushroom the head of the bolt. These bolts can cost around $20 each. Knock both bolts out.
Slide the shock/spring out of the car
Take your spring compressors and slide them onto the very TOP of the spring. If you don’t then you wont be able to get enough tension on the spring to get the adapter on. ( This picture shows how NOT to do it, needs to be 1 more coil up.)
Take your 21 or 22MM socket and take the nut off the spring, once it is compressed. If the spring is not compressed before you take the nut off you can get very seriously hurt.
Take the mount off the top and slide the adapter onto the shaft
Slide the new mount right over that
Take your shock nut and torque it down on the mount
Put back in the car with the 13mm Nuts on first( 18ft LBS), then the shock to knuckle bolts (120 FT LBS).
Double check everything and take for a test drive
http://www.overkillengineeringmotorsports.com/
Not trying to bash at all. I actually want some of these eventually. But in the pics of the OP's install it looks to me like the plates are bowed up like bradsk88 suggested. perhaps thats why the dimple didnt show up til the next day or so.
It's just as hard to tell if they are bowed in the pics as it is actually looking at them. We installed the mounts how those instructions showed so Mark and I have been talking trying to find out what happened. I really appreciate what he is doing to try to figure out what has happened here. Whether it is our bad, something unexpected or somethin wrong with his mounts I know we will work it out and figure this out.
But as of now, chris and I will be taking these off and throwin the stock mounts back on friday night. We'll be sure to take plenty of pics. Hopefully we can figure out what caused this along with the bad squeaking/squealing noise I now have.
Maybe put some pics up of the rears too, to show everyone where the supplied 4 poly-urethane bushings go. Great Pics and am glad i did mine the right way!!
