ok so i finally put in this setup. i took it to my shop and they put in the back setup, tune up my new rotors and new brake pads...now when the guy went to put the front setup in he calls me up and tells me that he thinks the front spring is going to be too short.
now when i turn theres a very very ugly clunk. he said that the springs are dancing around or something.
Any body in here had this problem while installing theres setup. ive been reading around and theres talks of a spacer or something like that. but what spacers are you guys talking about?
"Sunfire got stolen, all i have is the J to remember it by"
Thats odd.. I wonder if he lossed a part of the strut mount like the seat or somthing. I know there was somthing wrong with the 00+ Strut mounts and were crappy. Very strange. I intend on doing this same setup when the weather breaks. I got new Strut mounts from Event in the fall so i will have somthing to compare againsts...
damn i bought them on a group purchase here but i forgot from who and how long ago
"Sunfire got stolen, all i have is the J to remember it by"
yeah, i'm thinking you are missing the upper spring seat or something. also, make sure they put the springs on the right way, and that they didn't mix up the front with the rear.
gettin' organizized...
You need a spacer, about 3/4", between the top of the strut mount and the strut bolt. If you look at the original bolt from the OEM strut, you'll see what looks like a spacer molded onto the bottom of the bolt. What I did, was cut off that spacer with a dremel, and use it between the strut mount and bolt. I've heard of guys using washers and whatnot as well, but I didn't like the feeling of washers holding up my car. Remember, these struts were made for '95+ cars, and with the '95-'99 mounts, there is a metal washer on top of the mount that takes up the extra space. But with the '00+ mounts, the bolt goes all the way down, hence the need for a spacer.
I may not know much about cars, but I know two things....
1) Breaking things is expensive, and
2) Horsepower isn't cheap.
So if your running mounts 95-99 we don't need to add these washers? I have been confused on the whole adding washers to the AGX's. Any insite?... sorry to thread steal.
can you just buy 95-99 mounts and put them in a 2000+ car?
The KYB mounts I used looked a lot like the 96 mounts that were on our Sunfire. That might be an option to look into.
ok so i took them to another shop and he said that neither the top of the spring or the bottom have any spacings(cushion) he said that theres suppose to be a rubber seat on the top and bottom??? is this right. anybody have pictures of this?
"Sunfire got stolen, all i have is the J to remember it by"
I reused mine from the stock springs, I'll be pulling my passenger side strut assembly off tomorrow and I'll grab a pic of mine.
assembly from the side (2000+ mount with Koni yellow strut)
the 2000+ mount is 2 pieces. with a bearing in the middle. on the bottom of the strut there should be a rubber "pad" to reduce noise.
make sure whoever installed your struts also didn't turn the lower spring perch upside down. do you have any pictures of it installed as it is now?
<img src="http://216.77.188.54/coDataImages/p/Groups/221/221110/folders/176867/1310902reassembledfront.jpg" width="458" height="722">
top of mount with nut removed
<img src="http://216.77.188.54/coDataImages/p/Groups/221/221110/folders/176882/1310926replacetopwithnewcutwasher.jpg" width="330" height="307">
bottom of assembly plate from the bottom
<img src="http://216.77.188.54/coDataImages/p/Groups/221/221110/folders/176867/1310924replacebootonmount.jpg" width="470" height="337">
top of the bottom half of the mount
<img src="http://216.77.188.54/coDataImages/p/Groups/221/221110/folders/176882/1310946topmountlowerhalffrontstrut.jpg" width="470" height="356">