Suspension Question

[TenaciousC]

Hello,

I wanted to run this by "the Volvo thinktank" if I may.....

Here is a picture of the top of one of my suspension struts:

http://www.kool4katz.co.uk/volvo850/suspension/DSCF2070.JPG

Note how the top rubber piece hovers 5mm or so above the metal of the top mount. Is this right?

Also I can see (not easy from this pic) that the spring seat part seems to have deformed around where the top of the strut goes through it - being stretch upward and potentially causing the problen. Both these parts are new (in December) from PFS (scantec).

Comments please!

Cheers

Chris

[MWT5]

Doesn't look right to me, does the strut make any noises under braking , acceleration or driving over uneven roads

[Volvostorm]

Scantech are well know for being useless!

Looks very much like the top rubber spring seat have collapsed, they aren't all that dear from volvo, I paid about £30 each for mine, but I do get trade prices.

[bsr295]

just done mine £15.00 each from euro car parts too half hour a side doddle

[TenaciousC]

Doesn't look right to me, does the strut make any noises under braking , acceleration or driving over uneven roads

It drives fine, but there may be some extra rattles when going over cobbles etc.


Scantech are well know for being useless!

Looks very much like the top rubber spring seat have collapsed, they aren't all that dear from volvo, I paid about £30 each for mine, but I do get trade prices.

Yes I had read similar, but can't believe they would have failed after 3 months!

I can get more spring seats from Eurocarparts (Febi Bilstein) £29 each which sound better quality. I will try and get money back from PFS also.

[MWT5]

If they hadn't been fitted correctly they will fail prematurely .
Hope you get it sorted.

[TenaciousC]

If they hadn't been fitted correctly they will fail prematurely .
Hope you get it sorted.

Is there something obvious I may done wrong? I gone over the process and can't think of anything. I don't want to get some more and repeat an error (should there have been one).

Cheers

C

[TenaciousC]

update : I took the suspension strut apart yesterday to see if there was any mistake. There wasn't. Also my initial observation about the upper spring seat being deformed was incorrect. It wasn't.

It seems that the problem is due to the thickness of the top mount (the part that bolts into the turret). If it were 5mm thicker then all would be ok. Perhaps I have the wrong part, but I don't have the originals to compare against, so I decided to run with them.

To get the top rubber part to make contact with the upper mount (i.e. reduce the gap in the picture in post #1) I removed the top nut and also the X shaped nut below. I then added washers to get the spacing correct and then re-added the top nut (without the X shaped nut).

Now all sits in contact as you might expect, but I am running without that X shaped nut that sits below the top rubber part.

It's all a bit of a mystery why I have had to do this though!

Cheers

C