New suspension, clunking - settling in?

[dt2703]

Just had new Eiback sportlines fitted to the 172, serious amount of clunking when turning on or near full lock on either side. Mate told me they will do this for a short time while they're 'settling in'.
There's a bit of clearance between the rubber in the top mounts and the chassis now, and if I get someone to sit in the car and turn the wheel from full lock left to right, I can see the top mounts (and therefore the entire shock/spring setup) rotating slightly, in small circles.
Is this normal? Do springs take a while to settle in or have they been fitted badly?

 

[Addicted]

sounds like the springs aren't sat correctly, on the shocks there are places where the end of the springs embed into the top & bottom, perhaps they're not sat on those and the turning is slowling rotating them into the correct position?

i had sportlines fitted on my 182 last week by Fred & have no knocking whatsoever!

 

[dt2703]

Do your top mounts sit down fully, or do you have slight clearance?

 

[bmh.01]

No you should have a clearance, its not the usual top mount knocking thats be exaggerated by the lowering springs is it?

 

[dt2703]

Don't think so. Will take a video today and post it up. It's difficult to explain. But, there's quite clearly some movement in the shocks when turning the wheel, as you can see it in the top mounts. Just doesn't seem right to me.

 

[dt2703]

Left one rocks back and forward a fair bit and slightly rotates, the right one slightly rocks and rotates a fair bit...

Here's a video:

[video]http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e167/davetoland/172/?action=view&current=WP_000181.mp4[/video]

 

[dt2703]

Does the video work?

 

[Fred@BTM]

slap your mate in the face and call him a muppet on my behalf

it looks like the bearing is upside down on the one side

how did he reattach the top caps? (the ones you can see in the video)

 

[Fred@BTM]

Mate told me they will do this for a short time while they're 'settling in'.

he's talking out of his arse

 

[dt2703]

Don't know how he reattached, wasn't watching :S

How can I put this right?

 

[Fred@BTM]

kick him in the balls, HARD

 

[dt2703]

Hmm, sounds good in theory, in practice I would probably regret that.
Any other ideas?

 

[dt2703]

You say 'on the one side' but both strut ends were moving. Is it normal for them to move?

 

[Kam.]

I would say 100% the top mount. The spring will sit naturally in the spring cups. Its a bit hard to get them to sit wrong. Who fitted them?

 

[dt2703]

So, I've had the struts out and the problem is pretty obvious.

Question is, which one is right?
Shouldn't the bearing on the right hand strut be under the mount?

 

[charlesk]

Yeap, and with the flat surface to the bottom

Shouldn't the bearing on the right hand strut be under the mount?

 

[dt2703]

Cheers

 

[dt2703]

Sorted.
That was simple enough, I should have just done it myself from the start.
I disassembled the other other one as well, just to make sure the bearing was actually under the mount, and was on the right way up.
Once I was sure both struts were assembled properly, I fitted everything back together and took it for a spin... perfect. No noise at all, and both rubber hats sit flush with the chassis when wheels are straight.

On another note, the rubber housing on the shocks looks really perished and sh*t. On one of them, the top half of the rubber has split in two. Is this a sign the shocks are approaching the end of their lives, or is this nothing to worry about?

Cheers for all the advice, glad i've got it sorted.

 

[bmh.01]

You did flip that bearing over when you fitted it yes? The side that you can see in the pic should sit on top of the spring cup that face down.

 

[dt2703]

I put the flat side towards the spring, as advised above.
Is this wrong?

 

[bmh.01]

Define flat side?

The side that you can see in that picture should be face down on the top spring cup.

 

[dt2703]

I'm pretty sure that's the flat side. When I took them off, there was a definate flat side. The other side isn't flat, like the surface of a doughnut.

As in:



It's got a recess for the collar that goes throught the rubber mount to sit in.

 

[bmh.01]

Sounds right then

 

[dt2703]

I've got that niggling doubt now. I'll probably take them apart again at the weekend to make sure....

Any thoughts on the rubber that surrounds the shocks? Is it a problem that its all perished?
I'll get some replacement shocks at some point anyway, although probably not for a month or so yet.
Could do without the extra expense just at the moment.

 

[bmh.01]

The sleeve/bumpstop or the top mount rubber like the picture you posted above?

 

[dt2703]

The sleeve and bumpstop, i.e. the bit inside the spring covering the piston. The sleeve has come completely away from the bumpstop on one of them.

 

[bmh.01]

I'd change them tbh they're only around £10 a side mark but i'm a terrible perfectionist .

 

[dt2703]

You can see the perishing where i've drawn a green box, and one is split where the white line is drawn.
Didn't know you could just replace the rubber... that's good as the shocks look fine underneath.

 

[bmh.01]

7700434126 is the part number for them.

As long as the dampers offer good uniform resistance throughout their travel theres no need to change them.

 

[Struggler]

please never let your mate near your car ever again!

 

[dt2703]

Well, mistakes happen. I was actually grateful of his help as without him I would have had to take the motor to the garage and pay £70 p/h, and in my experience, those places make just as many fck ups. I now know how to dismantle and reassemble the struts myself, and moreover what can go wrong. But thanks for the comment anyway.

 

[dt2703]

Sorry, didn't mean to jump down your throat there. Crappy day at work already and its not even midday...