Front Tire Touches Strut Body

[sperold]

I changed my front struts to Monroe 181780 strut assemblies. When completed, my passenger front tire now touches my strut spring mounting plate. It was OK before, and I put the strut assembly in the same location on the top 3 bolts in the engine compartment.

I ran out of time and simply returned home without experimenting with a solution.

Could I space the tire out on the hub to clear the strut spring pad? Is there such a spacer?

Can the top mount of the strut be moved outwards enough to move the strut spring pad away from the tire?

Can anyone suggest anything to solve this issue. I can always put the old struts back in as they are not leaking, but I was unhappy with the low ride height of the car.

Thanks

 

[Irish Pride]

You will need wheel spacers. Probably in the neighborhood of 5-7mm. I currently have spacers on my blue 95 because of rubbing. My issue is due to the tires that I chose. They have a very wide sidewall compared to other tires and the lock ring on the coilovers is in the perfect spot for rubbing. At first I bought the quickest thing that I could get off Amazon because it was the week before the convention. They are basic universal style spacers that aren't that expensive. I eventually planned on replacing them with proper hubcentric spacers down the road which I just bought this week.

You will need 5x108 spacers. You can get them on Amazon or ebay pretty cheaply. The ones I just bought are really nice quality milled hubcentric spacers and were a little costly but still under $100 for a set of 4. I will send you a few links.

-Chad

 

[Irish Pride]

Does the tire rub on the drivers side too? After thinking about this some, if it's only rubbing on one side and it didn't rub before then you might have a bent strut. They should be identical left and right and there isn't any adjustment that can be made to move the tire further away without spacers. It's possible that your new strut is damaged ever so slightly if it's only on the passenger side.

-Chad

 

[SHOrod]

I changed my front struts to Monroe 181780 strut assemblies. When completed, my passenger front tire now touches my strut spring mounting plate. It was OK before, and I put the strut assembly in the same location on the top 3 bolts in the engine compartment.

Before going the spacer route I'd think you would want to understand why they are rubbing now but not before. Are you running stock wheels and tire size? If so, maybe the strut you received is not the correct for your application. Also, the strut per se won't help with the ride height, that's the job of the spring. If you're not able to find a strut assembly that clears your tire, you could replace the springs for the old strut assemblies to increase the ride height.

-Rod

 

[Irish Pride]

Before going the spacer route I'd think you would want to understand why they are rubbing now but not before. Are you running stock wheels and tire size? If so, maybe the strut you received is not the correct for your application. Also, the strut per se won't help with the ride height, that's the job of the spring. If you're not able to find a strut assembly that clears your tire, you could replace the springs for the old strut assemblies to increase the ride height.

-Rod

Ride height and springs have nothing to do with the tire rubbing the strut. The tire/wheel is fixed to the hub which in turn is fixed to the strut. Raising the car/ride height will have zero effect on whether the tire clears the strut.

-Chad

 

[sperold]

Does the tire rub on the drivers side too? After thinking about this some, if it's only rubbing on one side and it didn't rub before then you might have a bent strut. They should be identical left and right and there isn't any adjustment that can be made to move the tire further away without spacers. It's possible that your new strut is damaged ever so slightly if it's only on the passenger side.

-Chad

The drivers side strut does not touch the tire, but it is close, maybe a small finger width. But enough to see the bottom plate of the spring mount that is above the tire.

It is cold here so I have not done as much looking as i should. I am beginning to think that I installed the strut body too deep in the knuckle. I know there is a hole in the tab that the pinch bolt goes through and it sounds crazy that I missed the hole. But it is my only conclusion right now until I think of another one. Currently, I can see the strut spring pan above the top of the tire on the drivers side, and that matches all my other cars. But on the passenger side, I cannot see the spring pan as it is buried in the tire when I look across the top of the tire.

I will keep you posted, and thanks for the info on the spacers.

 

[Irish Pride]

That hole is big enough that there is some room for adjustment. Loosen the bolt but keep it in place to use as a guide. Raise the strut as far up into the knuckle that the bolt will allow then tighten it back down. Everything is fixed into place when tightened so you don't need a lot of clearance.

-Chad

 

[SHOrod]

Ride height and springs have nothing to do with the tire rubbing the strut. The tire/wheel is fixed to the hub which in turn is fixed to the strut. Raising the car/ride height will have zero effect on whether the tire clears the strut.

-Chad

I understand that. The original poster said the original struts were fine but they changed them out because they were unhappy with the low ride height. My suggestion was they could switch back to the original struts and install new springs to increase the ride height, assuming the original springs were drooping.

-Rod

 

[sperold]

Thanks SHOrod and Irish Pride, the original strut assemblies had only 3 or 4 active coils (depending on how you count them), so they were either cut originals or lowering springs. And at this point, I would have been wise to leave them alone.
And swapping springs (new on old struts) would get me out of this situation.

But since there are no quirky years on front struts where they changed the geometry (these struts (Monroe Roadmatic) fit 86 to 95 Taurus models), I can only assume that I messed up the install - somehow!!

Thanks for the help on this embarrassing (for me) issue.

 

[BaySHO Performance]

I changed my front struts to Monroe 181780 strut assemblies.

Be aware that those strut assemblies are for the regular Taurus with softer springs, not the SHO. The car will wallow a lot more now. Nothing to stop you taking them apart and substituting your original springs:

Spring Rates lb. / in. Front Rear

Gen 1/2

Taurus 155 100 As used by all Quickstruts
SHO 200 130

 

[sperold]

Be aware that those strut assemblies are for the regular Taurus with softer springs, not the SHO. The car will wallow a lot more now. Nothing to stop you taking them apart and substituting your original springs:

Spring Rates lb. / in. Front Rear

Gen 1/2

Taurus 155 100 As used by all Quickstruts
SHO 200 130

I know there is a penalty for using pre-packaged strut assemblies, but I am willing to suffer the softer ride to make the car more usable.

Thank you for the advice, and the spring specifications.

 

[batchman]

Long time no visit, but...

I can't let go of the one-side-good and one-side-bad; the only thing I can come up with (absent a bigger camber difference than should be possible with stock strut mounts) is a shifted front subframe.

On the other hand if by "spring pan" you mean the spring perch and that is below the top of the tire you have missed the install by quite a lot, like getting the upper strut bolt above the strut "ear", with the lower bolt going through the upper hole...

GL,
- Jeff

 

[sperold]

.I got back to the garage to continue my saga. It turns out we missed the hole in the strut assembly where the pinch bolt goes through. View on the bottom of the knuckle showed the strut was about 3/4" more exposed than the driver's side. Totally my fault. And boy, is my face red!
We took a drill and opened up a hole on that tab welded to the strut bottom for the pinch bolt to go through.
We did not do a thorough analysis on what the situation was, because I did not want to take the strut bottom out of the knuckle, as it was a tough job to place it in, in the first place.

Thanks to all that followed this adventure.