Front End Play: Struts or Mounts?

[shoon]

Have kind of an odd problem, and am on a tight budget right now... just spent $300 ish in parts on a new tank and fuel pump.

While driving along I hear rattling, like somethings floating.. the front end was tight when I checked it on the hoist with the car up in the air, check the 12 and 6 o clock, no play same with the 3 and 9 o clock positions, everything was solid.

however.. It felt like front end and was driving me nuts, so I bounced the suspension to try and find the noise, couldnt find it.

so I reef on the top of the tire back and forth and to my surprise, I find out I can adjust my camber a few degrees by hand
The passenger side is the culprit, the drivers side is tight.

im trying to figure out if I need a new strut or strut and strut mount? Anyone try monroe quickstruts?

was thinking about sensatracks, keep the same coil springs and mounts for now as an economy fix.

As far as steering goes there is no memory steer, grinding, binding or popping.. I know when most strut mounts go the coil spring binds and unravels as you try and turn the wheel before popping sometimes.., but I don't get that.

Thinking maybe the plunger part of the strut went and is bouncing around inside the strut, maybe thats why I couldn't find any play when it was on the hoist because the strut was fully expanded..

I removed the upper strut mount cap, and while pulling the wheel in and out, the rod part of the strut with the nut was angling in and out.. not moving straight back and forth like a solid strut would if that makes sense to anyone.

Anyone experience anything similar? Any thoughts?

 

[sho2see]

Have kind of an odd problem, and am on a tight budget right now... just spent $300 ish in parts on a new tank and fuel pump.

While driving along I hear rattling, like somethings floating.. the front end was tight when I checked it on the hoist with the car up in the air, check the 12 and 6 o clock, no play same with the 3 and 9 o clock positions, everything was solid.

however.. It felt like front end and was driving me nuts, so I bounced the suspension to try and find the noise, couldnt find it.

so I reef on the top of the tire back and forth and to my surprise, I find out I can adjust my camber a few degrees by hand
The passenger side is the culprit, the drivers side is tight.

im trying to figure out if I need a new strut or strut and strut mount? Anyone try monroe quickstruts?

was thinking about sensatracks, keep the same coil springs and mounts for now as an economy fix.

As far as steering goes there is no memory steer, grinding, binding or popping.. I know when most strut mounts go the coil spring binds and unravels as you try and turn the wheel before popping sometimes.., but I don't get that.

Thinking maybe the plunger part of the strut went and is bouncing around inside the strut, maybe thats why I couldn't find any play when it was on the hoist because the strut was fully expanded..

I removed the upper strut mount cap, and while pulling the wheel in and out, the rod part of the strut with the nut was angling in and out.. not moving straight back and forth like a solid strut would if that makes sense to anyone.

Anyone experience anything similar? Any thoughts?

When the strut mount goes you will here it while driving by hitting a bump on the roda or uneven pavement.

 

[Toul]

Kinda sounds like what I experienced about 2 months ago. I had tokicos, and the tokico strut is held into the housing by a big hex head nut thing. It had somehow unscrewed itself and was letting the strut flop around like a wet noodle. I had camber play by hand because of it as well.

 

[Troywakeling]

I just did the quickstruts but they are spendy anywhere between 550-650 dollars for all 4. They were cheaper for me than buying everything seperately and I saved in labor as I didnt do them myself. Front is about stock level, the ass sits a little high.

Doing this took most of the play out of my front end, but I still need inner tie rods as they seem to have lots of slop and make some noise when I go over bumps. Also going from 170k on originals that were all leaking with tops clunking over every bump it mad a huge difference in the ride and composure of the SHO.

 

[shoon]

Thanks for the replies guys.

As far as I know these are stock struts, and not inserts so I think that rules out the internal flopping thing you mentioned Toul.

Upon further investigation I found out the mounts are still solid, and the spindle part of the strut is not flopping around inside the mount, but rather flopping around inside the base of the strut! So I'm getting replacements.

Troywakeling, I did more research on the quickstruts, and found out that although the quickstruts work, they are not recommended for the SHO because they have a softer coil spring... although people that do have them seem to be very happy! The quickstruts are the most expensive option for me right now, so I will most likely avoid it for now.

I already did my rear suspension a few months ago when I bought the car. I went with the moog cargo coil (CC859) and Monroe sensatrack strut. I'd rather keep everything the same all the way around, plus it seems like it will be cheaper if I go with the Moog CC858 springs, sensatrack struts, and Moog strut mounts.

I'm looking at $350 CDN for everything (except bellows and bumpers; I have brand new boots and bellows sitting in my tool box)

As far as cutting the moog CC coil springs, I'm not going to do it after researching the forums. From experience installing them in the rear of my car (uncut) I found them to sit high, but after a few months, if anything they seem to sag a bit, although it might actually be stock ride height.

With the fronts, I'm sure the car will sit high and drive rather comfy, but after a year or so I'm confident the height will drop a bit once the springs settle.. If not I will cut them as a last resort.

 

[TYSHO]

Install the Moog CC's on the front and you'll be wishing you cut at least one coil off. The height is above stock height, like a few inches. You'll be waiting forever if you're looking for the CC's to settle to ideal height without cutting.

 

[strings1732]

Shoon,
The question that needs to be asked is if it is moving from the top or bottom of the tire when it's in the air. Reason being, is it could be your ball joints. I'd check to see if it is bad before throwing new parts at it to find it isn't fixed yet...

 

[Troywakeling]

Just figured I would post some pics of my recent quick strut install since they have about 200 miles on them now. For all those that care

 

[shoon]

Thanks for all the help everyone,

I replaced my struts, mounts, coil springs, and boots. I left the coil springs uncut (against advice from most). It sat high at first, but a few weeks later the coil springs settled and I'm happy with the ride height.


I did an autopsy on the original factory strut to find out what was causing my problem... it turned out the spindle WAS flopping aorund inside the strut causing all my problems.

The spindle is supposed to be threaded into a plunger inside the strut.. but for whatever reason the threads ripped out so the spindle was no longer attached to the plunger giving it a ton of free play and rendering the strut useless.

The spindle was modified slightly and does make a nice drift punch now however

 

[platoribs]

Not to rain on anybodies quickstrut parade but Monroe ran a buy 3 get one free that covered their quickstruts too.

Ended up costing me just a skosh over $400 for all four corners.

 

[Troywakeling]

Not to rain on anybodies quickstrut parade but Monroe ran a buy 3 get one free that covered their quickstruts too.

Ended up costing me just a skosh over $400 for all four corners.

yea I knew they did that, Ive worked at many auto parts stores that sold Monroe and now work at a dealer but I had 170k on my originals and didnt want to wait till they decided to run that deal again.

 

[Storm-Chaser]

"but I had 170k on my originals and . . . ."


:scared:

yea I knew they did that, Ive worked at many auto parts stores that sold Monroe and now work at a dealer but I had 170k on my originals and didnt want to wait till they decided to run that deal again.

 

[Troywakeling]

"but I had 170k on my originals and . . . ."


:scared:

Haha I did buy the car for $600 after all....

 

[ShelbyDoug]

I have a problem as well with some similarities. It has me stumped so I came to the Forum looking for some direction.

Mine is a 92. Specs: Intrax springs, Tokicos struts, 225-55-16 on slicers, alighment, -1 cambeer, stock caster, 1/8" total toe in, air pressure 35 #.

Iight suspension. 15,000 on struts and springs. 26/24 F/R anti sway bars.

1)car is wandering left to right suddenly, like it is bumsteer, on small gentle ups and downs in the road
2)car is torque steering to the right with any throttle
3)left front strut nut had unscrewed itself in the past (8,000 miles) and was reinstalled with loktite and has not reoccurred.
4)subframe is tight, engine mounts are tight, nothing broken
5)car feels like the front anti-sway bar is disconnected since it is snap steering under any kind of road variance even at 30mph but the sway bar links are fully functional.
6)realighed the car twice to make sure it was done right the first time and no change.
7)rear end does not have play or misalighnment.
8)Moog front strut mounts went in with the struts 15,000 miles ago and show no signs of failure.
9)Steering rack and tie rod ends(new) show very acceptable near zero play
10)front wheel bearings are new and have no play.
11)I took the strut rods apart expect the subframe cups to be loose but they are nice and tight. Changed the bushings to full poly. It does little to fix the problem.

I am at this point completely stumped. I have had this car since new and have 114,000 on it now so I am not a novice to it. I am beginning to suspect that it is the front Tokico struts. The travel does not seem limited on the lift since the suspension hangs properly with no or little toe changes. But the only thing that would cause this was a)snap steer caused by a disconnectd front anti-sway bar b)toe changes caused by bump steer, bad tie rod ends, or c)one of the front tires lifting to the point that they are near lossing contact with the road. d)brokrn or disconnected sub frame (it isn't)

Any one care to chime in here? This is a new one to me. Can it be that the struts are gone at 15,000 miles?