Monkeylad does suspension.....

[Nate Stuart]

I really don't know what to say about what I found last night. I was
working on a friends newly acquired '89 90q, and in preparing it for
roadworthyness once more I was replacing all the shocks and mounts, and
checking the bushing/tie rod ends and such.

The fronts went w/o too much drama, the old upper strut mounts were
totally collapsed, and the shocks were toast, so in went all the new
stuff, I was happy to find all new bushings all around, and all the tie
rods in proper order.

Then on to the rears....
Something didn't look quite right as I pulled the carpet away to get at
the upper mount nut:

http://www.newtsplace.com/~newt/images/?mode=view&album=Audi%2Fmonkey_lads&pic=dscn1080.jpg

ok, well, lets just pull it apart and see what else we have. Here is
basically all that was being used for an upper strut 'mount':

http://www.newtsplace.com/~newt/images/?mode=view&album=Audi%2Fmonkey_lads&pic=dscn1083.jpg

It seems that a couple slices of inner tube, and a big washer clamping
down on the upside down OE bearing are an acceptable replacement for a
rather cheap, easy to install, common, upper strut mount. *sigh* Oh there
was a trace or two of the original mounts in there, just as a spacer more
than anything though, any purpose they served in their prior lives was now
a crumpled mess jammed up so tight into the strut tower it took a good
15min with a pry bar to remove them.

Oh, and in case you are wondering.... both rears were 'fixed' in the
identical fasion....

-Nate
'89 90tq
http://www.newtsplace.com/90tq