Wobbly 4kq front strut mounts / Jamex front strut bar

[Huw Powell]

Jan Pinkowish wrote:

> Hi Huw, Thanks for the reply.
> 
> Right.  The bearing is rigidly snapped into place in the mount.  The
> mount doesn't lift and it doesn't skate.  It rocks(wobbles).

Good...

> Funny, I thought that one of the functions of the rubber in the mount
> was to allow for minute angle changes.  Perhaps including wobble in
> the bearing lets both parts of the strut mount wear at the same rate.

I think the rubber part is just a bushing, to reduce vibration and 
harshness.  The bearing part goes "round and round" and "wobbles" to 
allow changes of angle.

The part has to work hard, encountering all the blows the front tires 
receive, and supporting a good portion of the weight of the front of the 
car as well.

By the way, as a silly aside, when I replaced the ones in my 90Q, the 
front ones were installed upside down!

> I recently scored a jen-u-wine Jamex front strut bar.  Currently, my
> front suspension is on the floor.  So, I can either bolt in the bar
> now, or install the suspension and weld in the mounting studs later.
> Any further reflections on this?

My thought is that it should be installed with the engine (etc.) in the 
car, and the suspension loaded (ie, tires on the ground), so that its 
"rest" position is the basic centered, unstrained geometry.  But I have 
cc'd the list on this, I bet someone out there knows the answer to this 
better than I, and I might have it coompletely backwards.  Perhaps the 
bar *should* be installed with the strut towers unloaded, so they can be 
at rest in their "factory" position, not twisted away from it by the 
rigors of weight and time.

Comments, anyone?

-- 
Huw Powell

http://www.humanspeakers.com/audi

http://www.humanthoughts.org/