[s-cars] front strut assembly diagrams

[Paul Gailus]

Sounds like the shop left out the cup-shaped metal piece that
goes over the threaded part of the strut piston rod (the open end
of this cup should face down). The Bentley calls this a  "cover" and
the Family Album calls it a "retainer." Whatever you want to
call it, it functions as the top retainer for the bump stop.
So the shop may have left it out thinking it wouldn't be
needed with the internal stops in the Bilsteins--big mistake.
The top curved surface of this inverted cup pushes up against
the bottom rubber portion of the strut mount to absorb the
compression forces from the strut. If you don't have it installed,
the strut rod can only push on the metal bushing that goes
through the center of the rubber mount. Not only does this make
the suspension much too compliant in compression, but I think
there is a risk that the metal bushing could be pushed through
the rubber and into the hood. So I would get this checked as
soon as possible.

I've always thought that the stock mount was overly compliant
in rebound because the top dished washer normally only pushes
down on the center metal bushing. Only when there is significant
deflection does the outside of the dished washer start engaging.
I think it would be relatively easy to improve on this setup by
using a larger dished washer to engage a larger area on the top
of the mount. Perhaps a large rubber washer could also be added
to get the right interface between the mount and the dished portion
of the metal washer.

Paul

----- Original Message -----
From: Manuel Castillo <quicksmile4u at hotmail.com>
To: <s-car-list at audifans.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 01, 2002 1:25 PM
Subject: [s-cars] front strut assembly diagrams


> [ Converted text/html to text/plain ]
>
> Help, I need a copy of the front strut assembly diagram.
>
> Last Friday, I had my new H&R springs and Blistein Sports installed on my
93
> S4 at my local tire shop. Along with the struts, I got the boots,
bearings,
> mounts and tie rod ends replaced.
>
> The problem: when driving, I noticed a clunking noise over rough surfaces,
> when braking and on hard accelaration. When I contacted the tire shop they
> said that this was normal due to the springs settling.
>
> Saturday,  I met with a group of Audi fans from the Nothern Cal Quattro
Club,
> great guys, when I showed them my problem, we noticed that the top of the
> strut  moved up and down excesivelly  when pushing on the bumper. The top
> metal plate that is directly over the strut nut had almost a half inch
> separation  from the alignment plate rubber bushing. This gap increased
when
> loading and unloading the suspension. This also recreated the noise.
>
> Monday, the shop will check my suspension again. What I need from you is a
> copy of the exploded diagram from the Bentley manual or from  Audi showing
the
> proper order of all the bushings and such. Unfortunatelly, I do not have
my
> own copy of the manual yet.
> Many thanks in advance,
>
> Mani
> 93 S4 with noisy new shoes....
>
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