[s-cars] My baby has been scarred - Upper Strut Mount FAILURE!!!!! - UpdatePart I

[Paul Gailus]

I  just want to make sure that we're talking about the same thing
when you referred to the large "washer" in your posting.
The metal cup I was talking about is under the strut mount,
and is over 2 inches in diameter and about an inch deep.
The concave side (opening) of this cup faces down.

The reason I ask is that there is a shallow dished washer clearly
visible on top of the strut mount. I'm just checking to make sure
that you're not referring to this one.

Paul

----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Pollan <mark.pollan at mci.com>
To: 'S-Cars (E-mail)' <s-car-list at audifans.com>
Sent: Monday, November 17, 2003 12:26 PM
Subject: [s-cars] My baby has been scarred - Upper Strut Mount
FAILURE!!!!! - UpdatePart I


> I had a closer look at the upper strut mount.  The large, inverted
"washer"
> is in place.  I spoke with a tech at Adirondack (where I bought the
mounts)
> about the failure.  He was perplexed and theorized I hit a bump "just
> right".  Anyway, new mounts are to arrive here tomorrow.  I will take some
> pics and provide to anybody who may be interested in seeing the
destruction.
>
> Regards,
>
> Mark
>
>
>  -----Original Message-----
> From: The Gagnons [mailto:bullitt at gwi.net]
> Sent: Sunday, November 16, 2003 6:39 AM
> To: Paul Gailus; Mark Pollan; S-Cars (E-mail)
> Subject: RE: [s-cars] My baby has been scarred - Upper Strut Mount
> FAILURE!!!!!
>
> Mark,
>
> I had the exact same failure about two years ago.  I had a shock replaced
> and the springs replaced all around and the shop forgot the metal cup that
> Paul describes.  The shock caused the strut mount to push up into the hood
> and put a nasty ding in the hood.  It took about two weeks for this to
> happen.  The shop denied that they forgot the piece and claimed it must
not
> have been there when they took it apart.  I argued with them and told them
> that if one side had it and the other didn't they should have noticed
> something was wrong.  They eventually offered to buy a new strut mount and
> install it, but the hood repair was on my nickel ($375 to be exact).
>
> In my mind the problem was clearly their fault and they should have been
> responsible for the whole repair.  This was a difficult situation as they
> are one of the only shops around with experience on Audi's and other high
> end cars. They also allow me to bring my own parts which many shops do not
> allow.   I boycotted the shop for about nine months until I had another
> repair cost me an arm an a leg and a whole bunch of time elsewhere.
>
> Jack
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: s-car-list-admin at audifans.com
> > [mailto:s-car-list-admin at audifans.com]On Behalf Of Paul Gailus
> > Sent: Sunday, November 16, 2003 1:49 AM
> > To: Mark Pollan; S-Cars (E-mail)
> > Subject: Re: [s-cars] My baby has been scarred - Upper Strut Mount
> > FAILURE!!!!!
> >
> >
> > Mark,
> >
> > Sorry to hear about your problem.
> > You might want to take off the failed strut mount in order to verify
> > that there is an inverted metal cup on top of the strut piston shaft.
> > This is needed to spread out the compression loads on the strut mount:
> > http://www.audifans.com/pipermail/s-car-list/2002-December/008957.html
> >
> > If the metal cup is present, then it's likely that a defect in the strut
> > mount
> > or the strut insert caused the problem.
> >
> > Paul