Front top hat/alignment question

[Jond63]

Is it normal for the top nut on the strut to be off center in the top hat when looking from the top due to alignment adjustments? The driver side one looks pretty centered on mine, but passenger side looks off center quite a bit -- I'm trying to determine if it moved on me or was set that way by the alignment guy. I couldn't get a hold of the same tech who did my alignment, the shop told me they could just check to make sure it's still tight. They did say they sometimes adjust it that way, but I couldn't tell if the guy was really getting what I was asking... am I making any sense?

Oh, and I don't want to just loosen it and center it if it will mess up the alignment....

 

[genericmoniker]

Not sure what you mean by that, but if it's any help, pillowball mounts on many, many coilovers are slotted to allow for camber adjustment.

 

[Jond63]

I guess I mean the pillowball? Mine is still stock, but the top nut is not centered on one side... doesn't appear to be moving around in there though, I'm going to check the torque on it this weekend.

 

[CorkSport]

I would need to go look at our shop car but most of the earlier models had an offset to them to give some adjustment to do alignments. It wouldn't surprise me if the 2 had this as well.

-Derrick

 

[Jond63]

Cool, thanks Derrick!

 

[genericmoniker]

Stock mounts won't be "slotted" quite as far, though I'm sure they do have some give for adjustment.

 

[Jond63]

Ok cool -- I just wasn't sure if that was a kosher way of adjusting alignment or not -- I'm trying to track down a clicking noise coming from the suspension and was worried the shock shaft might be moving in there causing it. From some searching it appears clicking suspension sounds might just be a Mazda thing in general... gonna check endlinks again this weekend too.

 

[CorkSport]

I took a look at the shop car and they look to be a little offset.

-Derrick