Installed MS Lowering Springs

[Silver Ecstasy]

You guys need to google search on the struts blowing myth.

Struts will wear regardless of spring. The oem dampers are garbage to begin with. If they blow, they blow. Regardless of the spring, they'd need to be exchanged anyhow.

 

[Nliiitend1]

You guys need to google search on the struts blowing myth.

Struts will wear regardless of spring. The oem dampers are garbage to begin with. If they blow, they blow. Regardless of the spring, they'd need to be exchanged anyhow.

First of all, that's bulls***. It's not a myth....

Secondly, it isn't just about whether they'll "blow."

They're simply not valved for a stiffer, lower spring, and will not perform properly with stiffer, lower springs regardless of whether or not they "blow."

Yes, the OEM dampers suck. That's not news to me. BUT, handicapping them further by pairing them with an even MORE inappropriate spring is not something I see as a wise choice.

That said, each to his own...

 

[goldwing2000]

First of all, that's bulls***. It's not a myth....

Secondly, it isn't just about whether they'll "blow."

They're simply not valved for a stiffer, lower spring, and will not perform properly with stiffer, lower springs regardless of whether or not they "blow."

Yes, the OEM dampers suck. That's not news to me. BUT, handicapping them further by pairing them with an even MORE inappropriate spring is not something I see as a wise choice.

That said, each to his own...

Hmm... that's odd. I have 115,000 miles on stock struts and an Eibach pro kit and they're doing just fine. (braindead

The stiffness and position of a spring have nothing to do with how quickly a strut will wear. Driving style and road conditions have more effect.

 

[Silver Ecstasy]

Thanks Kane! When I get home from work ill link that thread about struts.

 

[Nliiitend1]

Hmm... that's odd. I have 115,000 miles on stock struts and an Eibach pro kit and they're doing just fine. (braindead

The stiffness and position of a spring have nothing to do with how quickly a strut will wear. Driving style and road conditions have more effect.

All I can say is, ignorance is bliss...

And yes, the "stiffness and position of a spring" DOES have something to do with how fast a damper will wear. When a spring is underdamped, more oscillations occur in the damper and the seals wear out more quickly. The amount of force that is being distributed through the assembly when using a stiffer spring is also higher, which puts more stress on the entire assembly. And finally, when you force it into a lower static position, you're increasing the likelihood of bottoming out, which ALSO wears the damper's internals more quickly and can lead to premature failure...

 

[goldwing2000]

All I can say is, ignorance is bliss...

And yes, the "stiffness and position of a spring" DOES have something to do with how fast a damper will wear. When a spring is underdamped, more oscillations occur in the damper and the seals wear out more quickly. The amount of force that is being distributed through the assembly when using a stiffer spring is also higher, which puts more stress on the entire assembly. And finally, when you force it into a lower static position, you're increasing the likelihood of bottoming out, which ALSO wears the damper's internals more quickly and can lead to premature failure...

Ok, granted that if you have 1000kg springs on all four corners, you're going to have some issues but I think your teeth would rattle out before you noticed any strut problems.

MazdaSpeed/Eibach springs are nowhere near stiff enough to cause any appreciable difference in strut wear or number of damping occilations, much less enough to overstress the strut's physical structure.

And the lower static position is also almost irrelevant. As long as you keep the factory compression bumpers in place, you're not going to bottom out the dampers. Combine that with the fact that Eibach springs are progressive, they will actually *prevent* you from bottoming out better than the factory springs due to the increased force as the spring compresses.

And for the record, I'm far from ignorant about my own struts. I've had them off the car a number of times to monitor their condition and check for damage.

 

[mr_mazda329]

Hell, the OEM dampers are on the soft side for even the OEM springs, so I can't say that any of that comes as a shock. (lol2)

Totally agree with you on this. The car bounces bad enough. the car should follow the road and not bounce, yet not bottom out either

 

[Nliiitend1]

Ok, granted that if you have 1000kg springs on all four corners, you're going to have some issues but I think your teeth would rattle out before you noticed any strut problems.

MazdaSpeed/Eibach springs are nowhere near stiff enough to cause any appreciable difference in strut wear or number of damping occilations, much less enough to overstress the strut's physical structure.

And the lower static position is also almost irrelevant. As long as you keep the factory compression bumpers in place, you're not going to bottom out the dampers. Combine that with the fact that Eibach springs are progressive, they will actually *prevent* you from bottoming out better than the factory springs due to the increased force as the spring compresses.

And for the record, I'm far from ignorant about my own struts. I've had them off the car a number of times to monitor their condition and check for damage.

I disagree.

 

[goldwing2000]

Fair enough. I was done arguing anyway. (idhitit)

 

[Silver Ecstasy]

So i've been getting a mysterious clunk since i've installed the springs. Specifically the driver's front. They've checked all the bolts and everything is tight. We noticed when the suspension was on full droop, the springs could be twisted around by hand while the strut was staying in place. They weren't sure it was supposed to do that, but said it may cause the problem.

After using the impact gun on the top 3 bolts, it actually seemed to fix the clunking, although I still hear it ever so slightly now. It's an empty popping on slow speed impacts.

 

[Nliiitend1]

Is the strut topnut (the big one) fully tightened/torqued?

It could also be your strut bearing...those things wear out relatively easily. (dunno)

Have you also checked your swaybar endlinks?

 

[Silver Ecstasy]

Checked everything. Dealer hit the top bolts with an impact gun and that seemede to make the most difference in eliminating any clunks.

 

[///M Compact]

After using the impact gun on the top 3 bolts, it actually seemed to fix the clunking, although I still hear it ever so slightly now. It's an empty popping on slow speed impacts.

That's the sound my LF strut made. The noise got louder and the dealer diagnosed it as a bad strut.

 

[Silver Ecstasy]

Gotcha..it was like a low hollow pop?

 

[///M Compact]

Gotcha..it was like a low hollow pop?

Exactly. It first became noticeable driving over speed bumps at low speed- but it gradually became louder and occurred more often.

 

[ALIEN3T]

Did a car with Koni FSD. made a popping noise when turning the wheel. Came to find out the top mount was bad. we replaced it. noise was gone!

 

[Nliiitend1]

That's the sound my LF strut made. The noise got louder and the dealer diagnosed it as a bad strut.

Gotcha..it was like a low hollow pop?

Exactly. It first became noticeable driving over speed bumps at low speed- but it gradually became louder and occurred more often.

I resisted the tempation to offer that suggestion, mostly because I just figured you'd take it as me just trying to pound into your head that "stock dampers + lower, stiffer springs = bad news."

I'm glad someone did mention it though, because this is a definite possibility...

 

[Silver Ecstasy]

Nah man, I'm not going to take things so personally.

However, i've literally only had the springs on for about 300 miles max. It seems a tad too soon. Why/how would the top mount go bad? How is that caused?

 

[Nliiitend1]

Nah man, I'm not going to take things so personally.

However, i've literally only had the springs on for about 300 miles max. It seems a tad too soon. Why/how would the top mount go bad? How is that caused?

Well, considering the seemingly lackluster QC they had on these OEM dampers (as evidenced by the multiple OEM damper failures - with even OEM springs - mentioned on the various forums) the springs could have merely been the "straw that broke the camel's back" so-to-speak with that one marginally defective strut... (dunno)

As far as the top strut bearings go, they're basically a wear item as far as I'm concerned, as it's just a simple plastic bearing that over time wears out (and typically wears out with more frequency when stiffer suspension components than stock are used) and it's possible in your case that one of yours was simply subpar to begin with, or perhaps was damaged slightly during the teardown/reinstallation that occured when you changed your springs.

Previously with my Focuses, it got to the point of where whenever I changed out the suspension (which uses the same basic type of bearing in the front) I simply bought new ones and replaced them since they were relatively cheap. That way I new they were brand new and weren't likely to be the culprit if things made noise or didn't seem right once I got it all back together.

 

[Silver Ecstasy]

You're talking about the nut that holds the top mount in? That one wears?