Strut help

[Stissy]

Hi all.

This might sound a little stupid/remedial but bear with me. We’ve recently fitted lowering springs to the front strut of a Mk2 VTR, however the strut is rocking back and forth, independent of the car. The droplink has been refitted, steering rack / track rod end, and wishbone, we’ve also fitted the top mount – not everything is tightened completely, but it’s fitted and tightened up with a socket. But the strut is moving when we move the car, and the wheel is hitting the arch. Is there something we’ve missed?

[Ben_SaxoForte]

kinda difficult to say without a photo, sounds like you've forgotten to attach something though?

[VeiRoN]

Strut might have different wheel bearing seating ie conical driveshaft on flat wheel bearing

[Brutus-1965]

Bearing on the top of the strut ???

[Stissy]

Cheers to all who gave replies. We managed to resolve this yesterday. It turns out the drop link was completely shagged. Once that was replaced and tightened the strut stayed .

[axsaxoman]

how does the drop link secure the strut it has joints on it --it would still move
movement on strut is usually wear between the damper piston and insert top bush
check this by jacking up car -then grasp wheel top and bottom and push at top and pull at bottom --get someone to put finger on damper rod where it goes into the insert --
you will feel if there is any wear + movement there .
some movement is very common on std units over 30k-you normally can hear a click when reversing on lock and then applying brake
hence why bilstein dampers have piston rod twice size of std one--

[Stissy]

Originally Posted by axsaxoman

how does the drop link secure the strut it has joints on it --it would still move
movement on strut is usually wear between the damper piston and insert top bush
check this by jacking up car -then grasp wheel top and bottom and push at top and pull at bottom --get someone to put finger on damper rod where it goes into the insert --
you will feel if there is any wear + movement there .
some movement is very common on std units over 30k-you normally can hear a click when reversing on lock and then applying brake
hence why bilstein dampers have piston rod twice size of std one--

I have no idea. We tried everything to resolve it. We have previously replaced the wishbone, replaced the top mount, removed and retightened the track rod ends. The only thing that solved the problem was replacing the drop link.