strut bearing

[phayze]

is there like good quality ones or there all the same or should i jus go with stock ones

[foamypirate]

Our cars don't have strut bearings. Can you try to describe the part you are talking about so we can properly identify it?

[deevergote]

Aftermarket strut bearings get in the way of the blinker fluid reservoir.

[foamypirate]

Aftermarket strut bearings get in the way of the blinker fluid reservoir.

Deev, strut bearings DO exist, haha.

On cars with McPherson strut setups, the entire spring/damper rotates when you turn the wheel. The strut bearing is at the top of the strut, allowing it to rotate without making horrible noises.

Your Fit has them, if I'm not mistaken.

[TypeG]

pics? later.

[deevergote]

Deev, strut bearings DO exist, haha.

On cars with McPherson strut setups, the entire spring/damper rotates when you turn the wheel. The strut bearing is at the top of the strut, allowing it to rotate without making horrible noises.

Your Fit has them, if I'm not mistaken.

I know, I was only making light of a part that doesn't exist on our cars Like the strut bearing, the blinker fluid reservoir doesn't exist on a CB7 either!



Anyway, I assume he means the top hat bushing. And for that, it really doesn't matter. OEM will last the longest, unless you get something like Energy Suspension, which I believe does make that part... Aftermarket will probably hold up for a good amount of time as well. It's not really a part that gets worn out too quickly.

[phayze]

well i only ask cuz im going to be putting coilovers on soon so i thot your supose to put some next level bearing bushing what ever you call on

[deevergote]

No. there is no need. Some coilover setups will come with a new tophat.

Tein makes adjustable top mounts... On some setups, they can be used to adjust camber. Not ours.

[johnl]

Regardless of what springs / dampers are fitted to the car, it's worthwhile to replace the OE soft rubber damper rod bushes with harder poly items, or, to pre-load the OE bush rubber by partially compressing the rubber with a thick 'crush' washer placed underneath the OE rod bush retaining washer.

Such a 'crush washer' will be about the same diameter as the OE retaining washer, but the centre hole will be very slightly larger then the OE crush tube, and the washer will be about 5 or 6mm thick (I've 're-cycled' the washers that fitted onto my OE damper rods, the ones with the tapered centre holes, but with the centre hole enlarged to fit over the crush tube). As the nut is tightened, the crush washer compresses the rubber bushes, making them in effect substantially stiffer.

This latter mod to the OE bushes is what I've done with my damper rod mounts, and it does sharpen up handling response. Note that the OE damper rod bushes are very soft, and partially isolate the damper's damping action from both the chasssis and from the suspension, i.e. the rubber bushes act as if they were a short stroke undamped spring located between the damper and both the sprung and the unsprung masses (which when you think about it is actually what the damper bushes are).

You can see just how soft the OE bushes are by observing the top of the damper rod as you rapidly oscillate the car on it's springs (i.e. push the car up and down...). If you can see the rod moving vertically relative to the tower top then the bushes can usefully be stiffened up. The down side of doing so is increased NVH.