You are right on all counts . I have purged my car of all white line products , they need to sort their house out , although some are probably good still im airing on the side of caution.

 

I'd like to see the pics.
Are they on coilovers or struts?

 

Are these failures mostly occurring on coilovers or struts or equally?
Wondering if spring rate is a factor?

 

Hopefully it is, just had these fitted with the WA/A2 springs, presumably they would put less stress into the mounts than 6kg springs

 

I've never, personally, experienced an issue - I wonder what's going on?

Have you got your car back yet?

 

No not yet, it is possible now, but I would prefer to have the alignment done before I pick it up, I think most of the alignment places have been shut, hopefully some have reopened this week.

 

I wonder if it's worn dampers combined with lowering springs and stock length bump stops? Or, over-lowering the car onto its bump stops, in combination with stiff springs?

Spec c r/ra had 6kg front springs, but it wasn't that low = still had enough bump travel.

 

ok maybe mine aren’t any worse than others but still cracked.
KW V3 coilovers

others have said white line will replace them. Do you just contact them directly? What proof will they ask for?

cheers

 

What's your front ride height? Wheel centre up to arch. Is it less than 360mm? Assuming it's a Newage?

 

I’m not sure mate and I can’t measure right now as the cars on stands. It’s a classic btw

 

Standard springs and struts on my hatch. But spec C ones. My theory is that the materials that they use just can't cope with higher spec versions, so spring rate will definitely come into it. The rack bushes that I posted were so soft that you could push them in, and out by hand, despite coming with a press tool. I replaced with Powerflex black race series and problem vanished.

 

Mine have some small cracks but aren't split like the ones above. I'll post some photos tomorrow.

 

Anybody got any recommendations for alternatives to the Whitelines? Or adjustable top mounts? Need to get some for my Bugeye and wondering if I should just stick with Group N mounts.

 

Pedders seem to do an alternative but I can’t find any user reviews, good or bad on them. They apparently have bearings at a different angle to help alleviate some of the whiteline issues but I remain to be convinced.

@2pot, mine are on S05 springs up front and showing the cracking of the rubber and exhibiting cracking noises. The original set I had were fitted with a set of OEM STI UK springs and had the same cracking issues, albeit no cracking of the rubber.

 

What are your front wheel centre to arch measurements?
I'd like to see the pics.

 

These are mine:
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Ride height is stock S05's with Koni inserts although I can check the exact measurement.

 

I contacted white line today. They don’t advise these top mounts on cars with coil overs due to the spring rate. They suggested the adjustable pillow mount type although not really recommended for road use.

 

They said that to me, in an email, as well.

@TECHNOPUG and @ST-X are using struts with sensible rate springs.

I haven't seen this issue, but something isn't right.

 

to be fair I checked back and mine are actually 4 years old. They offered me the adjustable pillow mounts for a really good discounted price. So I bought them.

 

Whiteline gave up with the kca335 on the BRZ/GT86.
Pedders are still selling their offset top mount for those models. I'm scanning the forums for those cars to see if there is any positive/negative feedback.

 

See post #7
https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133548

Polyurethane in the construction? Really?
https://www.rallysportdirect.com/par...ount/questions

 

Whiteline seem to use a special steel that isn’t considered to be metal according to that answer...

 

Polyurethane rather than rubber would make sense as a ‘different’ way of doing it, and maybe help reduce the cracking the whiteline parts seem to get? The shop response is hilarious though, you’d expect better from someone in euro’s or Halfords!

Post #7 is interesting as it suggests that whiteline haven’t changed the plane the bearing sits on in relation to the mounting plane of the top mount to the chassis, which would put additional stress on one side of the bearing as it takes more load, probably causing binding and then perhaps stressing the rubber more than it’s designed for as it’s also having to then deal with a twisting load. All surmisation of course, but a possibility. If that is indeed true then it would seem the Pedders product *could* resolve the issues of the Whiteline stuff, but there doesn’t seem to be any real world feedback on them from anywhere.

 

2Pot, what are your thoughts on the Group N pillowball mount available to the hatch onwards. Do you think they would be unbearable on the road, or suit the rawness of the hatch spec C? It's the only other option for me apart from oem, and there happens to be some half price at Exe TC.

 

Interestingly the BRZ, and a few others, did have a US technical service bulletin on the top mount:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...fJ_c0WnyQd_9d8

 

The striction from the bearing angle makes sense, as mine were making cracking noises long before the rubber showed any tears.

 

It's a real pain, isn't it.

For the hatch:
You could use the later/stiffer 20320FG012 front top mounts, but you'd lose the caster and camber of the offset mount.
You could slot the lowest front bolt hole in the strut, by 2mm - that would get the camber back.
But, then there's the loss of caster as well.
SuperPro do high caster alloy arms, due to a modified bush - does the spec c have steel or aluminium arms?
https://www.superproeurope.com/news....m?articleid=82

Otherwise, it's pillow ball plates, which I don't like on the road - it's a head scratcher.

 

I'm beginning to think that this may be the root cause of the Whiteline issue now; adding in an ALK, flipped pins etc all move the strut away from it's stock plane and then you add in another half inch (ish) of movement at the top, all without changing the angle of the bearing mount. I wonder if some thin angled shim to mount between the top mount and the chassis would resolve all of this?

 

Thanks. Absolutely! Moving to the Superpro or 2011 oem alloy control arm would be great, because of the bonus of the weak rubber rear Bush being pillowball... BUT! the jdm arms have a bracket built into them for the hid headlights, which the replacements don't.
I guess it wouldn't be a disaster to try some cheaper Cusco pillowball mounts, then return to rubber if it's too much. Of course, I have new replacements from WL as well.
In an aside for hatch/saloon owners, the oem top mount is identical to the Jdm Legacy 05-09 mount (20320) except it has an additional washer under it (20327).

 

But it's still failing on cars without ALK or castor bolts. I agree about angle issues but from personal experience can't help thinking that material and manufacturing quality comes into it.