Need advice with shocks and springs
 

Hi all this is my first question as I'm a new user

I own a 1997 WRX import impreza.

Recently failed MOT for a leaky shock amongst other things.

The car had adjustable coil overs on the front but i decided because of budget to purchase a second hand OEM set off ebay.

Apart from stiff bolts on the knuckle the old coil overs came out easily. I didn't know at the time to mark up the top camber bolts position. i hope this is the only problem.

When I started installing the OEM set that I'd bought I realised a spring compressor would help as they seemed to big to install and it took some serious graft to get them in position. (No they're not the rear ones which are even longer)

Once the wheels were back on and I'd bled the brakes I went for a test drive and noticed straight away noise coming from both sides.

Turning full lock is very juddery and when I put the gas on the engine revs up but power does reach the wheels. Almost feels like brakes are on.

I'm a bit worried about the whole thing and would appreciate any advice.

I havent drove it since

Thankyou

Mark

Why were the brakes bled? Did you remove driveshafts?

What else did you remove?

The shock/spring unit is removed in one go with just 5 bolts.

The brake line went through a bracket held by clip which was part of the shock so i had to disconnect the line from the calliper to feed it through. lost a bit of fluid doing that.

also removed what i think is the speed sensor on other side which is attached to a bracket held by the camber bolt.

Yep 5 bolts to remove the lot. 3 in the engine bay on the top and the 2 bolting the shock to the knuckle.

Old one came out really easy. but the OEM one is a bit longer and it took some effort installing it.

is there a difference because its an import maybe? Are front springs/shocks a bit shorter on import models?

The seller said they will fit all models 1993-1999

didn't touch the driveshafts

Are they camber bolts on your car? Did you get alignment done?

the bracket that attaches to the shocker slides out when you remove the clip so you dont have to remove the brake lines and have to bleed them. also shockers are sided ie left and right so if installed the wrong way round they will clunk off the bulkhead when on full lock.

Yes the top bolt is a camber bolt. I didn't mark the position of the bolt before dismantling. I didn't realise about it til after.
Could the symptoms of the ride be caused by poor alignment? I understand how important camber is and it will be the next thing I look into when it's not pissing down rain. The ride is that bad, almost too much bad for it to be bolt adjustment. What do u think?

I spotted they were handed because the brackets for the brake line and speed sensor matched up.
All the videos I watched about changing shocks did show being cake to remove brake line without disconnecting from the caliper but that was in newer models.
I'm sure there was no other way to get them off. It was the same on the existing coil overs and the oem ones I was installing.

Is there a difference with import models regarding length of the standard shock and spring assembly?

able not cake. spell check fail

Does anyone have any ideas???

Did you take the brake caliper off? What about the brake lines, do they have a kink in them?

I didn't take the caliper off but I did have to remove the brake line from it to get the shocks off.
I bled the brakes after cos I had air in the system.
If there happened to be a kink in the brake line could that be the cause?

I didn't take the caliper off but I did have to remove the brake line from it to get the shocks off.
I bled the brakes after cos I had air in the system.
If there happened to be a kink in the brake line could that be the cause?

It was just with you saying that when you turn it feels underpowered, if when you turn the brake line kinks or is in some way is getting trapped, ie not free it could cause those symptoms.

Thanks. I'll defo look at that. Do u know much about the camber bolts? If they are badly set is it common for the ride to be really bad?

Do u know if there is a difference at all with import model suspension?

No sorry, if iam honest it sounds like a issue with the suspension but thought it could be worth a look.

Thanks for your help Chris


Does anybody know if there's a difference with oem suspension for import and uk cars?

Hi there,

Sounds like you did everything right to me, on classic struts you have to disconnect the lines or cut through the bracket and bend it out of the way to release the line (quite easy with a small hacksaw and mole grips).

It sounds strange to me that you had such problems positioning the strut, ok it's a little tricky to get them in place but shouldn't need spring compressors etc..

if you've got your camber bolts totally wrong, ie one max positive and one max negative it would probably make the car feel pretty weird, but not sure it would give you the issues your describing, but I'd certainly take them out again and position them with the camber cams at the top on both for now. Did you check the top mounts on your new shocks before fitting? did they spin freely?

As far as I know all classic suspension is the same in terms of fit whether UK or import, yes some may have shorter dampers etc but nothing that means they aren't interchangeable in operation

Hi thanks for your response.

I've had the wheels off again after work and it wasn't long before I spotted the cv joint has come apart.

I put new discs and pads all round when I first got the car and I noticed that the driver side lateral link was like a banana. Now I've got this problem I reckon at some point in its life it's been in a ditch or sideways up a kerb equalling weak cv joint.

Better on my drive than on the motorway.

Thank you all for you replies

Problem found