Hi. Very quick one. When fitting New springs (lower ones), does it make any difference how will I place the top hat? I mean those 3 little holes, do they have to be in some certain position or it doesn't really matter?
Cheers

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...0/StrutHat.jpg

 

Anybody?

 

There must be somebody that will know :-(

 

Ok. I found some on the internet. It says:

"While putting the struts back together, make sure that the spring rubber ring and the spring hat aling correctly. Also the center hole has to look towards the outside of the car, ie. towards the wheels."

The problem is that I fitted mines the other way round :-(
Why is it that important?
PLEASE HELP !!!

 

On the front, the front strut assembly has two main parts up top, the upper spring perch/pan and the tophat. Also up there is the rubber insulator and the conical washer.

The upper spring perch orientation is very important. If you look at your front strut you'll notice that the spring doesn't sit perfectly centered on the strut. The lower spring perch is offset a bit. Well, the upper spring perch needs to match that offset or the spring does not sit properly, in fact it will slant to one side. This will lead to knocking noises and potential damage. The proper orientation of the upper spring perch has the center of the three little holes on the outer edge of the perch sitting directly over the middle of the lower clevis (the two strut "ears" at the bottom of the strut). Basically, if you site down that center hole it should be right in the middle of the lower clevis.

Once that is oriented properly, the other important install detail is the proper orientation of the conical washer, if you look at the washer (it sits in between the upper spring perch and the tophat) it is coned shaped from the side profile. the smaller, pointy part should face up towards the tophat while the wider base should be on the bottom on the upper spring perch. If you have this upside down, you will damage your strut tops. Symptoms of this are stiff steering, and memory steer. Basically the steering will not return to center after a turn. So make sure you get that right.

The tophat itself actually has no specific orientation as it rotates on a bearing. It makes no difference which hole it goes into either. Just be very careful about the torque you put in the little 12mm nuts. It takes very little torque to sheer the tophat studs right off. 14.5 ft-lb of torque. Much more and you will rip the stud right off.

Good luck!

 

B I G Thank You mate !!! That's the answer I was waiting for. :-)