Inevitable category repair. Front strut/spring mount.

[MadeInJapan]

Calvin, I have the same issue on my passenger side now (replaced spring seats maybe 60K miles ago, but that's before they had the beefy ones), so I'm tempted to buy two of the beefy ones and go for both sides at once at some point soon. I really don't like the idea of mis-matching these at all, although it may work fine.

[C@lvin]

It seems to offend something in me to mismatch them, but at the same time, removing both struts is not a trivial task. hmmm.......

[Brucebo]

I didn't see any significant difference in thickness or dimensions in the spring seat area when I compared the old one to the new IPD one. You may wish to put the two together side by side and/or measure them.

-Bruce

[C@lvin]

that's good information. I was assuming that they'd have different physical dimensions.....

[Ozark Lee]

At the point where the spring makes contact they don't look significantly different, where the difference is is the amount of rubber around the bushing that always breaks, here is a side by side comparison. The top side looks identical.

DSC02415.JPG (218.32 KiB) Viewed 845 times

I have always changed mine 2 at a time (along with the struts) so I really cannot testify as to whether mixing and matching them is a bad thing or not.

...Lee

[C@lvin]

Lee, thanks for the pic. That helps too.

Do you change your struts at a specific interval or on an as needed basis?

How can I tell if mine (struts) need to be replaced? I've got 186K on the S70 and about 111K on the V70. I'm the second owner on both and I think the struts are all original. They both seem to handle OK and they don't bounce when you push down on the fender (is that really a valid test?).

[Ozark Lee]

Do you change your struts at a specific interval or on an as needed basis?

I changed them on the Platinum at around 140K right after I bought it just because the spring seats were toast and it was clunking real bad on the front end. The labor is all the same so I did it all at once. The Platinum tends to be first in line for things that aren't critical since it is mine.

I think the struts and shocks are original on the '94 at 227k and the fender bounce doesn't tell me much, on the twisty, curvy, roads going to the cabin though the handling says they are bad shot. That will wait for another day - this week is the new radiator for the '94 which eats up my maintenance budget for this month.

The struts and shocks were done on my son's '96 N/A at around 140k, I put the struts on but I still need to buy him new rear shocks. I guess he gets embarrassed when he is the designated driver and the back seat is loaded up with his fraternity brothers - he may exaggerate but he talks like the rear bumper is nearly dragging the ground with 3 guys loaded up in the back seat. He was home from college this week with Pig Flu but I didn't drive his car so I can't say anything definitive on how it really handles.

...Lee