Installed all new struts on my Mom's 1996 I30. The rear struts were kind of a pain because the lower bolt (17mm) was not aligned with the rest of the brake assembly and everything else, so I "twisted" the strut by sticking a screw driver in the lower bolt holt and prying it about a half inch to make it line up. This happened on both the left and right rear of the car. That was last night...

Today my mom got home from work and the right rear strut had completely leaked all over the place. They were purchased from www.carpartswholesale.com for $47.95 each. Do you think my twisting had anything to do with it? Or is it simply a bad strut? There was no other way to line up the strut without spinning it.

Yep ... the rear struts aren't supposed to swivel like that, only the front ones are due to steering. You should have compressed the spring, spun the upper mount assembly so it all lined up and then uncompressed the spring.

Are you kidding me, of course the twisting had something to do with it, in fact probably has everything to do with it.

Seem like cheap struts too though. I'm sure the twisting had a little to do with it.

I just replaced my rear SHOCKS...and maybe you when u twisted it...you bound up the piston, against the "nut", and grinded it...loosing the seal on the shock.

Tho...when you do it again...just match up the upper shock mount rubber with your old springs...it'll line up just right if you do this. In other words, make sure the top of the spring seats exactly as the deformed rubber had 'em before.

I've seen poopy struts and shocks leaking oil right outta the box....so maybe that coulda been the problem.

Anyway...try again..hopefully getting replacements for free, and again...line up upper rubber mount with old coils.

Get better struts, it's worth it. I had KYB GR2's installed at 140,000 to replace the originals (man were they shot) and they ride nicely. One of them leaked within a few thousand miles, and was replaced for free under their lifetime warranty.

The only thing I'm concerned about now is the fact that the boots are all ripped...do you think I could get them to replace my struts for free again?
I'll be hitting 200,000 miles before Christmas.

The rears are struts.

We've been over that a bazillion times.

Thanks for the tips guys. I still don't know if twisting the strut had much to do with it =( I lined up the rear springs exactly with the new struts (I used tape) and neither one lined up. Ah well, next time I'll make sure it's right. The other shock that was spun to line up properly is still doing great after about 100 miles

I'm just going by what the Factory Service Manual calls 'em. Strut Assembly(front) vs. Shock Absorber (rear)

Twisting the assembley will not damage it. The piston can rotate very easiily in any direction and it will have no effect on the shock. The failure is the top seal and that is probably caused by a scratch on the polished piston. There's a warning sticker on the shock that tells you to be very carefull not to scratch the piston. During assembly or when you had your screwdrive in there, you probably put a nice scratch or nick in the piston which tore the upper seal and caused the leak.

I second that , durnig few installs i've had the rear shock/struts inside the vice and used air wrench to lossen up that center nut. The whole shaft spins freely on KYB AGX/ Tokico HP / GR2's and stock shock/strut.

My rear beam was damaged so lining up those rear shocks/struts was a major PITA , but ever since i have replaced it with one from 96 maxima - installing those is a breeze , sometimes little twist here and there is needed , but as longest the top two bolts are lined up with 17mm at the bottom the whole assembly should go right in.

Nick.

Yeah and a bazillion times youre WRONG.

The rear coilover damper assembly is not a strut because by defintion a strut is a type of independent suspension. Since you're selling rear mounts for our cars I'm sure you've seen the BEAM axle underneath the backside of our cars.

A Strut is not defined by how the weight of the body is supported; as I remember it thats your reasoning for calling our rear suspensions a strut suspension. Thats a misconception. Its how the WHEEL is supported/located. Remove the wheel out of the picture and what you have is the knuckle. The damper strut needs to make a direct connection of the knuckle to the chassis. For a damper to be defined a strut it must directly support the knuckle. There is no other upper link/arm above to support the knuckle. It must also be a major load-bearing member. You think "load bearing" is just supporting the weight of the car. Load bearing also includes countering lateral forces. what happens when a tire strikes a bump? The wheel goes up but it is also resisting lateral/bending movement via the suspension system. All suspension systems move up and down. The challenge of designing a suspension system is to prevent it from moving side-to-side and keep the tire contact patch level with the ground. There are suspension designs which may resemble a "strut" suspension by means of having similar coilover design, or maybe the bottom of the coilover assembly is affixed directly to the knuckle. However if they have an upper control arm or a link of some type in those configurations, the control arms /links becomes the primary load bearing member and those coil over damper assemblies are much smaller than a typical true "strut". Simply by the design itself and having control arms/links they are classified as different suspension systems and are no longer a "strut" suspension. You stick a BEAM in the suspension design its no longer becomes a strut suspension. When you start introducing links/arms/axles into the design you no longer need a strut body to counter the lateral forces therefore those coilover damper assemblies are made smaller.


The front damper on our car is a strut because the wheel is fastened to the damper via the knuckle directly bolted to the bottom of the damper. There is no other suspension member above the knuckle other that the strut itself. Also IT'S AN INDEPENDENT-type suspension. The shock absorber is usually integrated into the strut body. On some cars like older Toyotas you can replace the shock cartridge in the strut body. Our front suspension dampers are integrated into the strut body itself, so its replaced as a unit.


People confuse the front suspension of a Honda Accord as a "strut" suspension too. Lets take a look at that.

Take a good look how the wheel is supported. Its bolted to the knuckle which is held by an upper and lower control arm. The coilover damper assembly is obviously supporting the weight, which is what you contended in the past as defining what a "strut" suspension is. However why can't the term "Strut" be applied to the Accord's suspension the coilover assembly is helping support the weight of the car? The upper and lower control arms is the reason. Its a double wishbone suspension and its called as such because suspension systems are defined by how the WHEEL is supported/located. In this case it also makes no direct link to the upright/steering knuckle. Also note the size of the damper assembly. It is much smaller than the front struts found on our cars because it simply does not shoulder the burden of lateral movement. Yet you go to Honda-acura.net or other ricer sites and they still call them "struts".

Going back to the rear of our cars...THERE IS A BEAM. The beam is what's keeping the wheel up. The damper assembly provides support to the beam. Look at where its fastened. It does not make a direct connection to the spindle. It does not directly support the wheel. The beam does. AGAIN STRUT SUSPENSIONS ARE INDEPENDENT-SUSPENSIONS. A good clue would be why NISSAN stopped calling our rear suspension "struts" when the 4th gen came out. Its called a "multi-linked beam" instead of a "strut" suspension like the 3rd gen Maximas BECAUSE ITS NOT A STRUT SUSPENSION. If its not a strut supension then the coilover damper assembly and the damper itself is NOT a strut. There is no such thing as a strut beam suspension. THERE ARE NO SUCH THINGS AS A STRUT BEAM SUSPENSION BECAUSE THERE ARE NO DEPENDENT STRUT SUSPENSIONS!!!!! Go look at the rear damper assembly of a 3rd gen Maxima. See how the knuckle is integrated into the damper body. Now that's a strut. Put those two together and you'll see why the body of the 3rd gen rear damper is much larger/sturdier.

From Nissannews.com on the I30 BEAM suspension:

http://www.nissannews.com/site_libra...30/index.shtml



Stop confusing the rear coilover assembly as a "strut"-type because it looks like one. The panhard rod and control link is whats taking the stress from lateral movements. If you remove the panhard rod and control link and exert the lateral forces the suspension typically sees the dampers in the rear will bend. There is a reason why there are so much smaller than the fronts. Because they are no longer major load bearing members.


If you prove me wrong I will donate $100 to a charity of your choice in your name. And please dont use the net to back up your "facts". You want to be serious about it get some published textbooks. At least with published textbooks there are actual fact checking before they put **** in writing, and are geared towards people who actually want to learn in depth about automotive stuff, not **** for the layman and the dumba$$es who wonder why routine maintenance is "necessary" and need to read several articles on it even though common sense should tell you that new filters, fluids and spark plugs will keep the car running in optimum condition. Last time you gave me links of auto sites for dumbaZZes (I poked holes in their "definitions") and some websites selling shock absorbers (do you really think they will go in-depth detail on all the available suspension systems out there when all they want to do is get the typical dumbass to replace shocks every 20k mi?).

I've read several but I kept one book for reference since they pretty much outline the major suspension classifications. Mine is an actual texbook. My source: Auto Mechanics Fundamentals by Stockel/Stockel

Hmm... maybe that is what caused the leak, a scratch on the shiny piston. Matter of fact, I can recall using a pair of pliar-type vice grips like these:

http://www.womenbuildinglondon.org/d...20grip%202.jpg

to keep the piston still while I tightened down to top strut...nut... because it kept spinning around unless I put those grips on to hold it. =(

I guess the piston is sensitve to scratches and that's why the original struts had a rubber shield around the piston.... of course over time mine only has like 3 rings left at the top, the rest of the rubber "rings" have worn off and fell to the bottom of the assembly.


Sooo, question: when I put the new one in, how can I tighted the top bolt while the shaft spins?

How are you supposed to hold it still while you put on that nut?

pinch the top with vise-grip pliers


http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=40091

clamp it down then you can hold onto the pliers while tightening the piston shaft nut and it wont spin on you.

I thought that was what caused this guys problem? Or do you mean to do it at the very top and that part will never need to make a seal with the main shock body (or strut...I don't want to get in the middle of that one ) anyway?

Geez I missed that part. I admit I glanced at his post and noticed that he used "strut" so i ignored it. But yes you pinch/grip the very top of the piston shaft. On my AGX the top of the piston shaft is tapered and in a rectangular shape so it can easily be pinched/gripped without resorting to gripping on the precision-finished piston shaft. You should NEVER grip the piston shaft with any tools. I dont know what brand he is using. If he's using factory originals than can't remember far back enough whether the piston shaft ends look the same as the AGXs.

If there is no way to grip the piston shaft then take car to a shop or someone with an impact wrench and deep sockets and have them tighten those suckers down.