What's wrong with my strut?
 

After I completed the install of my MR lowering springs a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that my car developed "memory steering" because my driver's side front spring was binding. I took the strut apart and discovered that the top spring isolator had slipped out of position and was causing the spring to dig into the top hat, which caused the binding.

I reseated the top spring isolator, and all was well... for 5 minutes. The memory steering syndrome was back, though not as badly as before. I removed the driver's side front strut again, and found this:

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...0/ec72ad7e.jpg

I disassembled everything, and individually, all the components look straight. I even took a straightedge to the strut rod. The problem occurs when I put everything back together. The strut bearing is crooked relative to the top hat, and is wearing a deep groove into the top hat where the two parts are contacting as the wheels turn left and right.

Any ideas on what's causing this?

make sure the spring mount has the word " out" on the outer side of where the strut sits on the car...i did this when i replaced my struts and had the same thing happen to me...the word "out" was actually positioned to the inside.

^ I made sure the "out" label was facing outwards too. I don't know what else could be wrong.

did you make sure the spring was " mounted" correctly?


it's possible if the spring isn't mounted correctly in the strut & mount it can do that ...


strange thing is when i replaced my struts, it also looked like your pic, i thought it was strange but when i put everything back and put it in the car it sat fine...hhhhmmm

^ Yep, the spring is mounted correctly. It's mounted the same as the passenger side, which is fine.

what about the nut that holds the strut down? is it tightened all the way down?


the way it sits it looks like it isnt tightened all the way down i may be wrong tho

^ If anything, I over tightened it. :laugh: When I first installed the springs, I guess I didn't torque the nuts down enough, so all 3 strut nuts came loose on the highway. As soon as I got home, I torqued them down with my impact wrench. I've taken the strut apart twice since then, but I made sure those nuts were tight.

First time I did this one of the bearings popped out of place and this happened. Compress the spring again and make sure the bearing (the plastic disk part) is seated correctly.

^ The bearing is seated correctly. I double checked the last time I took the strut apart.

Just to double check
1. check part no and confirm it's the right strut for the side
2. Check part no of mount and confirm it's correct for the side
3. Make sure the top hat notch is correctly aligned with the strut knuckle brackets as per fsm

If all is good then maybe your upper strut mount failed....But it didn't occur until you starting modding your ride so remove them both and double check as stated ^^^^^^....something is incorrect.....

^ Yeah, that's true. Everything was fine before I installed the springs. I'll take the driver's side strut out again and compare it to the passenger side.

Damn dont got no tips installed my struts and springs but didn't have no problems but good luck!!:D

^ Did you reuse your old top mount?

What kind of spring compressor did you use? Maybe the spring got distorted if you did not keep the compression even on two opposite sides of the spring. Once you put the top hat on and tightened the strut nut partially was the strut bearing still level and properly seated in the top? Also, make sure it's not installed upside down, but I imagine you checked that! Good luck,

Joe http://forums.maxima.org/images/smilies/wink.gif

^ I used one of those Autozone spring compressors. I remember the top hat was tilted as soon as I put it on the spring, even before I put the strut nut on. Maybe the spring did get distorted somehow. And about the spring being upside down, the "Megan Racing" logo is printed on the springs, but it's upside down when the springs are installed correctly. It must be a factory defect, because the rear springs only go in one way, and the logo is upside down on those too.

If the top hat was tilted as soon as you mounted it then in my view the spring was not compressed sufficiently to fully seat the strut bearing using the strut shaft nut before releasing the spring. I used a spring compressor from O'Reilly Auto Parts, see the link and search for "strut spring compressor" (http://www.oreillyauto.com/) that worked well providing even compression by taking gradual turns on each side. Did the tool you used look like that?

Joe

^ Mine looked like the second one down when you search for "strut spring compressor". Hopefully I'll have some free time this weekend, so I'll try it again.

Double check the spring orientation. You mentioned that the spring is not OEM but a replacement. Did the top of the spring form a perfectly level circle that should fit into the top hat groove and its cushion like the OEM does? If it does not then maybe that's why it does not end up level when installed. This is compared to the bottom of the spring that tails off butting up to the perch step and therefore does not finish forming a full circle. The second spring compression tool in the search return is also the one I used and it worked very well.

Joe http://forums.maxima.org/images/smilies/wink.gif

^ It does. That's the part that's stumping me.