ChromePhoenix

Hi guys did a few searches and came back with no results. was curious as to what everyones opinion on the best strut mount and why. ive looked at these so far.

http://www.spohn.net/shop/1982-1992-...ut-Mounts.html

http://www.umiperformance.com/catalo...hgl0viul2sdcr0

http://www.hawksthirdgenparts.com/ca...ountspair.aspx

http://www.foundersperformance.com/p...er-Plates.html

The hawks and Spohn seem to be the same design but i know appearances can be deceiving.

1MeanZ

iTrader: (9)

These are the best you can buy IMO. I and others have had them and they are fantastic.

http://www.hotpart.com/shop/index.ph...duct_list&c=16

Just clicked through your links, I'm 99% sure these are the same ones shown on Founder's website. If they are the J&M parts and that price is right, I'd buy them now before they find the typo....

G-reg

iTrader: (3)

Wow.. Even the description on the Founder's page is almost identical word for word, except for the "made in USA" part and the warranty. Hotpart are made in USA, everything else from Founders is imported and based on the price I'm going to guess these are too. Founders warranty is for "the main plate bending", Hotpart's warranty includes the bearing too. I don't know how you'd bend 5/16" steel in either one in anything less than an accident, the sheet metal its bolted to is probably only a quarter as thick.

xpndbl3

iTrader: (5)

Anyone running these strut mounts with coilovers? I'm going with the racecraft coilover kit here:
http://www.racecraft.com/index.php?m...roducts_id=516

Wondering if they would work with the founders kit and save me $120 over buying the racecraft caster/camber plates then.

JamesC

iTrader: (5)

I'm running the Spohn version, but if I were purchasing again, I'd certainly purchase the HotParts piece because of the way it adjusts.

JamesC

Primetime91

iTrader: (15)

The UMI version is a blatant copy of J&M's innovative design, they didn't even try to hide it. I'd go with J&M/Hotpart over them, the quality of UMI's parts may be good, but they simply stole the design. Boo


---xpndbl3, I have a pair of Afco coil-over sleeves and spring seats (Like Shagwell runs) if you are interested, you can piece a kit like Racecraft's together for less. Just P.M. me if you're interested

xpndbl3

iTrader: (5)

just ordered it from racecraft this morning and it shipped out already....wish i would have known, I looked all over on here and other places for a used setup but no new threads about it.

Guess I'll pickup the founders one later tonight since everyone seems to be running them without issue with coilovers.

djmarch

iTrader: (4)

Educate me here people related to these top strut mount comments...Are they for coil overs ? I'm looking for coil over struts for my 89 F body. Has anyone tried QA1 ? And what mods do I need to do for coil overs ?

Thanks

djmarch

iTrader: (4)

P.S...How much car handling difference do you see with coil overs vs. already having the WS6 suspension package ?

xpndbl3

iTrader: (5)

no handling difference it's for ride height adjustments mainly. I wouldn't put anything QA1 on my car when it comes to shocks but that's my opinion only. Strut mount caster/camber plates are for more adjustability when it comes to alignment settings only.

Primetime91

iTrader: (15)

The strut mounts improve handling & feel, by eliminating the rubber bushing & "slop" found in the stock ones. Some strut mounts also improve performance on lowered cars by raising the mounting point for the strut, & extend the strut's life.

Unless it's a drag car, where the weight savings & weight transfer come into play, I'd stay away from coil-overs. Or you can research & decide for yourself

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

Can someone tell me what I'm missing here? It looks to me like the UMI,Founder's, and HotParts strut mounts all have the identical adjustibility. Maybe one or two of them say "Made In The USA" , or the warranty differs slightly....but all three have sperical bearings etc...

Looks to me like the Founder's set has everything the HotParts and UMI sets have PLUS they're cheaper...so what's the advantage of buying the Hotparts set??

Is it the "Lifetime" warranty on the Hotpart ones?? How often do these wear out anyway??

Twin_Turbo

iTrader: (25)

Wanna bet Founders is made in China? I'm sticking w/ my J&Ms, I have no respect for copy cats and China stuff

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

Hotparts is the only one that has a lifetime warranty for the entire mount. The main body and the bearing. The others dont offer that warranty. I even seem to remember "customblackbird" wrecking his car and having a J&M mount bend and they offered to replace it under warenty. Have to check with him but i do seem to remember it, pretty sure it was him.

I dont see the plate ever being a problem, but with really hard use i can see the bearing wearing out and thats apparently covered by hotpart/J&M.

Founders is still pretty new and im not sure if the quality of the bearing is the same.

Only peeve i have with J&M's is its powdercoated in a satin black color, which doesnt match the rest of the parts on my car that are gloss, but its really not that big of a deal.

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

You may not want to make that bet....if you look under thier description, the first thing it says is "Made in the USA". On the copy cat portion, I agree - but we all know it's done all the time in every industry - sometimes for the better good for us consumers, other times not.

For instance, I bought a new Samsung LED TV about 6 months ago. Now every brand of TV has LED televisions, plus they have the 3D thing now. Doesn't mean I won't ever buy another brand of LED TV except for Samsung since they were the first to come out with it (as far as I know)...but they don't have trademarks like we do.

An even more extreme thought along the same lines - Ford was the first to perfect the assembly line for manufacturing automobiles...which drastically reduced the price of the final product to the consumer. Others followed suit because THEY HAD TO COMPETE, or go out of business. But I don't presently own a Ford.

The whole bad part to all of this "copy cat" thing, is when foreign countries produce a very simular or identical product for a cheaper price of what a company in the US can. Or even worse, make a better or more reliable product ...can you say Honda, Toyota - back in the eighties??? Luckily, over the years, American engenuity prevailed, and I believe our cars are as good if not better than what the foreign countries are cranking out.

I'm pulling for the USA like everyone else in this country, Hell, I gave years of service in the military to defend our values, ideals etc. in this country. So I'm pulling for the US to remain a wworld power and I hope everything we produce is top notch, and everyone around the world wants it.

But -it's also a harsh world out there - but I think we can meet or exceed any other countries product, price etc. if we really try. We've done it before. Just MO..

Sorry - I kinda drifted there....

//<86TA>\\ - Yeah, it makes sense if you are going to autocross or something and they are the only ones to warrant the bearing itself.

Twin_Turbo

iTrader: (25)

I've seen tons of "made in the usa" parts that are obviously from China. Wanna know how? Us foreigners when buying from Summit and the like get a list of ordered parts w/ country of origin listedm has to do w/ homeland security or something.

godreject

iTrader: (1)

Made in the US can simply mean assembled in the US yet still using Foreign produce parts like from China, either way still looks like a good piece.

xpndbl3

iTrader: (5)

mounted the founder's performance mounts the other night....



They look good to me and fit my coilovers no problem.

Reid Fleming

iTrader: (2)

The Founders piece looks different from their website photo.

xpndbl3

iTrader: (5)

looks identical to me....??

The Project

iTrader: (6)

Don't you mean "borrowed"

If you look at lca's and panhard rods, seems like UMI, Spohn and BMR all look the same. Hard to say who copied who.

Primetime91

iTrader: (15)

That is true, but it's hard to come up with a unique or revolutionary design for a bar with two holes on the end of it, lol. Some of the different companies do offer different designs for how their adjustable versions are set up though (some are much easier to adjust on the car), and have different designs for their teflon-lined spherical ends

itsMikey

i just installed some UMI ones..why over the J&M? cuz UMI is having a sale on em right now! $185

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

i have a setup from J&M, and one from UMI, both are nice.

Dartht33bagger

I actually just put these on my car with new struts and they work so much better than the stock ones! Only problem is there is no many adjustments that you should get your car aligned after you install them.

Now my only problem is my car still makes a groaning noise when turning -.-

Pablo

iTrader: (1)

FWIW I have the spohn mount and it allowed me to get about 1 degree more negative camber than I had with stock mounts.

The downside is that on my car, the mount is making contact with the master cylinder and master cyl reservoir. Not really the most comforting thing. I will have to modify the mount to correct this problem. This will probably not be a problem for most people installing this mount as they will not run as much negative camber as I do. But then again, if you don't need that much neg. camber then I don't think you really need these mounts. You aren't asking much of your turning ability already via your camber settings. I think the only reason to get them is if you absolutely need more neg. camber and your car is lowered (to regain some strut travel). The spherical bearing is neat feature but imho is not a huge improvement in the grand scheme of things.

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

i had Spohns mounts years back when i had coilovers up front, and with the 4tyh gen master, i had a little more clearance IIRC, maybe something to look into before cutting up the mounts, if you want.

Abubaca

iTrader: (3)

Can't speak badly about any of those brands, but I have lots of UMI parts on my car. They're all made well, and their customer service is great. If they came out with a part I needed, I'd almost goes as far as to say I'd buy it sight unseen based on my previous experience with them.



Just my 2 cents!

godreject

iTrader: (1)

I ordered UMi's this past new years weekend since they were having a sale. Summit had the black ones for 196.00 and after 15% they were 168 or so, so overall a great deal. I didn't like how they only 1/4" instead of 5/16" like the founders but since i ordered more pieces i also saved on shipping.

Pablo

iTrader: (1)

Thank you for the tip. Which master did you use specifically or are all 4th gen masters the same?

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

the later ones, from the 98-02 cars have the right threads, and are pretty much a bolt on, you have to tweak the lines a little, or unbolt the prop from the booster and pack it off a little. Looks a lot better than the stock one too.

i had pics, im trying to find them

Pablo

iTrader: (1)

The strut mount is hitting the mc body but is mostly really pushing up on the reservoir. Would you say this new MC would give me more clearance in this area?

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

off hand, i would be inclined to say yes, but i can run outside and measure the 2 cars and see what extra room there is and get back to you.

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

just a quick measure (its freezing outside) , but at least 1/4" from to the top of the tower to the ls1 reservoir at the front of the reservoir

cc 82Z-28

iTrader: (7)

I bought the Founders units and they look like really nice pieces, the welds looks good and I don't think there will be any issues with these. I am using a number of different manufacturers with all the parts I am putting on car and I can say that I haven't any complaints with any of them. For me price was a big consideration as well the quality of the parts I wanted. I don't feel you have to spend big money to get good parts, you shop around for the best price for the part you want, somethings I got from members here that either changed their mind on their project or needed money for something else. Parts I bought from manufacturers I waited for sales and got some great deals as well. I have parts from UMI, Founders, BMR, Spohn, Lakewood, Edlebrock, and KYB. I have more time than money so I was patient and watched for the deals I wanted.

The Project

iTrader: (6)

Very true.

I like waiting for UMI's sales throughout the year. 15% off pays for my shipping

Pablo

iTrader: (1)

Thanks! 1/4" would do it for me. Now to find a MC with the reservoir for sale. Everyone just sells the MC.

xpndbl3

iTrader: (5)

ls1tech should have a few of them for sale from cars being parted out

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

i boulght a good used one from ebay, lasted a couple months and started leaking. Bought a new ACdelco one and never looked back.

I'll double check today, since it should be a little warmer and my fingers wont freeze off, but 1/4" for sure.

Pablo

iTrader: (1)

Wagner makes a replacement with a modified reservoir that looks like it would give me tons of clearance. The only concern I have is whether or not it is too tall.

Kind of hard to tell and there are no specs out there for it.

aqualordx93

sorry im bringing this back. why not just get the orig looking ones? is there something better about the hotpart/founders??

JamesC

iTrader: (5)

Elimination of rubber in the OE and adjustability.

The following from Spohn's site:

These fabricated front upper strut mounts for the 1982-1992 F-Body Camaro and Firebird feature a chrome moly spherical bearing with a Teflon® self lubricating race. We have also built an extra 1/4" of negative camber adjustment into the mounts. The mounts feature CNC machined components and are precision welded. We even include stainless steel mounting nuts!

The mounts are 1" taller than stock to provide extra strut travel for lowered and non-lowered cars. A must for those looking to do some serious corner carving, and you can't beat the trick look they provide to your engine bay!

JamesC

1 DwnCam

Did any of these companies ever get around to making a strut tower brace that fits the Holley Stealth Ram?

FoundersPerf

I need to clear this up. Our parts are manufactured in house in the USA.

The Project

iTrader: (6)

Do you manufacture for others?

FoundersPerf

No we don't manufacture for anybody else.

DBLTKE

iTrader: (1)

How much added strut travel do the Founders, UMI, and J&M provide over stock strut mounts? I see that the Spohn strut mounts advertise a 1" increase in height.

blacksunshine'91

iTrader: (10)

Has this question ever been addressed in another thread?

FoundersPerf

Ours is 1".

blacksunshine'91

iTrader: (10)

So yours is 1" taller than stock, i.e. the same height as the Spohn unit. Correct?