I just had a set of these installed with a set of KYB shocks.

This set up is extremely STIFF, the car hits real hard even if you go over small pot holes or speed bumps. Is it suppose to be this firm?

From what I have read I thought the KYB's are pretty close in performance to the Sensa-tracs. When the car had the stock strut plates and sensa-tracs, the ride was much better. I don't mind a firm ride but this set up feels and sounds like something is gonna fall off or break, that is how hard she goes over bumps.

I didn't install these, I had a mechanic do it, is there anything he might have missed or are these adjustable C/C plates just like this.

Any thoughts?

 

I do not think your problem is the CC plates. I have never heard anyone rave about KYB shocks, they are cheap and there is a reason for that. Did you change the springs as well?

 

I am running Eibachs, I forget if it is the Pro or Sport. It is the one doesn't slam the car, they have been on there a while so she sits lower than she used to.

Are the Sensa Tracs better than the KYB's? I still have them and I can change them out this weekend before I get the front end alignment if that is a better route for me to take.

 

Get some real struts and shocks(i.e. Bilstein, Koni, Tokico, etc.) none of this Monroe or KYB junk.

 

Yeah...I know I need to get some cash quit f&#@ing around and get the Bilsteins.

But I still have a feeling that something is wrong, It can't be due to the struts that it feels like the car is gonna fall apart.

 

well these cars are rupposed to ride really rough we restored my bros whole suspention setup to factory specs and that thing let you feel every tiny bump in the road. even on my car which is a SC the suspention is stiff enough to make a CD skip if you hit a small pothole at more than 15mph. I think it was you just had worn out shocks and are not used to how these cars are supposed to ride.

 

The ride is still firm but I more worried about the the sound that is made when you go over any type of bump, it isn't normal, it's almost like a metal on metal sound.

Imagine embedding a washer in a rubber mallet and whack your strut mounts hard everytime you go over a bump, that is what type of sound I am experiencing, almost as if no struts where there, maybe there is some bottoming out going on?

I don't know, it is with the mechanic right now cause it died on the highway this morning and I barely made it to a gas station. When the mechanic drove it around, he noticed the same problem with the struts cause he commented on it when I spoke to him.

Well Hopefully by Monday we'll have this thing figured out.

 

I guess you learn something new everday...
- I didn't know anyone made aftermarket adjustable mounts...The factory mounts have plenty of adjustment....
- its probably more of a handling thing, instead of striaght line/street driving, so that's probably why I've never noticed...

anyhow, any banging/popping noise can't be right. If you're getting a metal to metal bang over bumps, something is wrong.

 

My Eibach's are making the noise as well. i think its because i reused the factory rubber isolator, and now actually have metal to metal contact. i've put over 4k miles on it with it like this and no problem, when i go to upgrade my brakes, ill pull the springs out and put a new isolator in there.

 

Didn't you guys check the underneath for strut body clearance with the Hotparts adj strut mount?

Your strut body in bashing into it because they have now travel clearance on a lowered car. You have top shim them up off the strut tower.

 

I'm using the factory replacement strut mounts.

 

You're not h1-vltg asking whats wrong with his car and saying he's using adj strut mounts.
I am answering the original posters question.

 

Sorry, i took Guys as plural meaning the orignal poster and me as well.

 

I replaced my factory strut mounts with a pair of cc plates I purchased on ebay, and when installing them I noticed that the solid dust boots on my struts would come into contact with the plate after very little travel. I went to pep boys and bought a set of rubber accordion style dust boots... problem solved. This may be your problem, but I highly suggest you jack the car up and look for potential points where things are coming in contact.. your car shouldn't be making those noises...

 

you problem is likely compounded by lousy parts. it is very likely your struts are contacting the cc plates. You should have gotten the spohns, they are well known and proven. The kyb's can't control your suspension, they are pretty much a fixed orifice damper rod type damper. They ride poorly and perform the same. The Eibach pro-kit although liked by many here is also junk (IMHO). It lowers your car nicely but is too soft to keep you off the bumpstops. if you run it with koni's or tokico illuminas and don't encounter very rough roads it should be ok, but a stiffer rate is needed.

Sorry if this sounds insulting, just my experience.

 

Thanks for the input guys.

I didn't install the CC plates or Struts myself. I had a mechanic do it, I'll relay all of your thoughts to him.

Right now it is in the shop because it won't maintain a smooth idle, and it died on me on the highway.

 

After reading through this post I thought maybe someone could quickly explain how the clearance(s) should be measured, espcially since many cars are lowerd.
This would help a lot. (I hope this isn't a stupid question
-Andrew

 

I have KYBs on my car, and do not experience the bad ride you are mentioning. Granted my car isnt lowered, new Moog springs.

 

To the original poster, sounds like you're bottoming out.

To kaptinkafeen, what I do is get the car up in the air with the suspension loaded, so either on a drive on lift, or get the car up on jackstands and use a floorjack to load one side of the suspension. Then I measure a few points first that aren't related to the strut, how much room do I have before bumpstop contact on the a-arm, how much room do I have for tire contact against the fenderwell. This isn't to find out how much the suspension actually travels, its to find out the maximum it would travel before contact is made. Then once I got that number I measure the ammount of travel the strut has before the body contacts the mount. So you take the ammount of allowable travel the strut has and compare it to the allowable travel the bumpstops and tires have and you wanna make sure the strut has more room. Doing these measurements does not necessarily solve any problems you might have, its just a way to prevent strut mount contact if the suspension bottomed out. What you really want to focus on is having the right spring height, spring rate, and strut dampening setup to allow all the travel needed without any contact of any sort. Measuring the ammount of strut travel allowable before contact against the mount is tough, its a small space to get to and a dust boot makes it impossible.

On my IROC-Z I'm running the HMS mounts with a raised top and Tokiko Illuminas. With the ride height and alignment settings I want the shaft of the strut is very close to contacting the edges of the strut tower. Because of this I do not run any type of dust boot. Here is a picture showing what came out of my IROC-Z, stock mount and blown OEM strut (hahah) next to the new stuff I put in.



I'm not to familiar with the C/C plates but if these are the flat ones then I think they really limit strut travel. I think you guys should compare the stock mount to the C/C one in regards to the difference between the distance of the top strut bolt and the bottom of the mount where it touches the strut tower in the car. See how much of a difference there is in allowable travel.

 

Thanks Crazy - this is the type of stuff that helps all of us out Awesome
-Andrew

 

Ditto on what kaptinkafeen said, Thanks Crazy.

 

very good info indeed!

anyone have anymore or long term findings with the hotpart strut mounts? im seriously considering but will be dropped significantly.

 

When I installed my CC plates I remove the strut dust boots. I also removed my bumpstops. From time to time I do bottom out the strut but what is hitting is the strut tube into the underside of my fender. My strut shaft is sitting right against the edge of the strut opening. This allows me to get the maximum - camber. I would modify that hole but SCCA rules do not allow this.

 

i just now bought a set...black. hopefully i can get over any hurdles with them very easily

 

i've had a set of these for a while now. I also had to remove my dustboots, but opted to buy a set of accordion style ones from pep boys and have successfully used those. An issue with my plates was that they came with only two 12 point bolts per side for the caster plate. These couldn't sufficiently hold any positive caster without slamming forward under braking, so i opted to buy four hex bolts per side with the appropriate thread and haven't had any problem since. Other than these issues, I'm happy with mine.

 

pics are always nice 90firebird

 

I just installed a set of Hotparts -CC plates. I had to remove the strut dust cover as it will not work with their CC plate. I have lowered my car 1.5" and at this point have no clearance issues or strut travel issues - but that said I haven't had them long enough to really comment. I am running Koni yellow's and will post some pics soon.
-Andrew

 

you sais the majic word - Koni yellow. Very stiff riding strut, plenty of compression and rebound damping. More than a match for any off the shelf springs, lowered or otherwise. this problem seems to be linked to soft lowering springs (eibach pro-kit) and/or cheap dampers.

The prokit worked well for me for the 2 week period i had them with the illuminas. i had already ordere the moogs and just trew the struts in asap because the HP's i had died. I could have gotten by with the pro-kit and illuminas but i would have to run them on full stiff (4-5) to get the prokit to stop bottoming.

 

im running the intrax springs and the illuminas (just bought them all)....so i can assume i probably will see a clearance/bottoming out problem?

 

You can see the bolts I replaced the 12 pts with in this picture.


a pic of the dust boot


the bumpstop that came with the boots...

 

90firebird,
I have the same setup with different struts - why did you replace the 12points? Was this to ease adjustments when the time comes?
Also, just out of curiosity - what stb are you using? I'm taking a long shot, but it looks like a custom/fab 2 point? Did you have any issues mounting the stb brackets with the CC plates? - I have an edelbrock TBI 3point that has not been installed yet, (it may never seeing as 3point stb are not I think SCCA approved)....
-Andrew

 

looks good!!!

did you get both sets of those spacers with the plates or did you buy/make more (i thought i only remember seeing one spacer per bolt at their site)??

also, where did you get those dustboots?? i want a set of the acorian style (mine are long gone) and the bumpstops would be a very nice addition to prevent any metal to metal contact.

 

Cap'n:
I replaced the 12 points because I didn't have the proper sockets to really tighten them down, and the plates only came with two per side (instead of the four per side I replaced them with). The stb is the 3pt edelbrock tpi unit which was mounted long before the plates were, and I haven't had any interference issues.

Camaros:
those spacers were all supplied with the plates, and the dustboots (and bumpstops) came from pep boys. They were stashed in a hard to find spot, so you'll probably need to ask where they have them. Just remember that its better to over estimate than other wise.. I needed to trim a few inches off the bumpstops, but after that everything fit fine.

 

90firebird do you have any issues with the part of the plate that points to the fender hitting your hood when you close it?I had to cut it back 1/2 an inch to get my hood to close with both spacers in place.Will post pics tomorrow.

 

An update from me...I finally go the plates on and drove the car. The bumpstops I picked up from PepBoys with the boots I had to severly cut down. I only have a little over a quarter inch of bumpstop but I had to do this because myt car is lowered and I need all the suspension travel I can get. Its mainly to prevent metal to metal contact and give a little cushion.

The plates are a great product, the 12 point bolts work great for me (they included enough to get 4 bolts per side) and this makes it much easier to eyeball your own alignment until you can get it to a shop; along with the grreat adjustment range.

I've always wanted a set of trick strut mounts and am extremly happy I finally got these!

 

CamarosRUS did you use 2 spacers on each post?Mine's lowered too and with both spacers the part of the plate near the fender ended up hitting the hood after the alignment was done.Had to cut half an inch off the plate

 

Yea without both spacers I would have almost no suspension travel. As far as I know I'm not having any interference issues with the hood. It needs an alignment badly though so that may change. I'm going to go check a little closer now that you mention in but I don't recall anyone else having a problem. You do have a camaro, right?

If I do need to modily them I guess then it will be time to also powdercoat them white to make them blend a little better.

 

86 IROC and I went with Bilsteins for lowered cars all the way around.Might wanna try going with just one spacer for the hood clearance.I'll post pics in this thread in the morning of where it was hitting my hood.It was right on the part that drops down on the hood.Tried flatting it down but was still hitting.

 

I have no clearance problems with the two spacers, although I am running near full negative camber..