Strut Mounts - Is my mechanic honest with me?

I have no doubt that it's time to replace my struts and mounts, but my concern is that my mechanic's honesty is questionable: I complained about a noise from the drive shaft he installed few months ago, but he claimed that the noise is due to bad struts. To prove his claim, he lifted the car up and down and pointed to the fact that when the wheel touches the ground there is some movement in the centers of both motor mounts when being observed from the top (under the hood). According to him, there should be no movement at all. Shouldn't the tip of the strut have some freedom within the mount? should I start looking for a new mechanic?

Thanks in advance for your comments and suggestions.

Reply to
bauz
Loading thread data ...

You say "engine mounts"? Did you mean struts? If so, the mechanic is right, the upper mount should hold the strut ball-bearing very firmly. Over years of driving, the upper mount which is essentially a neoprene or rubber-like donut shaped thing, no longer holds the bearing which allows the strut to rotate as the steering wheel is turned, firmly. This causes the strut to move sideways causing increased negative camber and if really badly worn, it causes changes in camber of the road-wheel a the car travels around a bend. I've experienced this in a Volkswagon Passat. Also, its likely, as the car goes over more severe mounds in the road-surface, that noise will come from the upper mount as the bearing slaps around in the worn rubber support. The mechanic simply demonstrated the vertical wear, by jacking up the car so the wheels were off the ground,..this would cause the strut to rest at the bottom of the play in the mount, then as weight is re-applied to the strut as the wheels touch the ground, the strut moves upward within the play or slop in the upper mount.

Jason

Reply to
Jason James

Thank You Jason for the detailed and clear explanation.

PS - You are right - by mistake I wrote "motor mounts" (I don't know why) but I meant the strut mounts.

Reply to
bauz

The difficulty with worn suspension and some steering components, is demonstrating that wear, 'cause the weight on the component often masks any out of tolerance wear. So they use tire-levers or in your case, a jack, to remove load off the mount, them re-apply it.

best o luck

Jason

Reply to
Jason James

If the bearing separates from strut mount, the whole strut assembly will fall off, if the ball joint to steering knuckle bolts are removed. Usually the rubber cracks between the molded in bearing and the outer flange with three mounting studs. This problem is common on all Cressidas and even on 96 Mazda Protege, I haven't see this problem on late 80th Camrys. The mounts are rubber and some movement is normal. If they are worn the noise will be most heard as suspension buttoms. The most common causes for negative camber are the worn lower control arm bushings. Poor installation methods such as hammering on the axleshaft for removal may damage bearings in the hub/ differential causing hum/growl which is speed related. I personally do not think that the upper strut mounts are bad.

Reply to
Doctor J

I agree that badly worn upper strut mounts are not a common fault, however once the car's weight is applied to the struts, there should be little discernable vertical movement observed at the upper support, and that is what the mechanic was pointing out. With such wear, the road-wheels camber will change as side loading is applied during cornering. The lower ball-joint can producing camber changes, sure, but keep in mind the lower BJ is a locating component, not load bearing in Strut front-ends.

Jason

Jason

Reply to
Jason James

"I have no doubt that it's time to replace my struts and mounts"

I guess you're questioning the methodology of your mechanic's static demonstration or test, but to cut to the chase, if you're convinced it's time to replace your struts, it's not even a question that you replace the bearings or mounts. That's one of those "since we're in there anyway" situations.

Just to back up what others have said, this is not an assembly you want "slop" in (yes, "limited flex" may be natural in bonded rubber/metal assemblies). You didn't actually describe your noise or the circumstances involved when the noise presented itself, but I'm not questioning "your guy" just yet.

CHEERS!

message

Reply to
RACEGUY

You'd be surprised how many folks just get the strut-guts replaced, ignoring the upper mount, plus equally, how many mechanics just do what the customer wants.

Jason

Reply to
Jason James

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.