suspension people

[bullett]

has anyone got ideas what may be the problem with mine.
my passenger side front has dropped and is nearly touching the tyre,and it does touch on right handers that are fast. the spring hasnt broken everything is done up tight and i dont know what else would cause it

[JHS]

What suspension have you got?

[bullett]

koni adjustables and ahmed springs matey

[L8 ECU]

koni adjustables and ahmed springs matey

I am 98% sure that will be the Koni bent/kinked where it goes in to the hub.

A small kink of only 1mm at that point translates into approx an extra 1 degree of neg camber.....
.....therefore 6 to 8 mm inwards at the outer top edge of the tyre.

[bullett]

really?didnt think i'd be able to bend the shock leg. i did hit a pot hole ages back but thought it would mash the wheel but didnt
typical,i have a spare for a saff but not the escort

[JHS]

really?didnt think i'd be able to bend the shock leg. i did hit a pot hole ages back but thought it would mash the wheel but didnt
typical,i have a spare for a saff but not the escort

4wd saff and Escort have same shocks

[L8 ECU]

Here you go......"The problem with Koni's" pictorial.......

LOOK!

A pair of Koni struts, on the left a good undamaged one, on the right a useless bent one....correct?



WRONG!

They are BOTH bent, the one on the right in close up........this is obvious - severe damage!



At first glance the one on the left looks OK...........In a way it is "OK".....say if you've got 16" or 17" wheels fitted or 18" with 12mm to 15 mm offset......



Look again in close-up.....you can now see a kink of about 1mm......



The thing to remember is that a 1 mm kink at that arrow point (where strut is bolted to the hub carrier) becomes nearer to 6 - 8 mm at the inner edge of the tyre (nearly an extra 1 degree of neg camber you did'nt know you had)......and dependant on the wheel/tyre size and offset there is every chance of rubbing/contact EVEN with the spring platform cut back.

[cosmo]

I've had this very problem in the past with a set of Koni's and it gave me 3 degree's of negative camber on the front

The cause of the kink as in Dougs pic above is the fact that the Koni's DO NOT sit in the carrier fully down to the shoulder on the strut, in fact it actually works out to 8mm too high. as if it does you cannot get the pinch bolt through so you end up having to pull the strut back up enough to get the bolt in.
This then means the strut is then sitting on the pich bolt and not on the shoulder and so reduces the area of location in the carrier thus making the strut easy to kink.

When I refitted mine after spotting this I elongated the pinchbolt hole up by 8mm to allow the bolt to go through with the strut fully down on the shoulder and this instantly brought the camber angle on the front back down to 1 degree.

[rsnissan]

I remember you saying about this Paul. I took the pinch bolts out today, I have standard shocks and the strut dropped down about a good couple of mm's. Enough that i cant get the bolt back in as it now hits the tab on the strut. So I am not sure if they dont stif on the pinch both anyways

[bullett]

4wd saff and Escort have same shocks

i thought there was a difference.cant remember what is was but was sure there was




all this gives me food for thought.maybe i will just buy a new set anyway

[cosmo]

I remember you saying about this Paul. I took the pinch bolts out today, I have standard shocks and the strut dropped down about a good couple of mm's. Enough that i cant get the bolt back in as it now hits the tab on the strut. So I am not sure if they dont stif on the pinch both anyways

I know what you mean Andy, but to me it seamed to make more sence that it is sitting on the shoulder as the downward force is then on the shoulder and not the pinch bolt and your also getting the full amount of location in the carrier as opposed to being held off by the bolt .

As a comparison the Bilstein's and the original setup on my Mundaneo sit right down on the shoulder as if they are not the bolt will not go in

[cosmo]

I know what you mean Andy, but to me it seamed to make more sence that it is sitting on the shoulder as the downward force is then on the shoulder and not the pinch bolt and your also getting the full amount of location in the carrier as opposed to being held off by the bolt .

As a comparison the Bilstein's and the original setup on my Mundaneo sit right down on the shoulder as if they are not the bolt will not go in

Also the tag that the bolt goes through is only there for safety reason's so that the strut cannot pull upwards if the pinch bolt works loose

[The Radman]

makes sense as you always have to get a screwdriver in the hole to lever the shock back up before you can get the bolt back through
problem is that if you did elongate the hole then the lower spring platform would deffo foul 225.40 tyres/rondells as it would sit that bit lower down,still you cant have it bothways

[cosmo]

The thing to remember is that a 1 mm kink at that arrow point (where strut is bolted to the hub carrier) becomes nearer to 6 - 8 mm at the inner edge of the tyre (nearly an extra 1 degree of neg camber you did'nt know you had)......and dependant on the wheel/tyre size and offset there is every chance of rubbing/contact EVEN with the spring platform cut back.

This too happened to mine Doug

[cosmo]

Before and after...........