Strut tops

Ciaran · Post by **Ciaran** » 13 Oct 2005, 22:42

Ok, today I got the car jacked up and the wheels off, and got a good proper inspection of the wheel arches, instead of just the casual poke I'd had before.

I touched the rubber on the underside of the passenger side strut top.... and horror.... got the dreaded crunchy sound

The rubber 'looks' ok, but it is starting to perish a little. There was a slight bit of rust behind it at the front, about 1cm in size. The rest of it is sturdy and non crunching... for now.

I guess my question is how long do strut tops generally last ? Are there any signs that they're very close to the end, and should not be driven on ?
I'm not currently getting any knocking sounds or odd behaviour, and the car is sitting level at the front.

I'll now be looking to replace both sides I guess

Anyone done it ? Is it a hard job ?

Any thoughts appreciated

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 13 Oct 2005, 22:47

sorry to put a downer on things but its likly not to give you any warning,it will just pop up through to say hello
regards malcolm

Ciaran · Post by **Ciaran** » 13 Oct 2005, 22:51

Nice

I saw a few XM's with bonnet blisters... I really want to avoid that

Is it possible to buy just a strut top ? GSF only seem to do the entire strut... and I'm still reeling from the £142 PER SIDE price tag

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 13 Oct 2005, 23:01

dealer only im afraid,also they are model specific,look at my posting on the tops i replaced for one of my customers
regards malcolm

Ciaran · Post by **Ciaran** » 13 Oct 2005, 23:06

s**t

What kind of money are main stealers looking ?

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 13 Oct 2005, 23:24

i cant remember but the cost was in my post on this subject,look up posts by (citronut) me,strut top update there is some picys
regards malcolm

Ciaran · Post by **Ciaran** » 13 Oct 2005, 23:30

Cheers, will have a look now

I presume a dodgy strut can only really be seen by pressing the rubber and seeing if it crunches. Can the rubber be removed for a thorough inspection of the metal ?

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 13 Oct 2005, 23:44

i wouldnt because the metal dome is moulded in rubber,and there is a big chunck of rubber on the underside of the dome,if the rubber is breaking up the weather gets in to the metal,so the metal deteriates
regards malcolm

Ciaran · Post by **Ciaran** » 13 Oct 2005, 23:49

I only checked from the underside of the wheel arch... the top of the strut, I can't see any rubber on

The metal dome is shiney and new, as the car had new spheres just before I got it...

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 13 Oct 2005, 23:57

the shiny black bit is the sphere mount,the top of the dome is below that,although the strut top and sphere mount is all one unit
regards malcolm

Ciaran · Post by **Ciaran** » 14 Oct 2005, 00:10

Thanks for that, will have another look tomorrow.

I'm still looking for the thread of yours with the pics... will be interesting to get some gen on it

c7rlf · Post by **c7rlf** » 14 Oct 2005, 04:54

It's a bit late now I suppose

But when I got my current Xant Dribbled Waxoil around the strut top just for peace of mind.

I did try to keep of the rubber though

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 14 Oct 2005, 08:43

unlikly waxoil will hold back the enevertable,as the bit that goes is moulded inside the rubber,so when the rubber starts to crack wet gets in and coroudes the metal, i had a prob finding my tread on this,then found it by just doing a search for author(citronut),the scrolling through to find strut top update
regards malcolm
ps.
my IT expert is at uni so i do strugle

Post by **RichardW** » 14 Oct 2005, 09:17

Here's the thread:

http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... hp?t=14883

I couldn't make the search engine find it either, other than searching on citronut and scrolling through. Seems to have a mind of its own - must be a Citroen

Clogzz · Post by **Clogzz** » 14 Oct 2005, 10:45

And here's where it started, 3 pages:

http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... highlight=