Loose suspension up front
Loose suspension up front
Hello i have a 1990 hatch and have recently noticed a suspension problem. When i jack up the front of my car, the wheels drop down and the struts become disconnected from the upper mount. The rubber that surrounds (or is supposed to surround) the struts at the upper mount is torn to bits and is crumbling to nothing. I am almost positive this is the reason why my wheels woble at highway speeds and when slowing down from highway speeds. How do I go about fixing this? Should i just replace the entire assembly? Would it be a good idea to pull it from a junkyard or is it worth getting new parts? Any help is greatly appreciated.
Replace the part with a new part. I'm assuming you're referring to the rubber upper strut mount on the shock right? If you've got stock springs or springs that lower your car slightly you'll want to make sure you don't want to deal with the hassle of spring compressors and another alignment unless you have to. Besides, they're pretty cheap parts. While you're replacing that part, might want to check if your shocks themselves are blown too.
If you've stock springs and if it's the part I think you're talking about (the big rubber thing at the top of the strut with 3 studs poking out of it and also keeps your springs from flying off the assembly then yes. You need to use a spring compressor otherwise you risk serious injury when the nut that holds the strut in place comes flying off (if you're not using a compressor).