As title really,

The driverside front top suspension mount is very "notchy" when turning the front wheels, ie the Mc-Ph strut is turning as well as the spring, but the top mount is very lazy in comparison...

would anyone have any pics or info on what its made up of, is it ballraced to the strut and the rubber mount part of it attached to the chassis???

just looking at it make me wonder if thing like this contributed to the springs breaking, the top part being turned against the strut...

already lubed it up once, just want to see if there is anything i can do to keep it going for the RR day!:slayer: because it will be sods law i have a spring break lol

cheers!

Ive got a gritty top bearing in my o/s front suspension. Makes a squeak sometimes over bumps. Ive had 3 replacement shocks over the time Ive had the car (Stilo 02-1.2 ) all were under warranty all because they were squeaky. Ive done 60k since the last replacement and the car is nearing 120k now. Im still on the original springs though. I just live with the odd squeak, I guess at this mileage theres bound to be a few! If its not potentially dangerous (which Im assured this is not) I dont spend the money. As for how its made, I believe the upper bearing is a roller bearing on the standard strut unit.

Cheers for that, 120k and original springs im happy with that!, i was just worried that if i left it it could cause the spring to break,

squeaky is the best way to describe it!, sometimes sounds worse on different days!

the top of the strut (what you see under the bonnet) isnt suposed to move as far as im aware. the top rubber is supposed to bolt down and sandwich the car frame with another rubber underneath. does that make sense?

Here's a top mount
It's just a chunk of hard rubber, nothing too sophisticated

I thought the "chunk of hard rubber" had a bearing inside it?

It's a flexible rubber bushing- a bit like an engine mount

the under bonnet bush doesn't spin just the one under the arch

how does the spring rotate at the top then??? is there a plate under the rubbermount that pivots??

The spring just winds up a little and relaxes, it doesn't need to turn at the top mount. Just imagine a coil spring in your hands and you turn one end 45 degrees either way and back again.

The springs almost always break just slightly over 1/2 turn from the base; it's where the most outer protective cover wear occurs so corrosion sets in there and it's the tightest coil on the spring so the problems are down there rather than up at the top mount

I'd advise anyone to simply attach some black tie wraps to the springs one coil up from the base so rain and debris rolling down the sprungs like a helter skelter gets dumped outside of the lower spring cup and not in it

Rich said:

I thought the "chunk of hard rubber" had a bearing inside it?

Click to expand...

It does item 10 in this diagram .. one of mine came apart when I did my front struts but luckily it went back together ..their not cheap either to buy ..and for the life of me dont understand why they call it a ring when it has ball bearings inside the casing ..

http://eper.fiatforum.com/eper/navi...=3&WINDOW_ID=1&SGRP_COD=1&SGS_COD=0&DRW_NUM=2

spot on... cheers folks! just what i wanted to know, going to have to resort to keepin em lubed for now... just odd creaks and knocks can get a bit worrying, just got through its mot with no advisorys so cant be anything serious,


Thanks people!

PNL said:

It does item 10 in this diagram .. one of mine came apart when I did my front struts but luckily it went back together ..their not cheap either to buy ..and for the life of me dont understand why they call it a ring when it has ball bearings inside the casing ..

http://eper.fiatforum.com/eper/navi...=3&WINDOW_ID=1&SGRP_COD=1&SGS_COD=0&DRW_NUM=2

Click to expand...

Ah, I knew it did somewhere! My yellow one needed a new top mount, sold it a week before it was due to go in .

Rich said:

Ah, I knew it did somewhere! My yellow one needed a new top mount, sold it a week before it was due to go in .

Click to expand...

I never heard you say that

PNL said:

I never heard you say that

Click to expand...

Yeah, it was an ongoing issue for months, maybe years. No dealer could ever hear the noise as they always tested it on the ramp, taking the weight off it. I took it to two dealers (200 miles apart) and neither said there was an issue, even though in cold weather, the steering would make horrific grinding noises.

Took it back to my local dealer months later (I'd gotten used to it but it got progressively worse), and asked a mechanic to look and listen to the car on the road. I turned the wheel, and about 5 seconds later he said "You need a new top mount" - something NumanR had told me from Day 1, without looking at or listening to the Stilo.

It was going to be done under warranty (which expired a month before but FIAT Care were going to honour it) but it never came to anything as I bought the Bravo.