camber plates BROKE MY STRUT!!!!!!

blkmkIII · Oct 6, 2009, 05:35 PM

So not even 20 miles later did my strut snap. cleanly, just broke the cast. installed 100% correctly. and this is the outcome.not happy... at all. seeing as the struts are mint and the fact that i had to baby the car home (15mph) and put stock gsr suspension on the car

looks terrible. handles like ****. ect. not happy at all. autox sunday.

i dont think the strut is flxable. seeing as it needs a whole rod. not happy about it at all.

**SmikeEvo** · Oct 6, 2009, 05:36 PM

What ft/lb were they torqued to?

What camber plates are those? Were they meant for that sort of application?

xspsi4 · Oct 6, 2009, 05:39 PM

Damn, I was looking for a set of those nolec plates

Maybe i should rethik this

blkmkIII · Oct 6, 2009, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmikeEvo

What ft/lb were they torqued to?

What camber plates are those? Were they meant for that sort of application?

noltec or something.ment for stock strut, and i didnt sit there with the impact gun on it. just gave it a quick zap with an electric impact gun./ SSCCOOTTT runs them w.o problems. really not happy. if any1 has A bilstein who wants to sell it cheap. and its now blow up. please let me know

**SmikeEvo** · Oct 6, 2009, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blkmkIII

noltec or something.ment for stock strut, and i didnt sit there with the impact gun on it. just gave it a quick zap with an electric impact gun./ SSCCOOTTT runs them w.o problems. really not happy. if any1 has A bilstein who wants to sell it cheap. and its now blow up. please let me know

That is problem 1. Never, never, ever, use an impact gun there. That nut is a only 45+/-7 ft/lbs. An impact will over tighten that even in one zap.

You might be able to have the thread welded back on.

I think the camber plate might have been installed wrong too.

**SmikeEvo** · Oct 6, 2009, 06:58 PM

Option C - you cross-threaded the bolt and it was not actually tightened. You then had play in the camber plate and that caused the snap on a bump.

blkmkIII · Oct 6, 2009, 07:02 PM

3/8th impact. i didnt specify.lol. its an old school snap on, it cant even take of wheels. wasnt cross threaded.. the plates come as they are. ready to install. nothing what cross threaded. i can still pull the nut out of whats left of my old strut, by hand. it threads and unthreads

**SmikeEvo** · Oct 6, 2009, 07:06 PM

How did you tighten down the camber plate? Did you use a spring compressor or the cars weight to push the spring down? If you did not have the spring compressed when installing there would be a gap (or too loose of a bolt).

Looking at your first pictures. The bolt does not look threaded enough at all. Nothing is sticking up on the top side.

blkmkIII · Oct 6, 2009, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmikeEvo

How did you tighten down the camber plate? Did you use a spring compressor or the cars weight to push the spring down? If you did not have the spring compressed when installing there would be a gap (or too loose of a bolt).

Looking at your first pictures. The bolt does not look threaded enough at all. Nothing is sticking up on the top side.

huh.. i had to pull the whole stut assembly out. spring compressor was used. the bolt was loosened by hand to show the brokeness of the strut in the pic.

**SmikeEvo** · Oct 7, 2009, 04:46 AM

When you were tightening that nut - the springs were compressed?

igo4bmx · Oct 7, 2009, 07:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmikeEvo

When you were tightening that nut - the springs were compressed?

you're asking about preload the spring for installation- which should be done.

**SmikeEvo** · Oct 7, 2009, 08:00 AM

Yep. Im leaning towards installation error (no offense) either too much tq on the top nut or too loose. Both would shear the threaded shaft.

sscottttt · Oct 7, 2009, 11:42 AM

Sorry to see that this happened to you after I recommended these plates. I've had them on for about 5k mi without any issues so far, it looks like the strut shaft was either twisted from excessive torque/cross threading or got bent during install and became weak. Did you buy these used? If so it's possible that the shaft was weakened by the last person who had them. First thing I'd do is unscrew the nut from the piece of the end of the shaft and see if the nut was cross threaded.

GTWORX.com · Oct 7, 2009, 11:58 AM

you can also send it to Bilstein to get fixed.

- andrew

chu · Oct 7, 2009, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTWORX.com

you can also send it to Bilstein to get fixed.

- andrew

Might as well send all four and ge custom valving done!