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Omega General Help / Re: Front Strut Top hat alignment
« on: 30 January 2018, 08:36:41 »Old and worn top mounts can easily compress 15-20mm which would result in the 6 ribbed bits poking through even if nothing else is goosed.
My old MV6 was a bit like that, though not as bad, when I took the old top mounts off I put them side by side for a comparison.
I'm struggling to imagine how the rubber can deform 15-20mm without something else being wrong there too. There is a metal washer (17 in the image) between the strut and the underside of the top mount, so that would have to either be punched through or badly deformed. And how much clearance is there between the strut top and the underside of the bonnet? One good speed bump and you might find some new piercings in the bonnet.
The strut and washer sit on the inner part of the top mount and the weight of the car sits on the outer part of the top mount and this is where the compression occurs.
Just for comparison sit your new and old top mounts side by side and you will see a difference, I had it with my Senator and my MV6 and I did have a photo somewhere but I think that has long gone.
With the Senator I had also used the strengthened washers from ABS a I was aware of the issues if the damper rod punching through the original washer.