God damn Strut Mounts

[Jonnychadootz]

The rubber bushing strut mounts on my 97 Prelude keep getting eaten away every 8-10 months. Then the suspension starts squeaking and it's driving outta my friggin mind. Can any1 out there find me some Urethane Strut mounts? I've tried quite a few places with no luck. All urethane bushings I found were for a 96 or older models. If any1 could help me out I would greatly appreciate it. I'm 1 of those people that if my car makes any noises it shouldn't I would rather not drive it, ya know :mecry:

[BOTLFEDLT1]

Did the problem arise after a spring/shock swap? The reason why I ask is b/c I also had a set go out on me on my beater and the cause was improper installation. After reinstalling (properly this time), I never had a problem again with the OEM rubber.

Originally Posted by Jonnychadootz

The rubber bushing strut mounts on my 97 Prelude keep getting eaten away every 8-10 months. Then the suspension starts squeaking and it's driving outta my friggin mind. Can any1 out there find me some Urethane Strut mounts? I've tried quite a few places with no luck. All urethane bushings I found were for a 96 or older models. If any1 could help me out I would greatly appreciate it. I'm 1 of those people that if my car makes any noises it shouldn't I would rather not drive it, ya know :mecry:

[Jonnychadootz]

Unfortunately, the mounts have been changed quite a few times and I'm pretty sure they were done right the last 2 times. Honda knows about this problem but they don't give a shit so it's my problem now Not really a major issue but it is annoying as all hell. If I can find some urethane bushings (even for a 97 Accord) I'm pretty sure they will fit cause the motor (H22A) brakes (rotors/pads) and a few other parts are the same for the prelude and accord of the same year. Gonna do some more research, hopefully I will get lucky.

[Haakon]

After I put on some new shocks and springs on the volvo I had, I had to take to a garge to get the "dont know how to say it in english" tuned by them or else my tires and mounts in the front suspension would wore out faster.

[Jonnychadootz]

Haakon, I think you are referring to a camber kit. When you change your suspension to a more aggressive setup such as lowering or for a certain track you need to adjust the camber (or angle) that your suspension/tires are on. My car is rather stock so I don't have adjustable camber at the moment.

It's the strut mounts on my car that suck and the rubber bushings get eaten away from normal use in 8-10 months, that shouldn't be. If I can find some urethane 1's for my 97 Prelude, or even for a 97 Accord they should fit :thumb:

[Haakon]

thats the name..sorry for my bad english, wouldnt urethane be very hard for a road use?

[BOTLFEDLT1]

The strut mounts shouldnt have much impact, if any, on road harshness.
Im still perplexed as to why the original poster is having problems with the mounts deteriorating so quickly.

Originally Posted by Haakon

thats the name..sorry for my bad english, wouldnt urethane be very hard for a road use?

[SevPP]

I'm not sure what you mean by strut mounts... If you mean the control arm bushes then you should be able to get these made up- a stick of urethane, a lathe and someone that knows how to use the lathe. We have made bushes here (on the farm!) for everything from my old RM 250 swing arm to the Watts linkage in my RX7.

[Jonnychadootz]

As BOTLFEDLT1 said, the Urethane mounts won't make any difference in ride stiffness. I just want them because the stock rubber 1's are inadequate and are done every 8-10 months.

For your question BOTLFEDLT1, I have no idea why they keep deteriorating so quickly, but it is annoying. I even tried a fix for it that I found on the net




Like I said Honda knows about it
The bushings just have too much play, I thought this would help and it did a lil bit but it only prolonged what I knew was gonna happen I'll take a pic with my cam phone and show you what's going on.

[BOTLFEDLT1]

A bit off topic, but I noticed that you mention the use of urethane for control arm bushings. Ive never been a big fan of using urethane in any sort of application that requires rotation. Urethane has less deflection than rubber, but:
1. it will eventually distort and cold flow leading to play in your system
2. suffers from stiction that can lead to binding when you are dealing with multi-axis suspension movement (i.e. rear control arms on an f-body).

Personally, Im using del-a-lum (delrin/aluminum) for upper control arms and if I were ever to upgrade the rear control arms, it would be with spherical aircraft bearings (aka rod ends)

Originally Posted by SevPP

I'm not sure what you mean by strut mounts... If you mean the control arm bushes then you should be able to get these made up- a stick of urethane, a lathe and someone that knows how to use the lathe. We have made bushes here (on the farm!) for everything from my old RM 250 swing arm to the Watts linkage in my RX7.

[SevPP]

Well to be honest, this was a quick fix until my new bits arrive. My rear control arms (upper) on the rx7 will be going spherical bearings/rose joints.

I can't remember the name of the stuff we used to use to make replacement bushes... All I can remember is that it was black, a lot stiffer than rubber, and not cheap!