1 Reason Why to Upgrade to Group N Strut Mounts...

[Rallycarperson]

Thank god this happened on the last 1/4mi of the last stage at NEFR....

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs088.ash2/37747_409250833741_710668741_4676862_6965760_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs045.snc4/34609_418478002730_275321697730_4512237_5246085_n. jpg

[thewizard]

Talk to JVL! I never heard of a subaru mount failing and pretty sure John will tell you the same...

[williaty]

The stock mounts age out and fail all the time. The GC's are getting to an age where a lot of them are doing it. Had one car come in with all 4 of them failed.

[Rallycarperson]

Wow thats wild. I remember swapping these mounts on because they only had ~50k miles on them.

[williaty]

From my experience, it's been age more than miles that's caused the problem. They get hot being in the car in the sun and the volatiles and plasticizers come out of the rubber. Then you bounce on them and the rubber cracks. Leave it that way long enough and the whole damned thing will come apart.

[hoche]

Well, as a Golf driver who has to change my strut tops every 3-6 events, all I can say is...


STOP WHINING!

:)

[hoche]

...and lest the humor in that be lost, I have a '99 OBS that has about 30K offroad miles on it, and which I've used for recce, 0 car, course-closing, scoring duties, stewarding-duties, blah blah blah. It's got nearly 200K miles on it and I've had to replace the strut tops once.

The Subaru ones are pretty tough, but yeah, they do go bad if you hammer the living snot out of them. Takes awhile though. They did a good job with them.

[409industries]

I'd like to see a photo of the failure from the top!

[enginerd]

Was there any knocking/thumping noise coming from them? We just had a super bumpy RallyX event and had some noise coming from my suspension. Just replaced OE struts with Tokico D-Specs last fall so I assume it's not the struts.

Gonna try and squeeze out the rest of the season on the browning/cracking strut boots. Upgrading to Group-N strut mounts is defenitely on my winter mods list. ;-)

EDIT***I would say that the abuse on them is more damaging than the age. I've seen other 'non-raced' WRX's that are the same age and mileage as my car and the strut boots look practically brand new.***EDIT

[Drew84]

You got lucky, that last stage ate a lot of cars.

[Rallycarperson]

More pics soon to come. To be honest, I couldnt really hear any noise with a helmet and intercom on. Also the exhaust came loose on me the stage before, so I thought all the knocking was that. I consider myself lucky. :)

[KevinWelker]

I posted in your thread on SS also, when ours failed in the rear we raced on it for a couple more stages at Precott '08, it wasn't the end of the world but we did have to slow down to keep the rear from unweighting too much but it was just a bumch of clunking and thumping. After the mount tears itself in two there is not a lot else that can get trashed up in there. The nut and rubber from the mount protects the end of the strut insert and the geometry doesn't allow it to flop too far front/back/side/side

Michel is right, this is nothing to whine about :)

[Broken Motorsports]

I lost 2 group n strut top mounts to nefr- so dont think that grpn means this wont happen. ;) I was talking to some seasoned rally drivers about buying the rssp top hats but they seemed to indicate that a strut top failure is better than something else and for the $ not worth it- the energy has to go somewhere- quick and relatively cheap repair. Keep spares.

I do this all the time- I am at the shop- this is erik*a

[carl]

I've destroyed 2 sets of rear group n's as well. I pretty much have to replace them every year. I'm on stocks right now to finish off the season

[Rallycarperson]

I guess it's one of those live and learn type of rally ordeals. One of many to learn

[enginerd]

Question: Is this damage/failure of strut mount due to impact or general bumpiness of the road? Mine are close to being toast and I just want to have a better idea of when it might happen. ;-)

I always wondered about those strut plates..I'd say it would make it stronger but if you do have a failure then you're ripping through chasis and that's not going to happen with a Group-N mount? More good information from the DI World. Thanks Guys. :thumbsup:

[Dan McGinn]

good things learned from this thread, I'm gonna run stock for the foreseeable future.

[DiscoGsus]

I go through a set a year on my rally-CROSS GM.

[Allwheelsdriven.net]

The strut towers should be plated (1/8-3/16") in addition to having better than stock top hats. Group N's are better, but can still fail, as well as just about any other type out there.. I've seen some nasty gravel suspension failures through the years. The Group N's are the best bang for the buck for any 90-current Subaru stage car.

Bottom line is: something has to give eventually. Keep in mind, many times the strut has failed prior to the top hat, either blowing out or locking up (not cycling). If it blows, then the spring is the only thing left dampening, so it bottoms constantly, sending the energy to the top hat. If it's stuck or bound, that's even worse. Just think of running no suspension..the impacts of bumps, dips, ruts, washboard, etc is sent DIRECTLY from the wheel to the strut tower. The shock to the top hat/tower is even worse than with blown stuts. Eventually, all of the pounding of a rough stage road either ruins the bearing on the fronts, or bends/twists up the rear (GC) or bends the mounting studs on a GD.

Build it strong and keep spares. :) That will help a person get to the end of the rally.

Hope this helps. Rally on!

Barrett-
www.allwheelsdriven.net (http://www.allwheelsdriven.net)

PS: We've got them in stock about 90% of the time.

[brandon mitchel]

You will not know it until you experience it.

[409industries]

Have spare tophats lying around.... good advice :)

[bp_968]

Anyone have any suggestions on vendors for the group N tophats?

[Allwheelsdriven.net]

Anyone have any suggestions on vendors for the group N tophats?

See above ^^^:thumbsup:

We've typically got several sets in stock.

Do you need them for GC or GD chassis? What year is your car?

Barrett-
www.allwheelsdriven.net

[williaty]

Anyone have any suggestions on vendors for the group N tophats?

Turn in Concepts. They're a DI sponsor. They also used to sponsor me for racing and then I worked for them for a while.

[bp_968]

See above ^^^:thumbsup:

We've typically got several sets in stock.

Do you need them for GC or GD chassis? What year is your car?

Barrett-
www.allwheelsdriven.net (http://www.allwheelsdriven.net)

email sent :)