Tales of the Strut Mount

"NinetyQ" (NinetyQ) 10/30/2013 at 11:21 • Filed to: A90Q20V

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The Audi... what more can I even say about this car? Epic, unusual, rare... frustrating as hell.
[Reposting for morning crowd]

Today I decided to try to finish tackling my strut mounts with the special tool I had to have shipped to me from California. Within 5 minutes of use, I sheared the fingers off of it. Time for plan B.

I then took the entire upright (the only one I could actually remove from the car thanks to a stupid bracket on the other side) to my cousin's shop. There, we used an air chisel to break the retaining ring/nut loose and then vice grips to pull it most of the way off until it wouldn't go further. Then we ground down the side with a grinding wheel and were then able to continue with vice grips to slowly but surely get it off. That was way more work than it should have been. The threads just don't feel quite right, but everything points to the pitch and size being correct, so it's a mystery. Then we ground the remains of the special tool down to get new fingers on it to put the new ring on. But first, I wanted to clean up the threads. My cousin had a kit, but it didn't have much in it and nothing that would help. No matter, I know my grandpa has a bigger kit, so I went there (the Audi, my cousin's shop, and my grandpa are all in separate towns, mind you). But no luck with the threads using his tools. He didn't have one of that pitch that was a wide enough diameter.

But I noticed something else worrying: the strut was leaking all over his workbench. Wonderful. I'm in town for 3 days, so having something shipped to me won't work for getting the Audi out of my mom's garage in time for me to go home. I might be able to find something at one of the parts stores in town though if I decide on something like a KYB Excel-G. I have those in my Grand Prix.

Anyway, so now it's time for me to figure out what comes next. And if the strut is getting replaced, I'm sure the Audi isn't done through up roadblocks. The upright itself has plenty of surface rust, so getting it apart to get the strut out may be a challenge.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > NinetyQ 10/29/2013 at 23:47

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Do you not have an impact wrench?

NinetyQ > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 10/29/2013 at 23:54

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Not at my house, but there's a nice high powered one at my cousin's shop. But just out of curiosity, which part of this story would an impact wrench have really helped? Are you thinking the retaining ring/nut thing? It wouldn't have helped. You have to have that special tool to get the ring off, it's not a normal nut with six sides, but a smooth ring. Otherwise, I would just use an impact.

I'll add this photo to the story.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > NinetyQ 10/29/2013 at 23:55

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Oooooh that makes sense. I just did coilovers on a jetta and the answer to all our problems was impact wrench. Even when a proprietary tool was "needed". All glory to the impact wrench....

Desu-San-Desu > NinetyQ 10/29/2013 at 23:59

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Funny...my strut-mounts were crazy easy to remove and replace. Then again, my car is also completely devoid of rust, so...

NinetyQ > Desu-San-Desu 10/30/2013 at 00:06

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Rust wasn't even the issue in today's endeavors. The top of the strut and threads were totally rust-free. No big deal at all. I have no idea why the threads were as difficult as they were.

CalzoneGolem > NinetyQ 10/30/2013 at 11:25

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Is there any reason to not replace the strut? Would that not also alleviate your thread issue?

NinetyQ > CalzoneGolem 10/30/2013 at 12:18

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Money, dude. I need to be done buying stuff. And now I'm backed into a corner on this one because the car is torn apart in my mom's garage and needs to get put back together. So I need something ASAP.

DocWalt > NinetyQ 10/30/2013 at 14:00

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You could have bought a 14mm socket and ground it down to make that tool (I'm assuming it's the same as the one for my Mk2) and saved oodles of money.

Also, wow, that shock is the rustiest I've ever seen.

NinetyQ > DocWalt 10/30/2013 at 15:18

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I only spent $15 on the tool and wasn't planning to have to grind anything down since I don't have a grinder. My cousin does, but I try to use his help as a last resort.

It's just surface rust on the upright. The strut cartridge itself isn't rusty.

DocWalt > NinetyQ 10/30/2013 at 18:24

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Fair enough.

You're lucky to have the uprights separate from the insert, I hate having to pay for perfectly good metal twice...