Strut shot through strut mount! I hate Philly!

[saj3n]

Yea, so I hate Philadelphia's streets. Driving along lincoln drive yesterday, I met the worst pothole, man hole, ditch, whatever you want to call it, that I've ever seen. Well, yea, no way to avoid it, either hit it, the car next to me or the mountain on the passengers side.

BANG!!!

Yea, it was loud!! Thought for sure that I'd smashed my wheel up pretty bad, maybe even new suspension needed as well. However, the car drove just fine, and after getting ot my location, i kinda forgot about it. Until this morning that is. I grabbed my camera as I went to go and take some After shots of the Dupont applied last week, when I saw a small dome shaped dent coming from under the hood. I opened the hood and to my dismay I saw my strut... Poking its head out about 4" from where the strut mount/dust cap was. I hate this city's streets! Costing me more $$ on maintenance which would not normally be needed.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b203/saj3n/Strut%20Mount/IMG_0163.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b203/saj3n/Strut%20Mount/IMG_0158.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b203/saj3n/Strut%20Mount/IMG_0160.jpg

[Evan]

What kind of shocks? I'm sorry about your bad luck...

[saj3n]

KYB, turns out the strut mount must have been bad. :-D

[GoldenOne]

wow that really sucks.....you should go back and take pictures of the pothole, maybe even video of cars passing by (over) it and take it to the city and argue for them to repair the hood, shock, shock mount, etc.

I know a friend of mine had a similar event a few year back except he noticed it last minute and as going ~45mph and it actually bent his rim. He took photos and video and the city ended up payin for a new rim and tire. The barrage of hurricanes and lack of effort in repair the roads here in FL helped his case though but its worth a try!

[Evan]

have you been happy with the KYBs? I'm looking at buying a set tonight off eBay. I also bougt a set of H&R

[saj3n]

wow that really sucks.....you should go back and take pictures of the pothole, maybe even video of cars passing by (over) it and take it to the city and argue for them to repair the hood, shock, shock mount, etc.

I know a friend of mine had a similar event a few year back except he noticed it last minute and as going ~45mph and it actually bent his rim. He took photos and video and the city ended up payin for a new rim and tire. The barrage of hurricanes and lack of effort in repair the roads here in FL helped his case though but its worth a try!


Yes, planning on getting it fixed ASAP and then heading out there to take pics. I want to try and get out there today and take them tomorrow morning or afternoon.

[saj3n]

have you been happy with the KYBs? I'm looking at buying a set tonight off eBay. I also bougt a set of H&R

Extremely happy with the KYB's. Wish that I had better streets to run them on, but i guess i have to live here in philly... :( But yea, very nice. No complaints.

[Macv]

man that really sucks. to maybe lighten the situation... your hood is dusty, I take it the teflon wax didnt hold up? ;)

[Jon K]

Jasen let me know if you need it fixed up here - like I said we can bring down our truck and trailer so you don't drive on that!

[Jeff N.]

OUCH! So, that strut mount must have been really tired. Did you inspect the mounts when you did the KYB swap in?

When you replace the mounts - I'm assuming you'll replace both - take some closeup pics of the other mount. I'd be real curious to see what the signs of fatigue might be.

[saj3n]

OUCH! So, that strut mount must have been really tired. Did you inspect the mounts when you did the KYB swap in?

When you replace the mounts - I'm assuming you'll replace both - take some closeup pics of the other mount. I'd be real curious to see what the signs of fatigue might be.

Will do,

The other mount seems fine. The thing is, I kinda had a feeling that this one was going to give, but didn't realize it till now. The dust cap on this one popped off a while back, which I thought was interesting. Now I know its because of the failing mount.

I am going to actually work with Jon K. to replace the mounts. All 4.

[saj3n]

Well, depends, the dust did stick, but mud and other stuff didn't. Sort of a mixed review. It looks 100 times better than it did after 2 thunderstorms without the wax. I did wipe down with a soft cloth a portion of the fender to compare how much dust actually stuck, but it is much better than before. IMO

[saj3n]

Will do Jon, gonna see how much VAC will try to charge. If not too much, I'll see if they can have it done tomorrow, and then work with you to have the remaining 3 mounts replaced. Scary thing man! And to top it off, now the hood has to get un-dented and painted. :-P

[bbig119]

Sucks dude. I'll be staying away from Lincoln drive for a little while. How big is that dent in the hood, its hard to tell from the picture you posted-- will it NEED to be painted?

[saj3n]

almost dime sized, but there are 2 of them, seems like it hit twice. paint underneath the clear coat seems to have slightly cracked, hair thin cracks, but nevertheless, dont want to rust (thanks Jon)

[SchnellE34]

Damn, sorry to hear that Jasen. Yeah I don't know what it is with PennDOT, they can't seam to get their **** together. Even the roads they do eventually pave will warp and sink in 4 years, when they are supposed to last 15. They just have no money and use cheap **** pavement.
I have basically all potholes memorized on my normal routes. I only hit them if I am going to hit another car in order to dodge them. Last year my buddy and I were on a br and he hit a huge pothole so bad the rim bent and the tire came off. Luckily I was in the car because he had no idea how to put the spare on. (97 Honda Accord... f'in donuts! haha)

[SnakeyesTx]

You know... when there's really big potholes like that, you can sue the city for not fixing them and they should cover the damages. I see a new hood, paint and strut in your future. :D

I sued the city once for a pothole and got my rim, tire, and strut replaced including the labor.

[Jon K]

You know... when there's really big potholes like that, you can sue the city for not fixing them and they should cover the damages.


You've obviously never been to Phildadelphia ;)

[Chris'91'525i]

Man , thats the shits.

If you are going to file a claim with the city or state. You should file a police report ASAP after it happen. And document everything with pictures showing all the damage , pothole in road and any signs warning of potholes , or lack of signs.
There really should be a temp. road sign telling drivers to proceed with caution.
A hole in the road that is that bad should constitute an extreme road hazard which could endanger lives. Such as throwing you into on come traffic.

[wjbell]

Are you running stock wheels and tires? Stock suspension? Sorry to hear it, just curious.

[angrypancake]

**** dude, thats terrible news! crazyness too, yesterday on the way home from work I hit a patch of road that was supposedly under construction but looks like its under demolition. bent one of my rims and blew the tire. bad news for the e34 crew.

[Jon K]

Rondells FTMFW

[genphreak]

Ow and I thought Aussie roads were bad.

Dude, what size bump stops are you running? The bump stop should take the force, but it sends it straight to the mount (but if it works within spec it will smooth out the force as it compresses). If the car is as low as yours looks (and the bump stop is not the right height) it will take more of a hit when such a thin happens, and the risk of blowing the mount out it much greater.

Any chance you can measure the height of your bump stops? It would be worth us all knowing. Guessing on your ride height yours should be 2.9" (as per M5). Pic courtesy of Jeff (aka Regal632):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/interalian/DSC00344.jpg

If they are this height, it'd be good for everyone to know. Of course if they are higher, it might be the reason it happened as the spring would not have time to arrest the majority of the force before the bumpstop (and thus the mount) takes it. Ultimately the force has to be taken somewhere, so ihn an extreme case it's best to do that than risk bending the tower or chassis as would happen if the mount wasn't designed to fail in such a way. They test all this stuff most carefully during development.

That said, I've never heard of one of these mounts failing ever before.

I guess in a perfect world we kinda have to have suspensions that suit the local conditions; Now mine is lowered I'm finding myself skinnying around all the potholes like a drunk. If mine has a chance of doing this too, I'll be putting my stock suspension back in! It's only a matter of time before this happens or the Cops start busting me for 'neligently'driving 'according to the road conditions :D

Cheers, Nick

[saj3n]

Rondell 58's, KYB struts, Eibach springs

[saj3n]

Man it sure isn't! Sorry to hear that! So depressing, Rim repairable?

[saj3n]

I'll check the size of the bump stops, not too sure though, I might have to check with Jon regarding this.

[saj3n]

VAC Motorsports quoted me a fair price for the work. $250 to replace strut mount and check everything else on the suspension/wheel out. They also provided me an estimate for work done to repair/replace hood, $428. I figure i'll take this with me, along with the pictures and police report to PENNDot, to see if I can hold them accountable for their issuese. Work will start on the car tomorrow morning, should be done by 10-11am, and then over to the Fairmount Park police to have them trail me to the area where the damage occured. I hope they don't have it blocked off, repaired or signed now.

[Atl530i]

That really sucks.

[Paul in NZ]

sheesh an impact like that would destroy my wheels i am sure.

[saj3n]

I am hoping that's not the case here. Shop is going to through them on a balancing machine to see if they are bent or warped in any way. To me they seem fine, I did drive back from the "pothole" to home on the highway, reached about 65-70mph, no shaking, vibration, shimmy, nothing. But then again, didn't even feel that the strut had killed the strut mount. I should know something within the next 3 hours.

[saj3n]

I am hoping that's not the case here. Shop is going to through them on a balancing machine to see if they are bent or warped in any way. To me they seem fine, I did drive back from the "pothole" to home on the highway, reached about 65-70mph, no shaking, vibration, shimmy, nothing. But then again, didn't even feel that the strut had killed the strut mount. I should know something within the next 3 hours.


Everything was fine! But the strut mount! So glad that's all taken care of. Still working on taking the case up with the city, we'll have to see how that turns out.

[Wyn]

Northwest Philly, yay! Oh, and just so you know, get prepared to be laughed at if you go after the city.