Beefing up your Strut Mounts.

The last two Strut mounts I bought Meyle brand were a PITA to install.
As I was tightening the nuts on them, the press bolt broke free with about 1/4 inch to go till it was fast.
What made it worse was that the nut could not be removed, not tightened…
To effect the removal was for naught, until I had the eureka moment.

I locked a pair of vice grips on the nut and had my Son hold upward pressure on it.
I got my wire welder up the strut housing and Tack Welded the press bolts head to the mount.
Then I could take the nut off and pull the strut assembly out and tack weld both the press bolts to the mount.

I suggest that it may be a wiser thing to just Tack Weld them at the outset…



This way the bolt can't spin or drop out.  When I looked at the Meyle box were the fateful words "MADE in CHINA".

You'd think having the Meyle name they'd be good quality..
I had Febi ones installed no problems.
Makes you wonder about quality control?

When the companies started to listen to Accountants, and Bean Counters, and not engineers the
reputation, and quality of the part was affected.  ie: Takata Air-Bags, GM ignition switches….to name a few.

OBTW.
Over here there has been a lot of people using 3m Window Weld, and applying it to fill the GAP in the bottom of the mount.
They say longevity is increased and the ride doesn't suffer.



I haven't done it yet, but am getting ready to replace all 4 struts on the blue cabby and will consider "further beefing" the mounts.

 

Meyle dont make anything they are a reseller, so the actual mount could be any old garbage unfortunately.

febi germany generally make good stuf but febi brazil often inferior. ideally you want lemforder made stuff if you can get it, OEM manufacturer for VW

When i bought my car (June 2014) i had it checked over.. one of the things picked up (& there were a few) leaking shock - i got a family so wanted it solid! so i had FEBI mounts fitted, with new dampers/shocks (not sure of make, got them from Germany) covers/spacers, new camber bolts (from @funkstar Classic VW) wishbones/bushes/rubber, ball joints, complete track rods & CV's (inners & outers) all FEBI - got mount covers as 1 was cracked - VW though  New brake discs/pads/hoses weren't FEBI or Caliper… can't have it all 

Forget about the Window weld,




Thanks to 81MarsRed of the VWvortex for pictures of the Opel mount trick.