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This is what a bad strut bearing plate looks like


Hairdo12
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i wish i had pictures. mine was waaaay worse than that lol. but i will warn you i messed up my springs compressing them in that routine. i ended up having to get new bottom plates, bearings, springs, top plates, and mounts. it is hard to see it but when you decompress the spring all the way you can see it.

 

Can you describe how you 'messed up your springs'?  The process, once you get that assembly out, looks pretty idiot-proof to me.  How can you damage a spring to the extent that it has to be replaced? 

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Can you describe how you 'messed up your springs'?  The process, once you get that assembly out, looks pretty idiot-proof to me.  How can you damage a spring to the extent that it has to be replaced?

 

I've never seen a spring damaged from compressing them. Considering he claimed his spring seats were worse looking than the one pictured here I would imagine his spring was badly compromised by rust if it failed in some way during compression.

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For whatever it's worth, when I was trying to do Amber's old neon I had never used the prepackaged quick struts before, and I didn't realize you had to undo the strut and let it extend in order to get everything mounted, so I compressed crap out of the springs to the point where I probably shouldn't still be alive, and that didn't even damage them at all

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Okay, ran this test today.  Pulled both front wheels off.  Moved key out of lock.  Had a helper move the wheel from full deflection in one direction to full deflection in another.

 

Even though my spring seats didn't seem to be seized at first, the "bad" side (passenger) made a lot of noise. 

 

Glad that I'll be replacing them soon. 

 

So my advice to those reading the thread and worried -- one test you should do is basically pull both front wheels off and listen for a clunk in the strut to spring seat as a helper moves the steering through its range. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Nevermind...  Pictures of an almost-failed spring seat coming soon.  And a video of a bearing in very, very bad shape.  Mine was in even uglier shape than the one in the picture.  And of course, the drivers side failed altogether (see the earlier pic).

 

Seriously, if your vehicle is over 20 years old, unless it spent its entire life in Arizona or somewhere with no water, those spring seats need to be, at the very least, inspected.  If not replaced.   $15 worth of parts each side at the moment through Rockauto.

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