Civic front strut installation

Discussion in 'Civic' started by John Clavin, Nov 9, 2004.

  1. John Clavin

    John Clavin Guest

    I had some new dampers/shocks installed in the front struts on my '98
    Honda Civic a few months ago after fighting with tire wear problems,
    mostly cupping. The dealer was no help on this and thought it was just
    bad tires (Michelin X-One's). So I had some KYB GR-2s installed at a
    shop I had previously used.

    Last week, I had the car back at the dealer on another issue and he
    noted that the strut assemblies were not installed correctly--the
    alignment tab is 180 degrees from where it should be. (This is the tab
    on the lower end on the strut where it slips into the split fitting on
    the fork). I checked the service manual and he appears to be right. Yet
    the strut assembly "appears" to be correctly mounted in the car.
    Rotating it 180 looks like it would cause the angle to be wrong.

    Several questions:

    Am I missing something here?

    Do I need to get this fixed?

    John Clavin
    Austin, TX
     
    John Clavin, Nov 9, 2004
    #1
  2. John Clavin

    jim beam Guest

    probably swapped left & right.
    since you got this far, maybe not. the important things are that the
    brake line follows the correct route and that the fork is securely fixed
    to the bottom of the shock. check regularly to start with to make sure
    it's not getting loose, then stop worrying. bilstein's don't even have
    a tab. to reassemble correctly, you'll need to take the whole
    shock/coil unit apart [pita & requires a spring compressor] because yes,
    the top mounting plate is certainly angled wrong and prevents you just
    swapping left with right.
     
    jim beam, Nov 9, 2004
    #2
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