E30 Zone

Are these the rear top mounts?



and are they suppose to move up and down about 2cm ???

other side moves up and down 1cm

are these knackerd????

and are they easy to replace?

yes they're top mounts and no they're not supposed to do that!

they'll have a little 'float' in them but no more. dead easy to do on a saloon. remove the two nuts you can see and then remove the bottom shock bolt and the shock is off, undo the top nut,. swap the top mount and refit.

on a touring you need to remove the rear side covers, rear seat back sides, speaker pods and seatbelts to get at the top mounts

Get E46 cab replacement one's Alex

ImysE30 wrote:Get E46 cab replacement one's Alex

Or the more sensible option if you plan keeping the car, would be a pr of alloy rose jointed ones from Gaz
Or some of the Turner motorport uprated ones,especially if you have upgraded,stiffer damped shock's

Add some Z3 Re-inforcement plates to that too, unless the rose jointed ones already come with some form of load spreader.

Dave, why do you say more sensible option
I ask as i was planning to upgrade to the E46 ones on my cab.

Are the e46/Gaz parts a straight swap?
Any particular e46 cab or are they all the same?

gooner1 wrote:Dave, why do you say more sensible option
I ask as i was planning to upgrade to the E46 ones on my cab.

I just feel, that if you plan keeping the car for several years then the initial cost of the uprated topmounts are offset by not having to replace standard ones more frequently.OK there will come a time when you have to change the R/J but it shouldn't be as often as replacing OE E30/E46 mounts.
Those who have shocks with altered damping characteristics(stiffened and or adjustable units) will be putting more strain on std topmounts and this will lead to them wearing out quicker.

And I agree with stonsie.
Z3 reinforcing plates are a good add on too. Essential if you decide to run coilovers on the rear.
The Gaz one's don't come with any, and I'm pretty sure the TMS ones don't either.

planning on keeping so i will have a look into the e46 and gaz ones, thanks

I've got the Rogue Engineering top mounts. Pricey at £70 a pair from Evo-S but they are really solid items.

LINKY

N00b wrote:Are the e46/Gaz parts a straight swap?
Any particular e46 cab or are they all the same?

E46 cab ones are a straight swap.
You may have to specify the damper rod diameter for the Gaz ones,they may need a different R/J fitted at the factory.

Morat wrote:I've got the Rogue Engineering top mounts. Pricey at £70 a pair from Evo-S but they are really solid items.

LINKY

Those are the one's I was going to mention,but I couldn't remember who made them

if i say went for the e46 cab ones, what benifits do i get?

Thats what i fotted to mine with the Z3 mounts and new gaskets, they dont feel any different but should last much longer even with stiffer shockers.

I have E46 can ones in mine too with the B8s and Eibachs and they are lasting pretty well with no signs of cracking or softening for the last 2 years even with our Irish roads!!!

Would the rose-jointed ones not transmit alittle more vibration and road noise into the car or am I thinking of just purely solid mounts with no rubber in them... (didn't look at the link yet )

The link gives a very full explanation (with pictures!! ) but is of course their own opinion. Can't see much wrong with it myself but I'm not an expert. They are not rose jointed, but their rubber is apparently about 30% stiffer than OEM. It is the shape of the metal bits that prevent the shock popping out the top and they are rebuildable with new rubber parts for $6 a set.

rose jointed top mounts here:

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... c&t=145379

Let me know if you need any more info

Jimmy

with normal non-coilover shocks, i'd not use rose jointed top mounts myself. due to the position of the standard spring, the shock gets pulled downwards against the chassis on rebound by the spring. on a true coilover shock, the spring force acts between the lower shock body and the top spring cap. hard to get your head round but the effect is the rear top mount itself being pushed and pulled more with normal springs where with coilovers these forces are all within the coilover in it as a whole.

in partical terms (ignoring inertial effects), this means the top mount only gets pulled downwards away from the chassis with a normal spring, which makes the small amount of play in the joint rattle. new ones should be tight but as they're an axially loaded ball joint (the worst way to load such a bearing) they'll wear and get rattly quite quickly.

when i first fitted my ledas, i took the springs off and used the original rear springs just to get me mobile and the noise was terrible! when i fitted the coilover springs on properly, they were totally silent.

besides, there's not a massive benefit to a ball joint on a road car, an uprated (stiffer) top mount is perfectly adequate. the main advantage to be had, especially with uprated shocks, is more strength to save changing the bloody things every 3 months