NX front suspension

[gen1]

Morning all

I have a favour to ask... Is there any NX owner in Melbourne with aftermarket suspension fitted that would be willing to let me crawl under their car with a tape measure over the weekend? I'm determined to understand why aftermarket struts won't fit comfortably under mine without getting damaged.

Cheers

[Ian H]

Are they rubbing on the axle? That's an issue I've got.

[gen1]

Under heavy braking they do. And when off-road , at full extension the struts hit the top control arm hard enough to damage the strut. No idea how to fix this other than put the standard struts back on. Several people have been looking at this and can't come up with answers!

[Ian H]

What brand struts did you get?

[gen1]

The terrain tamer head office in sunshine came up with this kit, and have spent a great deal of time since trying to figure out why all is not well. They've pulled apart another, albeit older, pajero and swapped parts around to be certain it wasn't their strut causing the problem. I can't be absolutely certain but I believe the other strut was an OME and it wouldn't fit without the same clearance issues. The car has other problems too but this is the important one. If I can get to the bottom of it I'd be more inclined to keep it.

[old Jack]

Under heavy braking they do. And when off-road , at full extension the struts hit the top control arm hard enough to damage the strut. No idea how to fix this other than put the standard struts back on. Several people have been looking at this and can't come up with answers!

There 2 reasons the strut hits the upper control arm at full extension.
1. The strut extended length is too long or have spacers been used between the strut tophat mount and the strut tower, if so remove them.
2. The strut body diameter is too large.

You can gain a little bit of room by offsetting the pressed in bush on the lower strut mount, particularly if the strut is rubbing on the axle.

What is happening under heavy braking, the strut should be compressing, what damage or contact is happening?

What are the ride heights, measured in a vertical line from the centre hub to under the wheel arch?

Is the wheel alignment correct?
Have the adjustment bushes been fitted correctly in the lower control arms?

OJ.

[gen1]

I shall get those measurements when I'm back home this afternoon. The strut being of too large a diameter was the most obvious place to start initially and up till now I've trusted terrain tamer to measure them up and compare them to other brands. This didn't result in anything hence the request to look at another car and start measuring them for myself. The bottom bushes are already offset and there doesn't appear to be much room to make further adjustments. What appears to be happening is under heavy braking there is enough deformation of the bushes to allow the control arm and the strut to move slightly rearward and this allows the bottom of the strut to contact the axle. At this stage there's only enough contact that the paint is getting polished up. Bear in mind this is a new car so I'm sure as the seemingly soft bushes age there will be more movement. There has been a suggestion that perhaps Mitsubishi has made some unannounced running changes to the front end that the aftermarket suppliers are not aware of, but that's just purely speculation. Wheel alignment has been performed a couple of times in the interim to eliminate this as a factor. I'm keen to find the diameter of other struts, there is very little wiggle room around the ones I have, I'm really not surprised there is contact

[insect_eater]

If it helps, my Koni RAIDs are 65mm ....BUT... the driveshaft largely runs in the gap between the eyelet and the body of the strut - which are joined by a narrow shaft - see the left end of the strut in the photo below.

I suspect that the length of this gap is critical.

[gen1]

I'll have a proper look at that when I get home, but that shaft between the eye and the body of the strut does not look familiar to be honest...

[gen1]

Ok, so a few measurements. The overall diameter of these struts is 57mm, so a little smaller than the konis you mentioned, however mine do not have the spindle between the strut body and the eye. So there's one problem I guess! There's only about a 2mm space between the strut and the axle shaft. Not enough obviously. The measurement from the centre of the hub to the edge of the guard is 545mm on both sides

[old Jack]

545mm EBH is a 40mm lift over factory so it is not excessive.
If you can jack the body up and measure centre hub to under wheel arch in a vertical line with the wheeloff the ground so the suspension is at full droop then we can see if the strut is too long. It could be a combination of strut too long and too wide.

OJ.

[gen1]

Thank you old Jack for your answers and advice so far. I'll do so first thing in the morning. Looking at answers on a Facebook post I got into it seems I'm not the only one with this issue although most suspension manufacturers seem to have dealt with it ages ago. Making some progress though and that makes me feel a whole lot more positive about the situation

[insect_eater]

I faintly recall that some struts have offset eyelets to provide more clearance.

So, apart from the extension/overall length issue identified by OJ, there appears to be three basic strategies to avoid interference with the driveshaft:

1. offset the body laterally
2. offset the body vertically
3. reduce body diameter

My Konis take the second approach.

[gen1]

And your help is appreciated also. The bushes at the bottom are offset. There's bugger all clearance though. Between the strut and the axle there's 2 to 3mm only. The offset bush means the strut can't be fitted to the wrong side. In the meantime I've removed the sway bar as according to their workshop the various loud clunks and knocks were a result of worn out sway bar links. Without the sway bar the knocks and bangs, some loud enough for pedestrians to hear, are still present. Something else is going on here too. Tomorrow or Sunday the struts will be removed and the originals put in so I can at least keep driving the car

[old Jack]

Are the 3 nuts on the top hat mount tight?
Is the upper strut to top hat mount tight?
When the struts were replaced were they preassembled or were the originals reused?

OJ.