Top Mounts Sharan

[Albie]

Update: (Had my vehicle on Sorn a few months) Finally had my corroded mounts changed. Mechanic told me it was a "nightmare" job.Had to be cut off, meaning struts had also to be replaced.Total cost £470. Mounts have now been heavily greased to help prevent water ingress. Excellent job.

[Solentview]

£470 is a good price, especially if the struts were replaced, even with 2/h.

[Albie]

Agreed, I was happy with the price. Not an easy job with restricted access.

[derekod]

What brand of aftermarket mounts do you find works well, I have tried KYB which were to soft also tried meyle which were to stiff.

Can you recommend a good pair of struts that feel nice on the Galaxy as well, I can feel every bump on the road with the KYB struts.

[daddyfixit]

Update: (Had my vehicle on Sorn a few months) Finally had my corroded mounts changed. Mechanic told me it was a "nightmare" job.Had to be cut off, meaning struts had also to be replaced.Total cost £470. Mounts have now been heavily greased to help prevent water ingress. Excellent job.

Albie;  Now use a balloon to cover the entire top end of the shocker , bit of spray grease on exposed threads that are sticking up---then stretch a kids balloon over it to seal water out/grease inside.  After all underneath the surfboard it still gets rusty...

[Solentview]

Sorry if this is a bit late, after the last post - but I was wondering whether Derekod had sorted out his front struts. The KYB parts that he fitted did not appear to be working at all well.

We picked up an advisory concerning our front N/S strut at the last MOT test, and I am planning to (try to) replace both sides myself before the next test - so I have acquired two new BOGE struts and I would be interested to hear what brands other owners recommend for the top mounts and bearings.

The front springs are a nightmare. Our vehicle has 1BE sports suspension, and replacement springs are just not available, so fingers crossed that the originals are still useable - Solentview   

[brianh]

I don't know on the front, but I had two KYB rears that we fitted (which had been brought at ECP some time ago and sat around for a long time before actually getting around to being fitted) and for the first couple of weeks they didn't seem to be quite right (very bouncy by comparison to how the car felt before)

After they had been fitted and used for a couple of weeks, this seemed to disappear and now feels normal.

I do recall when we were in the front end and had struts out, we found the plate that fits around the shaft of the strut had worn the hole oval in the middle, and of course at that point we didn't have that particular bit available. I don't know what brand of front strut we fitted offhand, but suspect that may have been KYB as Euro's were selling the rears for silly money (under £10 each) when I brought those.

[Solentview]

brianh - thanks for your comments about KYB shocks. You mention having the front struts out and replacing those as well - did you replace the top mounts and bearings at the same time and if so what brand did you use?

Also - how  did you tackle the threaded pinch bolt that clamps the hub to the bottom of the strut? There are some horror stories about, concerning corrosion causing seizure, leading on to the bolt then snapping when attempts are made to unscrew it.

[brianh]

Sorry only just seen your reply now as the forum didn't send a notification. I don't recall that bolt causing major issues but my mate that tackles the more involved bits of loosening bolts would have probably used the acetylene to warm the bolt if he thought it was likely to be an issue. Generally we apply some sort of lubricant (GT85 works well for this) ahead of tackling the job and let it soak in over a few goes before tackling it, which seems to help. If in doubt taking the whole strut off the car and tackling it on the bench with the vice available may have been how we tackled it, I can't really remember at this point.


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314311594270 this stuff I used to release the pressure switch on the air con system which was corroded in place (to the point that the threaded bit had cracked in 3 places causing it to leak) and it worked fairly quickly with a few applications and gentle force on it until the sensor would unscrew, although that was aluminium rather than steel.

We did replace the top mounts as the rubber doughnuts had compacted down somewhat, I don't remember what brand (though TBH with them if you can get the cap off the top off changing them is fairly easy if you can lift the front up enough they can be swapped without further disassembly as I've done that a couple of times with the 2 galaxies I've had). It was probably whatever Euro's had available at the time (order history doesn't go back that far to tell now). Bearings were swapped at the same time, I do remember having a problem with the plate that fits immediately above the spring being worn (centre hole was elongated) which we weren't expecting to have a problem with and couldn't immediately fix (will see if I can find the part we ordered to address that)

[brianh]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/1709775321 or 1102593 this is the bit we had issues with, not to be confused with 7201835 which goes on top (and is the cup that fills with water to rust the retaining nut)

If your concerned about quality original Ford bits can be found on eBay a bit more cost than pattern but may last longer?
1102592 - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/395293700968 Bearing
7201848 - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393396518614 Top strut mount

Found the above by vin search on https://www.catcar.info then searching for the part number, I've got no connection to the listings provided other than having used the same place to obtain the first bit listed (as its not the kind of part your going to find in any motor factors etc). Would recommend you search for your own vin or check with the seller with your vehicle details as they could be different between vehicles and I've only checked against mine.