Deformed topmounts.....Blue ones

[Lee]

This is the problems I am getting with Blue topmounts. I guess you can appreciate from this picture that they take quite a bit of abuse in my car.

First Picture.

[Lee]

Another angle. The metal inside the topmount has deformed making them a bit oval!

[4WheelDrifter]

Ouch!!
I think you need something way better than Blue topmounts.
They're not "Genuine" German & Swedish" parts are they?

[4WheelDrifter]

Have you binned your dampers in favour of solid struts?!!

[Audi Parts Guru]

I dunno, these boy racers

[Lee]

Genuine Audi hardware. I didn't thing GSF did blue topmounts.

14.25" (362mm) disks used as they are meant to be takes its toll. Those items were in there for less than 6k road miles and 2 or 3 trackdays.

Something better in the pipeline.

[4WheelDrifter]

Have you got anything meatier tugging you from the back?!

[Lee]

These items have not been doctored in any way. My dad gave me a hand swapping them out today and he nearly fell over in disbelief! LMFAO.

I will bring them to Scotland for people to see the way they have gone pear-shaped (literally).

[Lee]

Rear brakes are stock. Soon to have 330mm x 28mm disks on the rear but at the moment due to weight transfer and other vehicle dynamics, the fronts will always be doing 75+% of the braking on an S2 Avant unless you go for ally block and start moving losts of mass around the vehicle. I have just fitted 255/35R18 tyres on the front today so the fronts are going to take an even bigger hammering!!! My brakes take it but the chassis is naff!!

[Lee]

On trackdays my front and rear brakes go the same shade of blue and are probably working equally hard. dan_b and others here will testify to the way my brakes work and get used on the road/track.

[4WheelDrifter]

Have you checked your wishbone bushes lately? I bet they must get a pounding too. Actually, have you ghecked your wishbones, subframe bushes, subframe, ......?!
How are the 255s for clearance?

[Lee]

Yep. Check all that stuff once a week. Topmounts are pretty well hidden so hard to inspect easily. I can tell when they have 'gone west'. Poly wishbone bushes last about 10 minutes!!!! Hard Nylatron ones next!

255s are no problem on an 8" rim. I think I could fit even wider without issue. I run ET32 up front and I haven't had any rubbing yet. Most I can go on the Avant is 235/40R18 on the rear but the fronts can take a bit more, especially on the 'narrow' rim. I have a full 3mm clearance between the front tyres and the steering arm.

[quattroTurbo]

You need alloy top mounts. The blue tops are designed for fast Audis, not a severely hard driven uber modified hybrid. If you brakes and horsepower to such an extent, it is no use using OE suspension parts. Audi used alloy top mounts in most of their rally cars together with some serious chassis strengthening - this is what you need to do. Then you will find that your S2 will handle the modifications no worries.

We see this all too often with seriously modifeid cars. The main areas get addressed, but the bits in between are forgotten - which only ends up costing more in the long run.

[curlyks2]

You need alloy top mounts.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...935314418&rd=1

NCTS

Ck.

[Lee]

You need alloy top mounts. The blue tops are designed for fast Audis, not a severely hard driven uber modified hybrid. If you brakes and horsepower to such an extent, it is no use using OE suspension parts. Audi used alloy top mounts in most of their rally cars together with some serious chassis strengthening - this is what you need to do. Then you will find that your S2 will handle the modifications no worries.

We see this all too often with seriously modifeid cars. The main areas get addressed, but the bits in between are forgotten - which only ends up costing more in the long run.

Yep, always been fully aware of that. Chassis is being sorted before any serious power upgrades. It is just a time consuming process while doing other things full time. I am an Engineer so end up designing most things myself to my own specifications. Eventually the whole chassis and engine mods will be very different to what is readily available. I have a lot of stuff in the pipeline.

My Avant is by no means a race car, retains its leather interior/creature comforts and is very much still a road car. I have resisted ripping too much out and installing a fully integrated semi-spaceframe (to pick up on all chassis hard points). I am sure that time will come eventually but maybe on another beast. My Avant just serves as a useful test bed to evaluate hardware and their limitations.