as you may or may not know i was backed into about 3 months ago, ever since the day i was hit, ive had this nasty knock in my driverside front left wheel

i had no clue what it could be, so i took it to a kickass shop today and they looked at it and they told me that in the accident a rubber spring spacer shifted from where it should be and it was rubbing against the wheel well, i knew what he was talking about, these black rubber things on the base of the spring, ive seen em before when ive been washing/installing the pulley on my car and had no clue what they were so i never touched em.

appearently our cars have rubber spring spacers, ive never heard of these before? what exactly are they, and what do they do, would it **** my car up if i took them off?


best of all it wasnt a big deal and it was free!







EDIT: THESE SPRINGS SPACERS SHOULD NOT BE ON YOUR CAR, THEY ARE ACTUALLY STIFFENERS PUT ON THE BOAT FROM JAPAN TO KEEP YOUR RA FROM BOUNCING AROUND TOO MUCH, IF YOU HAVE THEM TAKE THEM OFF, THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN TAKEN OFF AT THE DEALER WHEN YOU WERE SOLD THE CAR.

 

They're not really *spacers* so much as *insulators*. They keep your springs from hitting against the spring perches. If yours isn't torn, you should just move it back into place. You'll need to remove the strut, and compress the spring enough to be able to move it. You shouldn't need to take the strut apart, just compress the spring a bit.

 

The front springs comes whithrubber springs spacers that looks like rubber blocks. They are for shipping purpose only and the dealer should remove them before sales . My car was im the demo room when I bought it and it came with them installed too. the car should have a sticker on the windshield with this info so u know if they are installed or not. i saved them on a box b'cause i liked the way it makes the suspension handle and how it reacts. if u have any dammages to ur car u should go to the dealer .
hopes this help u

 

so they are for shipping only? if i took them off it wouldnt be a problem? wierd, i had no sticker on my window when i got the car, what would be involved in taking them off? the same route as readjusting them as myszkewitz first described?

 

yes , they are located on both sides of the front springs not on the botton ,and can be removed by hand by lifting the car

 

umm i think people are talking about 2 different things here... Are you talking about the rubber at the very top of the spring or something between the springs?

 

Right? I didn't see any blocks wedged into my stock springs when I put in my Progress springs. I thought he was talking about the rubber insulators on either end of the springs.

 

ill try to take a picture right now, but they are at the bottom of the springs on both driver and passenger side wheels

 

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Any update on those pics? I'm kinda curious about that...

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passenger side




drivers side

 

Those blocks should have been taken off before you drove the car off the lot.

EDIT: I'll see if I can find some pics of my stock springs.

 

ill remove the blocks then, but what about the little rubber circular thing that kinda runs around the outside of the spring at the bottom, on the drivers side i think tha tpart is connected to the blocks, should i remove that also?

 

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Thanks for the pics!

It does look very weird... those blocks would be compressed pretty hard under normal road use. I don't see them being a problem... but it would however affect the way the car handles a bit.

In the long run, I think it's almost certain that such a part would tear itself to pieces. So even if you like the car better with these rubber dampers on, don't get used to it too much...

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I would be very surpised if in fact they were actually connected... but keep us posted. You might also want to give a call to your dealer... after all it seems they messed up and also they most likely are part of the rare number of people who would know about these parts in the first place...

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BTW: I would surmise that the purpose of these is to keep the car from bouncing too much on the boat and/or on the transporter...

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