zakk

A few days ago I took the 951 in for an alignment, figuring I had no idea when it was last done. Instead of aligning the car, the shop said they discovered the front right upper strut mount had 'excessive play' and presented me a $2400 estimate for replacing the front+rear suspension and one control arm that had a torn boot. (along with a $90 charge in there for 'electrical diagnostics' because one of the rear lights is a little flakey). While I've determined I certainly don't intend to have them replace any suspension parts, and have already talked to Skip@Paragon about new suspension parts, I decided to take a look at that strut mount to see what they were talking about. I lifted the car up and grabbed the strut and gave it a good wiggle, and didn't really notice anything weird. However, wiggling the wheel produces some play, which I'm going to guess is the 16 year old wheel bearings. Is there any other test I can do on that strut to see if there's too much play? I have a feeling this shop may not get any of my alignment business either...

83na944

Take it to another shop. See if they come up with the same story.

BTW, I had all four shocks, all front bushings, and a control arm replaced for $200 labor and it included an alignment. Parts might have been $600, but I bought them myself from various places.

Good Luck.

Manning

I seem to recall the 951 strut mounts are different and a lot more expensive than the ones for earlier models. Still, that price sounds pretty stinking high.

To check for play, put the car back on the ground with the hood open. see if you can get it rocking side to side. You may see the top of the strut shaft moving back and forth a little bit. If it moves a lot and makes a knocking noise at all it is likely worn out. The knocking noise it what you should mostly concern yourself with here by the way as the motion can be pretty hard to see.

zakk

I have an 86 951, which thankfully still has the reasonably priced strut mounts. The high price of that estimate mostly came from the fact the prices were all dealer prices and porsche parts. $503 for the control arm, etc etc. Regardless, it also took them almost all day to come to that conclusion, so I'm kinda wondering if they got the right thing. Maybe they saw all the rusted bolts under the car and found a reason to not mess with them

Bri Bro

The entire strut is held on by the four bolts on the shock tower and the ball joint, not a lot to check. Where they going to replace the torsion bars in the rear? That takes a far amount of time and money.

zakk

Nope, no torsion replace. that was one control arm, new struts up front, new strut mounts, rear shocks and an alignment when it was all done. Along with finding an oil leak for me, which may or may not exist, and a diagnostic to figure out why my 16 year old car with suspect wiring has a twitchy rear light. $1588 in parts and $665 in labor. If I agreed to that it's a nice haul for a car that came in just for an alignment...

coupe

Zakk...According to Skip over at Paragon, the '86 upper strut mount is a cheap fix. It can be rebuilt with a new bearing and a seal.

Rebuilt control arms are about US$200 from <a href="http://www.944online.com" target="_blank">www.944online.com</a>

craig001

The upper strut mount on S2's and 951's (can't remember what years) have gotten terribly expensive recently. Last I checked at Paragon they went from $189 to "Call for price" a couple of months ago. They are not rebuildable and I was looking at a set of Paragon's Adjustable Monoball Strut Mounts at $300 for the pair give or take. If you are going to start racing this change will move you to a different class though.

There was a set of rebuilt control arms up on eBay, but I'm not sure when it ends or if it has ended.

Skip

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by craig001:
<strong>The upper strut mount on S2's and 951's (can't remember what years) have gotten terribly expensive recently. Last I checked at Paragon they went from $189 to "Call for price" a couple of months ago. </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Yeah, that "call for price" is a bit daunting, eh. Better than what I wanted to put... "you can't afford them", or "don't even ask", or "just turn your head and cough" <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" /> [fair market price today is just over $500 each]

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica"><strong>They are not rebuildable</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">The answer is stated in earlier posts correctly, but since this is the last one regarding them let's be clear about this... all 87+ 944 use the newer sealed unit style mount which is absurdly expensive. This is not the M030 specific strut mount - good luck finding that one.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica"><strong>... and I was looking at a set of Paragon's Adjustable Monoball Strut Mounts at $300 for the pair give or take. If you are going to start racing this change will move you to a different class though.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Depends on the club, but in many cases they will not change your class. Many folks using these would already be in a "prepared" group of some sort. Though, the Racer's Edge mounts are legal for use in the popular PCA and SCCA club racing classes.

Good Luck!