R/T Suspension Mounts

[kayakjack]

Originally Posted by SunDude

Sorry to bring back this old post, but rather than start a new one on the same topic...

I had my car up on a hoist yesterday and noticed that the stock brackets are not 90 degrees to the frame as they should be, which suggests that I should probably change them for the Cobra Valley units.

[*]At around what point are the original brackets failing? My car (#1336) is seven years old and has about 9500 miles on it. What symptoms should I look for, besides a catastrophic failure of the part?[/list]Thanks.

If that bracket is not positioned properly as you stated, please purchase and install the uprated brackets right now. In fact everyone should take advantage of the opportunity to install this upgrade. My car showed no symtoms of fatigue, however after considering the consequences of failure I did the upgrade. You invested a lot in your car. This is a no brainer.

We are fortunate to have this super high quality upgrade available.

Jack

[Blas]

Remember to also check your shock bushings for signs of crushing. Especially on the older AVO shocks (yellow). Confirm that the steel hoop that surrounds the shock bushing "is not" and "has not" rubbed against the lower rear control arm. Inspect the hoop for cracks, etc. I believe Energy Suspensions makes an acceptable replacement Poly bushing for the shock. The Bilsteins are designed different.

[zzmac]

I'm a backyard mechanic and I installed these mounts myself. It was very straight forward.

I would recommend this to all SPF owners. It's a small price for the peace of mind it brings.

[Got the Bug]

Originally Posted by kayakjack

If that bracket is not positioned properly as you stated, please purchase and install the uprated brackets right now. In fact everyone should take advantage of the opportunity to install this upgrade. My car showed no symtoms of fatigue, however after considering the consequences of failure I did the upgrade. You invested a lot in your car. This is a no brainer.

We are fortunate to have this super high quality upgrade available.

Jack

I agree with you Jack. You are definitely on borrowed time if you've got a chassis that is pre-1670 and haven't done the upgrade. After inspecting the part several times, I have seen no problems/symptoms after 6000 miles on 2613. That being said, I am planning on doing the upgrade at the end of the driving season.

I've brought this up before and will bring it up again. If the basic design is still deficient on the latest cars being sold (Now pushing 3000), then SPF should either re-design the part or provide an upgrade kit for each car sold.

[SunDude]

Thanks guys.

The brackets on my car do not show signs of distortion/twisting, but are just canted slightly upward from 90 degrees suggesting that the problem is only just beginning to form. Nonetheless I think I will order the replacement brackets and have them installed as soon as I'm able. Better safe than sorry.

I agree with Doug that, since this is basically a design flaw, Superformance LLC should provide owners with some type of upgrade kit or compensation as a goodwill gesture. I realize this would cost a lot; however, it might be a small price to pay to maintain their product's excellent reputation and value in the marketplace.

[kayakjack]

Originally Posted by SunDude

Thanks guys.

The brackets on my car do not show signs of distortion/twisting, but are just canted slightly upward from 90 degrees suggesting that the problem is only just beginning to form. Nonetheless I think I will order the replacement brackets and have them installed as soon as I'm able. Better safe than sorry.

I agree with Doug that, since this is basically a design flaw, Superformance LLC should provide owners with some type of upgrade kit or compensation as a goodwill gesture. I realize this would cost a lot; however, it might be a small price to pay to maintain their product's excellent reputation and value in the marketplace.

Superformance has a technical bulletin about this issue. If your brackets are OK, it basically says you can replace the bolts with proper bolts and you are done. Cheap and easy. No big deal. Since that seems to be your situation, go for it if you like.

The brackets which you can purchase are truly magnificent works of art. They are a great, reasonably priced upgrade to your car should you choose to go with them.

Jack

[Blas]

I don't think it's really fair to call it a design flaw...
With close to 3000 cars built, the problem has been seen on very very few cars. Failures could probably be tied also to how the car was driven by all its owners, maintenance, tire selection (like drag radials) and driving style habits...Better to consider it money well spent on a overall safety viewpoint and an important maintenance item to periodically check, like many items on all mfr's cars…or just an upgrade...

[SunDude]

Just had the Cobra Valley R/T rear suspension brackets mounted to my car this morning.

The original mounts weren't too bad after all. Both were canted upwards from 90 degrees and the situation was worse on the driver's side, but it was a long way from failure. The bolts weren't too badly bent either, but you sure can see where the problem originates. The OE mounts basically place all the stress on the threaded part of the bolts, which are thinner and weaker, and the R/T mounts are clearly well engineered and very strong.

I should be good for years now.

[Cheesehead]

This is how my old brackets looked before replacement. There is also a picture after replacement. As you can see I only used three of the four bolds. I could not get all four in. The new brackets are well overdesigned so I figured this would do.
The picture of the bold needs no further comment. I am glad I replaced them.

(some pictures cannot be uploaded, don't know yet what went wrong. Each of the pictures is smaller than 39,1kb and .jpg???. Is the problem that these two pictures together are 38kb and the limit for all pictures together is 39,1kb?. I also tried a new reply with picture 3, but that does not work?)

SPF1125
Netherlands