Just had a aftermarket front shocker fitted and something doesn’t look right to me, is the location bracket supposed to look like this??

Hum, I'm guessing that you are expecting that the pinch bolt passes through the hole in that bracket - I would.

That's not correct looking at it the picture who ever has fitted this strut has not made sure the bracket was in the housing and by forcing the damper/strut tube into the housing has bent the bracket out the lower hole you can see should be where the pinch bolt goes through the strut bracket and the hub housing therfore they might have tightened the clamp on the housing up that much to try and pinch the tube it could be possable they have damaged the new tube stut, most decent mechanics use a tool to widen the strut housing where it's split in the casting to allow the bracket to slide into the housing then be tightened up, if by chance you took thiscar to a decent MOT garge this would fail as this is not fitted correctly honestly why a garage fits one strut beats me they should be relaced in pairs like brake pads discs etc for safety reasons but that's your choice if you only asked for one to be done

Edited 27 September, 202527 Sep by Murdockman
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Definitely wrong, as above, even used the old bolts too.

Yes definitely wrong shock absorber is too far into the Hub the bolt is meant to go through the hole then pinch the Hub to the shock absorber and they're used Old Bolt which is a no-no and it's a stretch Bolt quite highly torqued to 60nm and then angle-tighten 90° i would take it back get them to fit a new shock absorber and bolt and do the job correctly

Only time I replace only one is to get through MOT and I dont have time to fit other I always buy two and do it later. Speak to the garage/person who did it and get them to redo it plus make sure they use a new shock and perhaps get other side done as well. I would make sure I saw the one thats got the bent bracket after they fitted a new one just in case they decide to straighten bracket and reuse it. As said new bolts as well but a lot of garages just reuse old ones when they should be replaced.

Alasdair

Reusing old TTY bolts seems to be something that some proper VAG Indies and even main dealers do, not really good enough!

Okay on some jobs the cost of using a set of new bolts does cost quite a bit, I know this, but it is the way that VW Group recommend - and probably others where TTY bolts get used.