Hello All,

just had my 1.3 MPI MOT'd down here in Southampton, which it passed with flying colours, however, one advisory note was included which read: "small amount of play detected in rear near side macpherson strut". This immediately rang the alarm bells as it always had a 'rattle' on the rear offside. It is my first car and have had it for one year now. Soon after buying the car i had a few bits sorted on it (incl. the rear shocks). At the time i was living in london and had all the work done at the Capital car centre in Vallentin Rd, Walthamstow E17. I had to bring the car back once because the coolant change i had paid for wasn't done. On checking the shocks the other day i discovered no movement in the nearside shock, but approx. 1cm slack in the offside one. On removing the rubber top covers it was obvious the two sides had been assembled differently. On the nearside, the locknut for the sleeve had been substituted for one three times its size and the actual locknut placed on top of the top nut, and on the offside, the thread on the locknut was stripped due to damaged thread on the shock itself. This was left 1cm proud off the sleeve. The nut won't tighten onto good thread either way so I'll have to split the nut off and space the damaged thread with washers. Bloody annoying!

I dont trust any garage unless unavoidable.

On my car some previous mechanic had put the rubber packing in upside down. If you have the tools and a little time and patience the rear suspension isn't to challenging to work on. Not tried doing anything with the front ones myself yet.

Yeh, this is new territory for me, being new to cars. If i was completely ignorant it might not bother me, but i've alot of motorbike and engineering experience, so it's painful to experience this sort of incompetence. And pay for good money for it!

Yeh, nothing surprises me. I think i'll be getting the spanners out abit more often from now on.

the rear shocks are easy as. the only tricky bit can be finding a deep ring spanner for the tops, i went out and got one especially for the job.

still, shoddy mechanics should be reported. it might be a front strut they don't fit properly next time, and that could end in real trouble.

Do it yourself- Do it right!

Felly rear suspension doesnt look like rocket science, and the parts wont be too expensive.

Just as a Guideline,

my tourings (BMWe30'S) take about 30 mins a side to remove damper, strip topmount and rebuild with new topmount.

A bag of swearwords sometimes helps too

the rear shocks are easy as. the only tricky bit can be finding a deep ring spanner for the tops, i went out and got one especially for the job.

still, shoddy mechanics should be reported. it might be a front strut they don't fit properly next time, and that could end in real trouble.

That's the worry. It could have been worse. This was a bodge up. It was obvious they had damaged the parts, but had no engineering knowledge to correct it. Thats a lack of pride in what they do. Perhaps a lack of confidence aswell. Or they just don't give a damn.

Do it yourself- Do it right!

Felly rear suspension doesnt look like rocket science, and the parts wont be too expensive.

Just as a Guideline,

my tourings (BMWe30'S) take about 30 mins a side to remove damper, strip topmount and rebuild with new topmount.

A bag of swearwords sometimes helps too

It does seems pretty straight forward. I don't know how the 'mechanic' made a mess of it, especially with a pukka workshop and all the tools. And my car is clean and tidy with low miles, so its not like working on a pile of ****!

i can change favorit/felicia rear shocks in about half an hour a side easily, maybe 45 minutes for a pair. you need very little in the way of tools too!

woodie, e30s may be easy, but you ever tackled bigger BMs? hows removing the entire rear interior and half the rear subframe sound? slightly time consuming job! think yourself lucky!

i can change favorit/felicia rear shocks in about half an hour a side easily, maybe 45 minutes for a pair. you need very little in the way of tools too!

woodie, e30s may be easy, but you ever tackled bigger BMs? hows removing the entire rear interior and half the rear subframe sound? slightly time consuming job! think yourself lucky!

There's a reason I repair the e30's, and just flog the e34/2s when they get tetchy at the rear...

Front double wishbone susp on an e34= nightmare!