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Need details on slotting struts

Aeroheadcww

Aeroheadcww

New member
I just got new tires on my '05 CompG and wanted an alignment but the tech said he needed to slot my struts which would cost $50 a pop. He said I could do it myself and that I needed to slot the bottom hole and that usually they have a mark that outlines how far to slot them. He also said that camber bolts would not get me enough adjustment (apparently they are way out of spec).

I really hate to take a die grinder to my struts before confirming what I need to do. Can somedody tell me how much to slot the holes and if it is in fact the bottom hole that needs to be elongated? Somebody told me that you need to slot the top hole on the front struts and the bottom on the rear, is that correct?

I greatly appriciate any help.
Thanks, Casey

05 CompG, ZZP PCM, 104s, 180 stat, drop in K&N, drilled rotors
 
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Slot the top holes a bolt width on each side of the whole. Mark the center before you start so you can get it close when you put it back together. Slotting the bottom wont do anything it needs to be the top.
 
So I talked to the guy at the shop and he reassured me that he wanted me to slot the bottom holes, which I did. It does work, although it doesn't allow much movement on the rear struts before the hub assembly bottoms out against the strut body. It did give enough to get back where it needed to be. It would have worked great if you were going for more negative camber. I actually only needed to elongate the hole about 1/8", it makes a bigger impact on the camber than you would think.

BTW I did it all with a round file, I couldn't find a die grinder bit at my hardware store that would cut it and fit in the hole. Don't try using a rotary file bit, the strut mounts are hardened and it destroyed my bit in seconds. The round file works good though if you get a coarse one and clamp the strut up in a vice or something where you can put some umph into it. Hope this post will help someone in the future.:th_thumbsup-wink:
 
The canadian is right, enlarge, or slot the BOTTOM hole only, the top hole is used to position the strut assemblly on the spindle, the bottom hole is slightly larger from the factory to allow for some adjustment, usually not enough on some cars to bring back into spec after 10 years of driving and having parts replaced.
I enlarged the bottom holes on mine (cannot remember size, not much) after that it allowd as much as -2 dgrees camber.
Get this, TIRE KINGDOM wanted to charge me over $400 just for a camber bolt kit to bring the car into spec. This is After I enlarged the bottom hole This ment I had to go out into THIER shop and show THEM how to adjust the front suspension to gain posotive camber becuase they were too lazy too put it on a lift and loosen BOOTH strut mount bolts and tap them out slightly to allow the spindle to pivot on the top bolt. Once they figuerd out I knew what I was talking about they eprformed the nececary actions I asked them to do the get the camber at -.4/-.3 front camber.
Then they had the nerve to tell me that "OHH, it wont go any more posositve", but I was happy with the -1/2 degree camber (what I actually wanted).
 


I think either way would work. I actually would have gotten more adjustment if I had done the top holes. As long as you leave one hole as a tight fit to locate the strut then the camber could be adjusted by slotting either the top or the bottom.
 
Well, as long as one hole is the same size as the hole in the spindle for proper locating of the strut assembly, than I gues it does not matter, but the factory uses the bottom hole enlarged, so sloting the top would make it very difficult to keep proprly located, becasue one bolt needs ro be the fulcrum.
 


camber bolts (if not installed correctly, and tightened to spec) have a tendency to spin on their own. i would MUCH rather slot the struts.
 
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