What do Pillow Ball Mounts do?

[PieEyedPiper]

just like is says.
What are they for?
Are they a good thing to have?
Are they related to adjusting camber?
Can I have them for my Eclipse?

Thanks!

 

[No_Skillz]

Yes yes and yes to your last 3 questions.

 

[PieEyedPiper]

It seems like most shocks don't come with them for our cars, why is that?
Unless I'm under a mistaken impression.

If I, for instance, purchased the Megan Racing Coilovers (the Apexi look-alikes) would I recieve the pillowball mounts? It seems hard to determine which shocks you can have them with.

Any more information would be appreciated.

 

[SAKONE]

Uh. You got the 2G. We don't adjust camber up top like that. Unless there is something I missed. Good thing to have, depends. It's a closer step to removing slop from the suspension and closer to becoming a un-compliant street car.

 

[PieEyedPiper]

Yeah, see I wouldn't have known any of that.
The FAQ/Stickies for this part of the forum are seriously lacking IMO.

So I shouldn't concern myself with pillowball mounts since I have a 2g?
And if I did, I'd not be able to adjust camber, and my car would be less driveable for the street?

 

[wret]

The top mounting points are fixed on 2g shocks. And moving them would not affect camber even if you could. This is because they are "shocks" and not "struts." A strut takes the place up an upper control arm and moving the mounting point will affect camber.

But that's not the reason to use pillow ball mounts. You may not realize it but your spring and shock does not just move straight up and down. When turning, there is a surprising amount of side-to-side motion as well. To allow for this motion, the stock suspension uses a heavy rubber piece in the mount to make it flexible. This solution works adequately on a stock vehicle but side forces imparted to the shock during this twisting motion make it less precise. One solution is to this is replacing the flexible rubber with a spherical bearing called a pillow ball. This allows less restricted movement of the shock at the mount but the trade off is more road noise and vibration transmitted to the chassis of the car.

The next step in the evolution of shock mounts is the coaxial spring hat. The shortcoming of pillow ball mounts is that they don't do anything for spring. As the shock moves side to side the angle of the spring hat changes (in relation to the shock). This places uneven pressure on the sides of the spring, making its performance less predictable. The coaxial spring hat uses a spherical bearing, like the pillow ball, but its location allows the spring hat to pivot freely as a unit with the shock shaft.

Now, if you want to adjust camber you do so by changing the length of the control arms or altering their mounting positions. The common solutions include adjustable upper ball joints and adjustable anchor bolt arms.

 

[PieEyedPiper]

Great info. Thank you muchly!
I think I do not need to worry about such things right now. I'm just looking to replace my shocks and springs cause the shocks are dead.
Thanks again.

 

[fAt_sUnNy]

Since we're on the subject I guess I'll ask here. I've been a lil confused about upper pillow mounts after realizing there is so much to learn about our cars' suspension. Although I've learned some Im still unsure if what coaxial hats are.

I just ordered a set of Tein SS coilovers and was thinking of ordering Tein's optional p/u mounts. But whenever I look for information on p/u mounts people are always suggesting to get coaxial hats too. Now are these hats part of the p/u mounts from Tein or will I have to get them seperately? And are p/u mounts necessary only in front or all four? I spent quite a bit on the coilovers already but I dont want to install them w/o the p/u mounts.

 

[wret]

A quick google search for a decent explanation yielded this result from another forum (thanks Charles):

The shock absorber assembly on a 2G moves around quite a bit, changing the angle relative to the upper (body) mount significantly. This increases the lower the car rides.

At stock ride height the shock assembly is perpendicular to the body mount, so the spring sits more or less square on the mount. As the car is lowered the shock moves further and further away from perpendicular, so the spring then sits on one side, introducing bending loads into the damper.

This side load will wear out a damper pretty quickly, and also compromises its ability to perform. To get around this the spring seat needs to be detached from the body and able to move with the shock absorber assembly.

A coaxial spring hat is a spring seat that fits onto the damper in a similar fashion to the lower spring seat, so its position relative to the spring does not change.

Pillowball mounts are spherical bearings fitted into plates that bolt to the car. The shock absorber assembly is fixed to the spherical bearing, which allows the assembly to pivot freely. Adding these mounts to the coaxial spring seats removes a lot of the unwelcome loads that a 2G sees, and allows the front suspension to function much closer to its potential.

There is another source of unwelcome loads on a 2G - the front lower shock bushing. This can be replaced with a spherical bearing as well, although the longivity of such a fitment is still in question.

 

[fAt_sUnNy]

I think if ill do it once Im gonna atleast do it right and get em on all four.

wret, do you run coaxial spring hats? Where did you get your's from? I wonder if Tein makes any...

 

[wret]

No, I have pillow ball mounts. They come standard with Tein Type Flex.