# AirLift Corrado, Front Strut Assembly



## 359Bailey1320 (Jan 27, 2004)

did i put this together wrong? Ever since I put coilovers on and then since switched to the air ride, the front strut bearing has never looked like it was seated right. am i missing a part? anyone have drawings/pics of how this is supposed to be assembled? 



















the car in question


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## the fuzzy one (Oct 29, 2005)

have you tried replacing the bushings and bearings? if not try that


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## 359Bailey1320 (Jan 27, 2004)

can one of the lansing air lift guys post a pic of their corrado?


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## [email protected] (Dec 15, 2010)

359Bailey1320 said:


> can one of the lansing air lift guys post a pic of their corrado?


 I'm guessing you have the VR6 spacer in a 4 cylinder mount. You should have thread showing just above the nut and I don't see that. It has been a while and I'm at home. Do you have VR6 mounts or 4 cylinder?


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## 359Bailey1320 (Jan 27, 2004)

I have an SLC with the VR6 so I followed the assmebly pics in the instructions. I think there was an extra spacer that you don't need with the VR. It was a long time ago that I installed everything so my memory is a little fuzzy.


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## Zorba2.0 (Jan 28, 2005)

Hmm.. I am using the Heavy Duty strut mounts, which I believed to be similar to the vr6 setups, my nut is threaded just like yours.


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## 359Bailey1320 (Jan 27, 2004)

i mean, i know it's supposed to move a little. But I swear when i had stock suspension it sat almost flush. it has stuck up like that ever since i put coil overs on and now it's like that again with the airlift. i just hope it's safe. i've got ~1300 miles on it like that and no issues, so i guess it's okay. just looks weird.


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## 359Bailey1320 (Jan 27, 2004)

found this pic. this was how I assembled it in the car. did i do it wrong?


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## 359Bailey1320 (Jan 27, 2004)

order HD front strut bearing kit from GAP.









Should i cut the rubber from the middle part of the lower bushing? Does that really make that big of difference?


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## kdeboer (Feb 6, 2008)

It's only an 1/8th of an inch that needs to be removed I think.


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## 359Bailey1320 (Jan 27, 2004)

got to try this out for the first time. life is good when you have one.









the old upper strut mounts were pretty well worn so i guess it was good that i changed them.









It tightened up the gap between the upper and lower mounts, but it's still there. Is that why you cut out the rubber in the lower bushing? Will the suspension not bind if that gap is totally gone? nub i know.









at this point i say forget it. i've been reading and talking to a a lot of people about it and they say it's normal. so i'm done worrying about it. I might look for mkiii strut bearing covers to make it a little cleaner looking but that's all.

It would be nice to see an under hood shot of the original air lift corrado, or someone elses air lift mkii or mkiii.


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## [email protected] (Dec 15, 2010)

Greg-

There definitely needs to be a gap between the upper rebound washer and the strut tower. This is the way it was designed by VW. Without it, you will rub the washer on the body with every movement of the steering, causing noise, steering friction and wear.  Our kit maintains the same gap that the OEM suspension had.

The weight of the car keeps it tight on the bottom. When the suspension goes to full rebound, the whole strut tries to fall out and is stopped by the rebound washer on the top of the strut tower. Crappy design but that's how it works. Oddly enough, same kind of design can be found on new Camaro, G8 and probably some others.


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## 359Bailey1320 (Jan 27, 2004)

Brian,
Thank you for the follow up and detailed explaination. Hopefully this summer I can drive out to the shop in Lansing. I'm local, I live in Old Town. I just don't keep the car here.
Thanks!


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