Does anybody know about rubber?

[Fonzey]

I've got coilover suspension fitted to my car with solid camber plate topmounts.

I'm getting lots of noise transmission through the rears, even after adjusting preload and re-torquing everything a few dozen times so I thought about crafting a rubber gasket to go between the topmount and the suspension tower.



I'd make a template out of paper which would cover the whole bronze topmount leaving the square-ish hole for the camber adjustment bolts and the damper rebound adjuster.

If I were to do this, I guess I'd be looking at something between 3mm and 10mm in thickness (I've got 15mm spare thread on the bolts), but I'm not sure what material would be best for absorbing vibrations whilst still making the suspension structurally sound.

Any suggestions/comments? Is this a hopeless idea?

[SpaceGhost]

If you have any friends in construction, a piece of quarry belt would do your job. Very handy stuff to have in the garage.

[Fonzey]

Cheers for that, I don't know anybody in a relevant industry but it's food for thought still!

[stevieturbo]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=rubber+stockists+yorkshire


Really, rubber is used everywhere from floor mats, to heavy industry. Wont be that hard finding some somewhere

Not convinced I'd be doing that with the top mounts though

[Fonzey]

I know where I can find rubber, but thanks anyway...

The question was more about what types of rubber would be more appropriate for this type of application, and whether or not this was even a good idea in the first place (which the end of your post seems to suggest not - any clarification on that?)

[hidetheelephants]

Manufacturers spend fortunes on NVH research and design nice rubbery bits for the suspension. Seems a bit counterintuitive to fit solid mounts and then bodge a bit of rubber into it to reduce transmitted noise; either the mounting bolts will be tight and compress the rubber to the point it won't absorb much, or they'll be loose and will fret in the holes. I can't see the point, but YMMV.

Edited by hidetheelephants on Sunday 6th October 04:35

[stevieturbo]

Fonzey said:

I know where I can find rubber, but thanks anyway...

The question was more about what types of rubber would be more appropriate for this type of application, and whether or not this was even a good idea in the first place (which the end of your post seems to suggest not - any clarification on that?)

For all the reasons posted above.

Any amount of rubber you might use that would reduce any noise from the suspension, would have the potential for other problems.

Although having been in many cars with various coilover setups, none of them had any noise worth worrying about.
If there is a noise from the transmission, it would seem the problem may lie elsewhere.

[Fonzey]

Fair enough guys, thanks for the opinions.

Just to clear up my wording, as it might be confusing - but it's not noise I'm hearing from the transmission - it's just the transmission OF noise coming up through the suspension, so just a light chattering over bumps etc.

Spoke to the UK distributor of the coilovers and a fair few other owners and they all report the same - if nothing else it's an issue with the build of the Subaru chassis which is just being "amplified" by the lack of rubber OEM top mount. I bought these coilovers because they were the best in the range, in hindsight getting some mid-range ones and optional OEM style rubber top mounts from BC Racing would have been a smarter move, as although my car see's track - it's still a daily too.

Rubber top mounts ARE available from BC Racing for my particular model, but not my spring rates (the springs need changing for conical ones) and they're not confident that my damper rates will support a softer spring setup - hence me looking at redneck solutions/mitigations!