Had a bit of spare time today so I got the hammers out and had a play with top mounts.

I've read lots of reports from people using KW dampers saying what a great set up they are but they are very similar to the FK set up that seems quite harsh. When I say similar, they use the same insert so damping should be the same. The major difference is the KW kit must be fitted using the fiat Bravo top mount.

I dug out my FK's from the box in the garage, I fitted the softer 80Nmm springs as I didn't see the point in having the hard 100Nmm on for this test.

The FKs come with a Ball Raced top mount adaptor that fits inside the standard coupe top mount. Straight away you can see that there is little in the way of insulation from the damper to the chassis, its just metal on metal.

The Bravo top mount is a huge chunk of rubber with a spherical bearing inside that's mounted in exactly the same shape metal top mount as the standard coupe item. Both Caster and Camber are the same for both top mounts.

With the FK strut and Bravo top mount assembled, straight away you can see the advantage of the spherical bearing.
When a coilover damper turns with steering wheel movement the angle the damper alters in relation to the fixed top mount. The FKs fixed metal bearing doesn't allow any movement in this area so the spring will deflect to one side of the other.
The Bravo top mount allows for this movement with its spherical bearing, the strut can move around with no twisting of the spring.

Fitting to the car is as simple as the normal top mount but I did have to lower the ride height by an inch to compensate for the larger Bravo mount.

Driving, straight away the usually crashy ride of the FKs was now quite smooth, its still not the standard suspension ride but with the 80Nmm springs on the FKs it was quite nice. I forgot how bouncy these dampers are compared to my Ledas but I think this is the difference that all KW owners notice, the quality of the ride is greatly and I mean GREATLY improved.

Don't believe me, I challenge FK owners go to a scrap yard and get a set of the Bravo top mounts including the metal cup that the spring locates in and try it for your self, I bet you notice an improvement in ride quality straight away

Well that's my playing about for the day. I'm sending my Ledas back to the factory to reduce the length by 2" for some more travel so I'll be living with the FKs for a month or so then they are up for sale... Again

I'll post up some pictures of the top mounts fitted tomorrow when its light.

Good work Jimbo. I've finally got some CAD drawings of the set pf custom top mounts for my car. They are pdf's so not sure how to post them up. Can I email them to you for you opinion mate? If so then PM me your email address.

PM on its way Si

Does that means the Bravo top mount would work as replacement the standard coupe top mount, i.e would the bravo mount fit with billys, would there be any advantage with the bravo mount??

(i know this gets asked alot, but everyone always says Brava mounts fit FKs only, and youve just said there the same as standard )


ninja

Hmmm...... think I'll take a trip to the scrappies (or I could just borrow yours Jimbo )

Ninja, they are the same dimensionally as the standard top mount but work in a completely different way. The coilover is a narrow (60mm) spring unlike the huge standard spring, it just wont work unfortunately.

Nobby, I think there's a couple left at my local breakers if you fancy a day of tinkering, I'm off for another week

Ok a few pictures of the Bravo Top Mount:

View from above shows the huge rubber block the bearing is mounted in, I think thats what absorbs lots of little vibrations that makes them feel better.

View from under the arch shows how the top of the spring mounts.

Close up view shows the bearing and the top spring cup, also shows how the damper can pivot around instead of the fixed FK bearing.

Great work Jimbo!

having had to change a front spring (and struggled like hell to clamp the damn thing to re-fit) what spring compressor tool / method are you using? figure with the amount of it you've done ou must know a nice little secret Looking at changing both topmounts soon so will need to know a secret...hehe

PS: more importantly, where can I get GOOD new top mounts from? No where I've seen (even AlternativeAutos) is listing them.

Coilovers dont need the spring compressed.

true, true...

Fariniac,

The standard springs are very long so you need a good spring compressor to get the load off the top mount.

Alternative Auto's do top mounts as well as a refresh kit with all the bits in it, just call Steve and ask him.

will do, cheers Jimbo.

Firstly may I apologise for bringing up an old thread but it came up on a search engine result. Il introduce myself , im matt and I have got a fiat stilo 2.4 abarth which iv just had fk coilovers fitted to. Im having the same problem as has been described on this thread where having the standard top mount is not allowing everything to move correctly and its making the spring deflect and causing a lot of noise at slow speeds. My question is does anybody know how I could fix this and in particular would the bravo top mount, as you have used on the coupe be a viable option? T.I.A matt

Hi Matt,

I'm not sure on the Stilo top mount so don't know if the Bravo mount would be an option. I'm on my phone at the moment so not able to access ePer to check what the Stilo mounts look like.

If the bravo mounts don't fit then an alloy top mount with a sperical bearing will sort you out, there are universal ones out there that might fit.

thanks for the reply mate, im considering just the bearing from the bravo, iv looked on the eper and the stilo doesnt seem to have a bearing. will just have to see how it fits etc