Ride Height with New Strut Bearing Mount?

[3Sfever]

The bearing in my strut mounts are really "notchy", so ordered new ones. I stayed away from aftermarket ones because I read in stealth316.com that they might increase ride height:

Stealth 316 - Ground Control Spring Installation (scroll to bottom)

I ordered new OEM ones with the assurance from the salesman that they would be stock height. . . To my horror the new ones showed up and are .40" "thicker" than the old ones. That will raise the ride height by .40"

Photo attached

I was ready to box them up and send back, until I did a little searching, and one thread mentions that the rubber in the mount allows the car to drop back to original height. That does seem reasonable, because as I look at the original and the new one, they are identical, expect the rubber looks "relaxed" in the old one.

Anybody know if the weight of the car will compress the new mount to the same height as the old one? I will send these back if not. (who wants to LIFT a 3S? )

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[3Sfever]

I won't know for sure until my car comes off jackstands in couple weeks, but I tried putting one of the mounts in a press. Then compressed the rubber to look like the old mount, while in press. After taking back out, half of the difference is gone. So now it would only lift the car .20"

Hopefully once the weight of the car is placed on it, and some driving, the rubber will take a set to be same as before.

Will report back after they have been on the car a while.

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[Monster Stealth]

Are these OEM or aftermarket?

[3Sfever]

Originally Posted by Monster Stealth

Are these OEM or aftermarket?

O.E.M. Mits part #MB949423

[3Sfever]

Update: the car is back on the ground. The rubber in the mounts did "deform" back to the stock height. . . . Good news!

So apparently that is "by design".

More good news is that almost all of my Stealth's "wandering" is gone. It used to love to follow grooves in road, or change direction when hitting patches in road etc. MUCH better now.

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