rear suspension coilspring lower bush - should there be one?

[Mike Austin]

Thanks for the exploded drawing iichel. Part 3 would be the so-called "underlay". I guess this is an idiosynchratic translation of "unterlage" which would have been better translated as "pad". This part is the one that people are suggesting has made from aluminium? I think I can see the edge of it on my photo.

[iichel]

I'm not sure on the exact material, could very well be aluminium, but it is unpainted metal, and I can see it in all of your pictures.

[RUM4MO]

Well as someone that bought 2 of these washers and they had that same part number back in early 2007, I can say without any doubt that the material was aluminium alloy.

[Mike Austin]

Well as someone that bought 2 of these washers and they had that same part number back in early 2007, I can say without any doubt that the material was aluminium alloy.

Did you notice any difference in noise before and after fitting? If they were indeed metal, I suspect not much difference.

[RUM4MO]

Absolutely no detectable change, all I was trying to do was to make sure that that car, after getting its rear springs replaced, had all the correct parts fitted to it.

[veteran]

Three days ago I said in this forum - concerning the apparent lack of any buffering material between the spring and the shoe - that I'd look again at mine while I myself was under the car and would take some pics, if feasible, and post them here. Well, I've now done that but I have to say that it wasn't at all easy to get any worthwhile pics, principally because, underneath the car, I couldn't see into the shoe, and also because there was very limited space in which to hold the camera. Not only were pics not worth using but also I'm still having problems with Alex's software deleting one or more of them as I submit them.

But, of what I took, there didn't seem to be any sort of metal ring present. However, in the pic I submitted several days ago you can just about make out that there's something silverish underneath that last turn of the coil. Your pic, Mike, shows it fairly clearly. So I think you're dead right RUM, there's a thin metallic buffering ring between the last turn and the surface of the shoe.

Can't figure what purpose such a thin bit of metal would be serving, though. Maybe it's merely sacrificial? Being so thin and fragile, I can't imagine it'd play any part in making the coil mechanically resonate under certain road conditions - but you just never know.