Front shock absorber support mount - Porsche & Meyle alternatives?

I recently decided to give my entire suspension a refresh as my 1998 996 C2 have 110,000 miles on the clock and some of the components looked very tired. I'm on a sensible budget, so buying all genuine Porsche parts isn't really an option, so I looked at alternatives and settled for new suspension arms and shock absorber mounts from Meyle. This morning I finished fitting the work on the front end - new coffin arms, tuning forks, top mounts, drop links, bump stops, anti-roll bar bushes, shock absorber bearings as well as replacements for all the washers, plates and rubber parts at the top of the shock absorber. I also wire brushed off all the old paint and rust from the shock absorbers and gave them a coat of fresh paint. All seemed fine until the test drive where I noticed a clunking noise that wasn't there before. So, wracking my brain to see if I could remember forgetting to tighten something up, I got the car back up on stands and went through everything - all seemed fine except the fit of the bearing in the top mount - if I grabbed the top of the spring and pushed/pulled it, it moved from side to side by about 0.5-1mm or so, clunking as it moved. Fortunately I've not yet thrown out the old top bearings and top mounts, so I was able to compare the Meyle top mounts and the new bearings with the originals, both by measuring them and fitting them together to see how they work together. I found that the new bearings are virtually identical in size to the originals, but the recess in the Meyle top mount where the bearing locates seems to be about 0.5mm larger than the original part, allowing the bearing to move around, while on the original it fits snugly with no movement possible. Has anyone else encountered this issue with Meyle or other 3rd party parts? There seem to be alternatives from Lemforder, Sachs & Bebi Bilstein, so I wonder if anyone has recommendations, or should I go for genuine Porsche for this item? Perhaps my mistake was not to buy the Meyle bearing, but I believe that the standard sized bearing should fit this part. Also, just in case the clunking noise while driving is coming from some other location (I can't think where - the front suspension is quite simple), is it normal to be able to move the top of the spring/bearing around when the front end is up in the air and the wheels unloaded?

So, I've ordered a pair of Sachs top mounts to replace the Meyle parts - they've not turned up yet but I'm hoping the bearings will fit better in these ones. Has anyone run into this issue before?

I've done my suspension twice (replaced stock Bilstein B4's with B8's and H&R springs, and recently replaced the B8's/H&R's with KW V3's). I've never heard of Stock type top-mounts by anyone other than Porsche (obviously someone else makes them, but they're Porsche branded) or the camber plate/adjustable types by Tarrett, Elephants Racing, and a few others (perhaps Sachs). As for all the "bushings and bearings" you mention, there are several "washers" I'm aware of including the cupped ones that go beneath the top mount - Is this what you're calling "bearings or bushings"? If so, maybe you just need a couple washers or spacers to take up the slack. If the hole in the top-mount itself is too big/sloppy where the actual strut rod passes through it, I'd say yeah you need top-mounts with a smaller hole - there shouldn't be any play in there.

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I did my suspension in the summer of 2017 and assuming we're talking about the same thing, I used Lemforder strut mounts and genuine Porsche strut bearings (since they were so cheap) and had no issues. If I have a choice, I'll always choose Lemforder for suspension parts.

Thanks for the reply, both of you. As I said in my last post, I've ordered some alternative parts from Sachs now, but I will be checking them very carefully before commiting to reassembling this lot again - lesson learned! The seller of the Meyle parts has agreed to a return, so I'm feeling better about the whole thing now - fortunately they are fairly cheap parts, but I hate the feeling of making the wrong decision and wasting money. Perhaps if I'd ordered the Meyle bearing the fit would have been better, but the new bearings I have match the originals to the limits of my ability to measure them, so I don't think the fault lies there. For clarity, the parts I'm talking about are shown on the diagram below. Part (3) is the support mount - there is a recess in its lower surface which locates the bearing (11). I tightened the nut (10) fully onto the shaft of the shock absorber (1), so that the large washers (6) & the mount (3) were sandwiched between it and the cone washer (2) - the movement wasn't between the shock absorber shaft and the mount, but rather the bearing and the mount. The bearing (11) sits on top of the metal support ring (4) and the rubber compensating plate (5), which sit on top of the spring (7) - in my case, I was able to grab the top of the spring and push/pull it from side to side making what I believe to be the same clunking/rattling noise that I heard on my test drive Anyway, hopefully the new top mounts will get me past this problem, although the delivery has been delyed with the Covid19 restrictions. As you can see from the pictures below, the job really needed doing and things were looking pretty good up until the test drive: Looking a bit tired... Better!

Thanks for the replies both of you. I responded with some pictures yesterday but the post seems to be stuck somewhere "pending approval". Anyway, it's the fit of the strut bearings with the strut mounts that seems to be at fault. Fortunately the selelr has agreed to areturn of the Meyle parts, so I'm now awaiting delivery (delayed by Covid19 lockdown) of the Sachs parts. Fingers crossed the fit of those parts will be better. In the meantime, I'm now pulling apart the rear suspension - plenty of grungy bolts in there to be nicely siezed, so wish me luck!

Thanks for the info we will be overhauling front suspension '02 C2 112k miles within next two months. Have all bits except strut bearing and mount and rebound bumper and sway bushing. And maybe some hardware. Planning on ordering from FCP Euro. Only other suspension work we've done is '72 Mach 1 Mustang.

Ahhhh, yeah - Those bearings! I forgot about them - They do get pretty shot, as they're exposed to water/road salt etc. When I originally replaced my B4's with the B8's I re-used my original bearings, though I did have to take them apart remove all the old dried out grease and give them a good cleaning and re-greasing. The upshot was that they weren't damaged and worked fine after the clean up. I didn't need them with the new coil-overs so I passed them on to the guy who bought the old setup (B8's, & H&R sport springs). It looks like you're set now, though I wonder about the economy of not replacing the shocks & struts...I can't imagine you wanting to do this job again any time soon...

Yes.... the shocks.... I've been wondering about that myself - the Koni Special Active's can be found for a fairly reasonable price, however my wife gave me "the look" when I mentioned the possibility of buying them a couple of days ago! I've started the process now - with any luck she'll come around to the idea shortly. Having said that, the front suspension is fairly easy to dismantle - following this issue, I had the struts out in short order as it turns out you don't need to loosen the inner bolt of the coffin arm to be able to get the strut clear of the wheel arch. However, my problem now is the rear end - I've got the tuning fork out easily enough, but the two eccentric bolts/washers for the coffin arm and toe arm seem to be permanently attached. The upside is that I've managed to separate both ball joints from the hub carrier - the coffin arm one treated me by spinning around as I tried to undo the nut, which was "entertaining", but using a jack under the arm and a piece of 2x4 where the spring/shock used to be I was able to get enough friction in the taper to get it undone. I'm seriously considering removing the sub-frame so I can get decent access to chop those bolts with a saw or grinder. the coffin arm on that side at least is definitely done for - I can make the ball joint click by hand and the rubber bush on the inner end has delaminated, so I can rotate it down with no effort at all and it makes the creaking/squeaking noise I've been hearing over speed bumps etc

The "look" from the wife is good reason to back off a little...(happy wife happy life) Make sure you use plenty of anti-seize when you put everything back together. The fronts on the C2 are much easier due to no front axles... I found the rears to be the easy ones on my C4. I did replace the rear toe arms recently though (went with adjustable ones) and had to cut one of the eccentric bolts as it was seized. Seeing as I wasn't trying to save the arm I cut it near where the bolt passes through so I had a much easier time getting the sawzall in there...

OK, so clearance for the purchase has just been granted & order placed! That's quite a relief to know I won't have to be taking this stuff apart again for a while after I've finished. Now I'm going to concentrate on finding the other things that need dealing with - like those crusty power steering pipes and the flaky brake pipe that goes across the front - I can see me dropping all the sub-frames at this rate....

Make sure you check the brake lines that go to the rear wheels - especially if you're in colder/northern climate. Both of mine rotted and leaked/popped... Good luck

Ugh... I hope you din't pay more than $1k ... https://rennlist.com/forums/market/1223088

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Good call. Even in the mild San Diego climate and with only 38,000 miles, the 18 year old lines on my car were hard as a rock. New lines were already part of the 'while you're in there' plan but I was shocked at how bad the original ones were. Just for future reference, pipe insulation foam is an easy way to help protect the fender lip. The ones for 3/4" copper pipe seem to work best on the 996. It stays on pretty well by itself but you can use a little painters tape for extra insurance.

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some heat from a map gas torch can really hrlp break up the corrosion. A couple 1min cycles usually does it.

Thanks for the advice - the nuts came off with some encouragement from a gas torch, but the bolts were compeletely seized into the aluminium bushes. In the end the eaiest method was to drop the subframes out and chop through the bush/bolt at each end - so much easier with the subframe in a vice!

Wow! That's not just the bolt - it looks like the ends of the bushing "welded" themselves to the subframe as well... Are you planning on replacing the subframe? If not, I'd really let those areas soak in penetrant before trying to drift those bolts out. You just have to hope the corroded areas don't just crumble around those pieces as they come out. If they do, I think you'll have to replace the subframe... Just go real easy with heat - I wouldn't put a torch on it - it's very easy to weaken the Aluminum. Good luck

No, fortunately it's not that bad - the "washer" formed by the end of the aluminium bush that was cut away at each end remained quite firmly attached to the short length of bolt and so had to be persuaded free from the bolt head end with a small cold chisel, but for the threaded end it came out easily enough as there was no nut in the way. The aluminium parts weren't fused, just the steel and aluminium where the oxide swelled up to grab the bolt inside. Both of the adjustment slots in the subframe were full of oxide, which would prevent any adjustment of the suspension, so I've scraped/chiselled,filed it away - you can see it in the slot for the toe arm, filling half of the void.

I would get adjusable toe arms and cam bolt elimators. More adjustability for when u make suspension upgrades.

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^^^Unfortunately, the adjustable "dogbones" and toe arms are quite a bit more expensive than the stock fixed length parts - IMO worth it if you've got the cash. I was fortunate to score a set of RSS Dog bones for around $500 (lightly used) and Torque Solutions adjustable toe arms for around $300... Keep your eyes open here in the classifieds and of course ebay...