Interchangeable front strutts...2012 onto Bugeye...Yes..win !!!

[Delivan]

I did the front brakes on my wife's bugeye rex yesterday and discovered that both front struts have been weeping. frustrated that I had to spend more money on cars (we have 9 altogether) I remembered I had been given almost new front and rear struts off a 2012 wrx.. I had sold the rears but still had the fronts, minus springs. I compared them with the weeping ones and they looked the same except the top part with the 3 bolts that goes up into the engine compartment on the new ones were further apart by about 5mm but because I already had the fronts half way apart waiting on my mate to turn up to skim the rotors I decided to pull a strut out of car to investigate the possibility of swapping top hats and mounting section.. To my delight I discovered that the original top spring mount and the springs and the 3 bolt thingy at the top all fitted straight onto the 2012 struts.. Not having a spring compressor made for some fun but with the help of 3 long wood clamps being alternately compressed I was able to get it all back together and now the silver bug has almost new (40K) front struts, for free . Everything else like brake hose bracket, abs bracket etc etc were the same. This is her bug...

[05-RSX]

Whilst the show fits, I don't suppose you happened to investigate any changes in geometry (eg SAI or camber)?

I know for a fact there were differences between GD and GG (sedan vs wagon) in clevis hole positions which gave the sedan struts less camber at the mount to compensate for the wider control arms/track (so as both had the same final camber). Would be interested to know of any differences between GD/GG and GR/GH

[Delivan]

All I could do with what I have is measure distances etc. It drives beautifully with no abnormal tyre noises etc. I took it for a drive around one of the local windy mountain roads and was very impressed with the ride and handling. It has quite a few mods to suspension including sti rear struts and front and rear strut bracing. If it is out it will show on tyre wear over the next couple of weeks..I marked the camber settings before I swapped and put it back the same.

[sikmrex]

I know that putting my08 struts into my my11 lowered it by about 10mm and increased the camber (which was reset with an alignment). Not sure if the my08 is similar strut to the bug eye though.


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