Speedy
01-05-2009, 01:26 AM
I have a small piece of this posted in the omni parts review thread, but I feel this slightly more significant than a simple part review.
So yes, you read the title right; my driver's side, rear Omni Power strut dissentegrated in my hands. This started about 2 weeks ago with small metal on metal clanking that occured everytime I hit a bump. Over the course of two weeks the became slightly louder, but friday night when I made a 200 mile trip the noise became very apparent.
On Saturday afternoon I took a good look at everything; I checked all of my bolts, all of my bushings, I even went as far as checking the straps on my gas tank to make sure it wasn't loose. It all came down to the strut. I took it off, compressed it slightly with my hand and it exploded...literally. The top hat with the rod attached shot up into my face and was followed by a volcano of green goop. Nice, it got on my shirt, pants, shoes, face, my car, my wheel and my dad's train that was next to me in the garage.
I called Omni Power, but it was saturday and I only got their answering machine. I sent an email which was answered by "David@Omni" asking how long I've had the coilovers for, to which I answered "They were purchased on June 13th from InLine4. It is 1am Monday morning and I have not received another email; I'm expecting one later today.
So after cleaning up my garage and posting a few pictures on Honda-Tech, it was stated that the lack of a rough surface and apparent red thread locker on the threaded end of the rod indicated that the nut that held it inside the piston had come loose and fallen off. The knocking noise I was hearing was the loose rod sliding out of the piston and slamming back down or forcing the piston to bottom out. Either way, the coilover was not properly assembled and I am extremely dissapointed with Omni Power. Some members on Honda-Tech tried saying that my car was too low and I was bottoming the piston out, which "sealed my fate". This is bullshit. This only occured with 1 strut and the noise became louder after some time indicating a change within the strut regardless of me changing anything outside. Also, if my car was too low, forcing the piston to bottom out, the bumpstop would have a sign of wear on it. The bumpstop is there for the sole purpose of preventing the piston from bottoming out, and there is no sign of the bumpstop ever being compressed between the top hat and shock body.
Pictures.
Here is the original mess, right after I cleaned the shit off of me. My hands were disgusting so my dad had to take pics with his camera.
Here's some closeups wth my camera:
Lack of wear on the bumpstop
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3083/3168084612_50536e90d4_b.jpg[/img]
Here you can see the surface of the rod where it goes inside the piston. There is no indication of a break or crack, but you can see red thread locker which makes me think that it spun out of whatever holds it into the piston
So yes, you read the title right; my driver's side, rear Omni Power strut dissentegrated in my hands. This started about 2 weeks ago with small metal on metal clanking that occured everytime I hit a bump. Over the course of two weeks the became slightly louder, but friday night when I made a 200 mile trip the noise became very apparent.
On Saturday afternoon I took a good look at everything; I checked all of my bolts, all of my bushings, I even went as far as checking the straps on my gas tank to make sure it wasn't loose. It all came down to the strut. I took it off, compressed it slightly with my hand and it exploded...literally. The top hat with the rod attached shot up into my face and was followed by a volcano of green goop. Nice, it got on my shirt, pants, shoes, face, my car, my wheel and my dad's train that was next to me in the garage.
I called Omni Power, but it was saturday and I only got their answering machine. I sent an email which was answered by "David@Omni" asking how long I've had the coilovers for, to which I answered "They were purchased on June 13th from InLine4. It is 1am Monday morning and I have not received another email; I'm expecting one later today.
So after cleaning up my garage and posting a few pictures on Honda-Tech, it was stated that the lack of a rough surface and apparent red thread locker on the threaded end of the rod indicated that the nut that held it inside the piston had come loose and fallen off. The knocking noise I was hearing was the loose rod sliding out of the piston and slamming back down or forcing the piston to bottom out. Either way, the coilover was not properly assembled and I am extremely dissapointed with Omni Power. Some members on Honda-Tech tried saying that my car was too low and I was bottoming the piston out, which "sealed my fate". This is bullshit. This only occured with 1 strut and the noise became louder after some time indicating a change within the strut regardless of me changing anything outside. Also, if my car was too low, forcing the piston to bottom out, the bumpstop would have a sign of wear on it. The bumpstop is there for the sole purpose of preventing the piston from bottoming out, and there is no sign of the bumpstop ever being compressed between the top hat and shock body.
Pictures.
Here is the original mess, right after I cleaned the shit off of me. My hands were disgusting so my dad had to take pics with his camera.
Here's some closeups wth my camera:
Lack of wear on the bumpstop
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3083/3168084612_50536e90d4_b.jpg[/img]
Here you can see the surface of the rod where it goes inside the piston. There is no indication of a break or crack, but you can see red thread locker which makes me think that it spun out of whatever holds it into the piston