I installed my trd lowering springs about 2 months ago. I recently noticed that there's a gap between the strut mount (I believe that's what the part is called) and the strut tower. (see pic)



This gap measures about 1/4 inch. I'm currently still using the OE struts and I cannot remember if this gap was here before or not. When I put the car up on jacks with the wheels hanging, this gap is gone and the strut mount is flush. I have taken the whole assemblies apart twice now to see if the gap will go away but it persists. There isn't any clunking or creaking that I've noticed, and all hardware is completely tight and secure. What I want to know is: Is this normal? For those of you who also have the trd springs do you have this gap? Will my front suspension parts wear faster this way? Thanks in advance for any and all advice. This is really starting to bother me.

 

It's how mine look IIRC.

 

Yep completely normal...Freaked me out and we uninstalled and re-installed when we noticed it to make sure...It is supposed to be like that

 

Thanks for the replies. I stopped by my service dept today and spoke with one of the master techs. He also confirmed that it was normal. He said he liked my setup (saw hps short ram & PM exhaust) and recommended a front strut brace in addition to my rear sway. If I recall, wasn't there some discussion here recently as to whether or not a front strut brace poses some sort of hidden problem? I've noticed that fastscions carries a tanabe one for sale. If there's no problem, I may purchase one when I buy myself a strup exhaust for my birthday next week.

 

Only problem i would see is if your battery goes dead, then it might get in the way of replacing your battery or should i say just be a little bit more difficult to take it out.

 

Replacing the battery isnt too bad because you dont have to unbolt the towers, theres an end link on each end of the tanabe bar that you can untorque and move the bar out of the way for battery replacement. i think the problem with the old trd ones was that they sat too close to the battery and caused shorts from the terminals touching. also the micro image one looks purely asthetic, theres only one bolt on each end, not that the tanabe one probably adds a ton of performance or anything.

can snap a picture on request

 

Found a pic, you can kind of see the end links in this pic.



ps. the strup exhaust is sweet

 

Thanks for the pic. I discovered an older thread mentioning that the strut braces for the xD didn't do much in the way of performance enhancements so I ultimately didn't grab the tanabe from fastscions. The strup is on the way though!

 

Good choice, you will be very happy with your Strup

 

Understandable. there are a few mixed reviews on the strut tower bar vs the rear sway bar. some people say the rear sway makes a huge difference and the strut didnt make much, some people say the opposite. Im not really a speed racer and do most of my stuff for the aesthetics, but i do enjoy spirited driving on some of the backroads out here. And unfortunately I put my coilovers on at the same time as my strut tower bar so its hard for me to accurately report any kind of noticed change in handling due exclusively to the strut tower bar is not possible