Upper Mount N Pillowball Camber Top

[chriscfy]

sorry about this newbie question, just trying to understand what i am reading in the forums. when a coilover comes with a upper mount, is that the same as pillowball camber top or am i missing everything?

what are pros/cons on a street car? thanks for your help guys.

this is on a s14.

chris

[salad]

A pillowball camber top is a type of upper mount. The upper mount or strut top is the flat round bit of metal on top with studs in it to bolt it to the strut tower.

Pillowball camber tops use a spherical bearing instead of the stock bush to allow movement and it also adjust camber on MacPherson strut cars like an S14.

For a street car, they're not really needed as the only advantage is having the camber adjustment, but you dont really need the large range that they give, you can just get camber pins which will give you enough adjustment on the street and are much cheaper. Pillowballs or spherical bearings are also known for their harsh ride with lots of NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness). It's also quite common for them to wear quite quickly.

[BHDave]

non necessarily, though with any s chassis coilovers it's more than likely that the tops are pillow ball and camber adjustable.

Pros. you can adjust camber and there is no un wanted movement in the top of the strut allowing for dynamic alignment changes (pretty negligable really with good condition rubber mounts)

Cons. The pillow ball flogs out eventually and starts to knock. Increased NVH due to the metal on metal design of the top.

[chriscfy]

thanks for that fellas. so at least i'm going crazy thinking that they r the "same" sort of thing. just another quick ques... how long does it usually last(pillowball)b4it starts to knock