Adjustable front top mounts

What does everyone do to adjust a top mount in situ. The set up is one of the stupidest designs I have seen if you have to keep dropping the strut to adjust it would be almost impossible to get the camber/castor set up accurately side to side

 

Thanks guys had heard about this being done but surely given that is a structural area it has to weaken the strut top. Going out to 76mm is a lot of material to remove

 

Jamie are you seriously of course it's structural why do you think proper roll cages should pick up on the strut tops.

 

That's not really relevant my point was that the strut tops are used in many cars to tie into a cage to increase rigidity of the front end significantly. There is no debate if you remove material from that area you will weaken it, the amount it is weakened is the question .e is it insignificant or is it enough to cause an issue. The standard hole is approx 48 to 50mm diameter but this is strengthened by the swaged edge cutting that off will weaken this area.

 

Wasn't trying to argue Ian but I have been moding and racing cars for a long time maybe not Megane's but car structures are not hugely different. Has anyone had experience or seen a modded MK3 strut top deform after hitting a pot hole of kerbs on track

 

Ok guys let's put this to bed. I am not in anyway and did not suggest any of the individuals mentioned do not know what they are doing and am not saying I am in anyway an expert on car structures but you are also making an assumption that I do not know what I am doing either. I asked a genuine question so not really sure what the issue is. While the Megane is a modern car with a chassis built to meet the various design specs associated with a car of it's age you still cannot ignore what that area is designed to do. I am a licences aircraft engineer and happen to know a fair bit about structures and load paths, the whole strut top area has been designed to withstand the various forces that will be placed on the area. One of those forces will be an upward shock force associated with the suspension bottoming out when hitting a pot hole or during hard track use. The bump stop will absorb some of that force but not it all. If you choose to look at how the top is designed you will see that it has a swaged lip at the normal opening, it also has 3 raised and formed areas 120 deg apart which run into another circular raised and formed area. This is designed to increase the structural strength of the material and dissipate any forces. Taking out any of that area will reduce its ability to withstand some forces which may be placed on it that is not something you can debate it's a fact. What may well be the case is that there is sufficent strength built into that area that removing some of the material does not weaken the area by an amount that is significant. That will however also vary by whatever struts are fitted, the standard strut and spring assembly will have a a fair amount of compression before you get anywhere near the bump stops however once you start adding coilovers and lowering the car then you are then reducing the amount of compression you may have before the strut bottoms out especially on some cheaper kits. So in my opinion it is definately structural because it is strengthened and designed to absorb suspension shock loads is it safe to do this it would seem it is given what people have done and the fact there doesn't seem to have been any issues from varied use on track and road, which was what I was asking so thanks to those who replied.

 

Jamie That thickness of insert will have put a lot of strength back in you can't compare what you have had done to just chopping out an area and is exactly what I would have done. Who done the fabrication for you.

 

I personally would not slot the strut mount holes you have then introduced a 2nd potential fastener tbat can come loose. If you want more castor thete are other routes to doing that.

 

I think what Jamie has had done is for me the best solution. I am risk averse so would not cut my strut tops wîthout putting some form of strengthening back in. I think if you slot the oem hole you would make it a lot harder to put strength back in. Cutting the hole bigebr and reinforcing it would certainly satisfy my OCD.