Affordable redesigned top hats/struts mounts and bearings from FORD
 

I will be replacing old Koni yellows with some new ones and of course decided to do some research as to which parts to use.

I've found we have an amazing CHEAP option and that is top hats and bearings directly from Ford. I paid about $55 for both sides SHIPPED from tasca ford. The parts look like they are great quality and both are made in Europe. Definitely, a better option than OEM or rockauto.


UPDATE: Parts were installed and everything fits perfectly. Even the stock boot.
Part numbers:
bearings: DV6Z-18198-C (made in Germany)
top hats: CV6Z-18183-A (made in Italy)

Pics:

Old top hat vs new
http://i.imgur.com/cP5DjzZ.jpg?1

close up:
http://i.imgur.com/nBWj5kr.jpg?1

Old bearing:
http://i.imgur.com/ZyDiECN.jpg?1

New bearing (notice the lip, it is on the bottom part, I assume its to stop shit from getting into the bearing and trashing it):
http://i.imgur.com/pLOuQX4.jpg?1
http://i.imgur.com/HZE1CjJ.jpg?1

Interesting...

Let us know how this goes

Its going to be another week or so till I actually get around to it. I need to powdercoat the springs first but I will definitely update the thread.

this x2. cool find

If these tophats work - does that mean we can use ford focus camber plates?

You mean like these? Moog K80001 Camber Plate | eBay You should test em out! You can wait till I try these top hats but I'm pretty sure they will work.

This weekend if I have some time I will take a look at my fiancee 2012 focus and see what other parts might fit :).

Edit: Looks like SPC rear adjustable upper arm is the same too!

Great find! Subbed for results.

Interesting! Bookmarked just incase I go with another strut/shock combo vs a drag coilover.

So, big update!!!!

Finally got around to installing the shocks/struts. I am happy to report that everything fits great! Even the factory boot fits no problem on the Ford bearing.

I will be taking a closer look at a suspension from a 2012 ford focus it appears that the front struts would also fit. I roughly looked at control arms and they look very similar.

FYI:

http://www.mazdaspeedforum.org/forum/foru...aptable-73202/

I've been running these top hats and bearings for the last 2 years. Way cheaper and better than the Mazda ones.

Installed these on my 2012. Fit perfectly.

yep, put on my 13 yesterday, much nicer than RA or oem

how did you get these for $55?! comes up to 83$ before shipping for me?

Where are you looking them up? Tasca ford?

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

yes sir!

I guess I got lucky. Too bad they raised the prices.

When I was looking at these I found if I searched using C-max or Courier van the identical part was cheaper than when searching using the Focus.

FWIW, Tasca wasn't the cheapest when I looked but I don't remember the name of the website that was cheaper. I moved on when I stumbled on affordable camber plates that use the Ford bearing.

If anyone is looking for a brand new set of the bearings; I have them up for sale in the gen2 section.

Yes, I'll check your for sale link.

crapatalk, yes it sucks for free.

moog has these as well 66 a side. 908961 pt number. probably going to snag these next payday and maybe the k80001 camber kit just to play around with it

I highly doubt that camber kit will work.

It's made for the original C170 chassis Focuses (2000-2011), not the later "Global C Platform" that was an evolution of the C1 chassis, upon which the MS3 is built.

...as for the 908961 part, Google is leading me to believe it is a Monroe part. Did you mis-type?

Shit, you're right. yeah thats the monroe set.

Would the struts need to be completely removed to swap out the mounts? I'm trying to eliminate some clunk in the front end and these are on my short list of things to replace, but the struts themselves are not that old and I don't think they need replacing.

How difficult/time consuming of a job to replace these mounts?

yes and no lol.
but easiest to remove strut, replace tophat reinstall. no longer than replacing a strut, about 30 min per side, if you are well versed in tools

Yeah, pretty good with tools, but never removed the struts on this car myself before. Other than a spring compressor, any other "special" tools needed? Gonna search and see if anyone has posted a walkthrough

You'll need an offset wrench for the middle top nut, I think stock is 14mm.

Ive found that if you compress the spring enough you can get the nut run down almost all the way, but break the strut bolt loose before lifting the car. Or like ^^^he said get an offset wrench. oh and a 4lbs sledge helps with the spindle

Any updates as to how these are holding up?
I rebuilt my OEM top hats when I installed my CS adjustables but now they are clicking and binding up the spring. I'm looking to get new parts and be done with the suspension.

They work, just buy them. I had them for 3 years, recently sold my car and they are still good.

Yeah no problems at all and I have been driving the car a bit more lately.

This thread is awesome! Million thanks!
When I asked Mazda for OEM, I think they told me $200 a piece! So $400 a pair... How come Ford sell these for $60 a pair?
Did you also change the rear ones, or thats no necessary ?

Sorry to rez an old thread, but just wanted to update the part number.

There is now a D revision of the bearing: DV6Z-18198-D

It looks the same from what I can tell, but I will update once i get it to let you all know that it still works. Hopefully they just made it better!

Getting both the top hat & bearing shipped from Tasca with Cyber Monday Pricing came to just over $100 shipped.

Just did this with the Ford Focus revised part numbers above, from Tasca.

Perfect fit. Tab on the strut bearing faces you. The three tabs on the top hat face the engine.

My passenger side strut bearing was so bad that it just fell apart once the spring was compressed. Ball bearings went everywhere in the shop floor under the car. That was Dorman junk.

Used these as well when replacing my front struts with some Bilstein HD's. Worked perfectly. For the price (and quality), there's no reason to bother trying to salvage or rebuild the original stuff.

Another bump for part number update. I tried to order a part number from a Ford dealer in Canada, and the part DV6Z-18198-D is discontinued. I asked if it was replaced with another strut bearing, and he said the latest version is AD1151.

This checks, but both part numbers are on the tag. I ordered these a few months ago and just decided to rip into the box out of curiosity. I haven't put them in yet. The bearings are made in Germany and the mounts are made in Italy. I haven't been able to put them side-by-side with the Mazda parts since I haven't put them in yet. I've had a knocking sound over bumps for years and assumed it was the bearings, but it is probably sway-bar end links. Either way, I'll throw these in at some point. My Bilsteins have about 120k miles on them, so maybe one day I will replace them or have them rebuilt.