One of the main things that makes a car a “rally car” is its suspension. One of the struggles we’ve had to endure is working with a car that has an already scary low ground clearance and make it take the abuse of rally.

Most of the parts on the Dodge Neon are built surprisingly well for endurance. Cast control arms, heavy knuckles, and five bolt hubs. The brakes are a great match for this car and the drive train takes a wicked amount of abuse. The front radiator support is showing it’s life of rally now. Bowed up almost 2″, it’s a not too subtle reminder of how many times I’ve put the nose into the ground.

We have been getting away with Bilstein inserts in ‘rebuilt’ strut housings. When I say ‘rebuilt,’ I mean used KYB struts that have been hollowed out and welded. They survive the rally, but not without destroying the inside of the housing in the process. It’s kind of like trying to mount a piston inside an empty Coke can. It goes up and down a couple of times until the can folds in on itself and the piston crushes the remaining metal. With my struts I end up with a tube filled with pieces of metal bearings, grease, wiper seals, and dirt. I am so amazed at what I put the Bilstein inserts through (and they survive it) that I will probably use these inserts forever.

So, what’s the new plan? Well, Bilstein has been pushing me in the direction of custom strut tubes since the beginning and I’ve finally listened. My motorsport company – RumbleSoft Racing has ordered 4 prototype units from a CNC machine shop, hopefully in time for Prescott. They are one solid piece (almost 10mm thick at the bottom) and will accept the Bilstein Motorsports Inserts with 0.2mm of clearance. We will then weld a bottom and 1/4″ thick tabs on them, press in two bearings and a wiper seal and field test the crap out of them. If successful we will have the best struts that we can possibly afford and still have money left over to rebuild them ourselves after 3 or 4 rallies. Look for an update on these during or after Prescott.