Not top hats, but found this and having trouble understanding the sentence. "Top and sides of the outermost part"? Would that be greasing both sides of the rim that is sandwiched by the spring and the top hat bearing?
View attachment 58247
I'll bet the writer for that instruction was likely not from the US. Anyways, I personally like to apply a very small amount of thick waterproof bearing grease on any suspension part where there could be motion, binding or squeaking when the suspension articulates. So a small wipe at #8, in between the flat surfaces of #4 and #3, as well as the main contact points between #3 and #2. I always grease contact surfaces of poly sway bar bushings too, cuz if they're dry, they'll squeak and that's anoying!
I grease all shock, strut, eccentric and control arm bolts too, because it prevents corrosion and makes removal and replacement quick and easy in years to come.
Here's the thing about a springs; they don't just compresses, they also rotate. That's why they make stainless thrust bearings you can put in between the spring and #4 or #3. If those surfaces are dry or otherwise immoveable, the spring rotation can cause binding, which makes the initial small suspension movements stiffer or harsher. When rotational pressure becomes too great, the bearing surfaces release, and then it can make a 'pop' or chatter noise and/or damage the bearing surface. Grease on the spring/top bearing contact points can reduce this, or better yet, replace #4 with an actual stainless steel thrust bearing like below:
I've been looking to find thrust bearings like the above for this car too, because in the past I've installed bearings like this on my motorcycle suspension at rebuild times, and it really adds to the plushness of your suspension. Small sharp bumps are soaked by the spring as opposed to transmitted to the sprung chassis. If anyone's found a source for these bearings, please advise, cuz I'm about to do this same suspension swap job on my Fiesta....
I've found a bunch on Summit Racing and one in particular on Jeg's that sort of encloses the bearing cage a little bit to REDUCE the amnt of dirt that can get in, but best yet would be some way to put an O-ring inside and outside the sandwich. Apparently not that easy. Here's the Jeg's version. Don't just buy it, I've not figured out the correct size OD/ID, will pull some springs tonight and measure:
Jeg's Coilover caged thrust bearing
Looks like Summit Racing has the biggest selection and hopefully sizes for our applications!
