Broken strut top mounts.. safe to drive?

[igeak691]

https://goo.gl/photos/KtmijTAKKSofitnX7

Please look at this video. I've been plagued with poor ride quality and I've been looking into the control arm bushings which seem fine and the struts and springs which seem fine as well. Would something like what's in the video cause a jarring ride? I just drove a s2000 yesterday and it was smoother than the z4 and I've been told that the z4 is less jarring so I'm trying to figure out what the problem is.

Also, is it safe to drive like this?

[Spikey]

I would say you could drive carefully and not fast if you really needed to get around but excessive tyre wear and pressure on other suspension components will happen if you do this for too long

Also not sure what would happen if you had a complete failure in this area - I would get it fixed as priority

[barneybear]

Best get them replaced before it costs more to sort (Tyres etc).

Personally I would also replace both and the other one might be in a similar state and fail apart when removed

[cj10jeeper]

Well I wouldn't drive it with full circle cracks like that. One good pothole or quick corner, emergency brake, etc. and you'll need a new bonnet or find yourself in a ditch..

[jakblade]

Definitely not in my opinion. Maybe only very steadily to have it sorted.
No way I would drive mine like that..

[markeg]

I wouldn't. I'd have both sides replaced before I'd ever drive it, plus a full inspection of the suspension components.

[firebobby]

Is there a possibility that they could tear through and give the bonnet a couple of nice raised bumps?? Must check mine

[markeg]

Was in a crash once when I rolled the car - the suspension top mounts broke and the struts rammed through the bonnet. Albeit not a zed, and a little more extreme that a pothole, but definitely something to monitor and not something I would ignore if failure has started.

[igeak691]

Thanks for the advice guys. Both sides look similarly cracked and I'm surprised i just found out about it. I really wonder how long they've been like that. I recently just drove the car quite spiritedly so I'm pretty sure i was one big pothole away from running the car completely. I wonder if I should just replace the front struts completely. The ride in the zed has been quite jarring and I want to find out if it's just the top supports fault or a combination. I don't have a record of when the struts were last changed but they don't bounce at all so I didn't think they'd need changing. But if I'm gonna have to take them out to swap the supports I might just swap the whole strut altogether.

[Bing]

Top mounts failing is quite common. Wouldn't drive it looking like that as said. If your Z is closing 100k miles you might find that a full suspension refresh will help the ride - control arms, bushes, struts etc. 100k seems to be the time that lot all needs sorted. Personally I don't know all the bits to change out - never been there yet !

[igeak691]

Really tight on budget right now so what I purchased was the strut top mounts as well as reinforcement plates to keep the tower from mushrooming. When I am doing that job, I will check the condition of the struts. The control arm and related bushings are all in good shape but when I do this job I will do another inspection.

[igeak691]

decided to replace the struts as well. thinking about leaving m-sport suspension just for riding comfort (i know, blasphemy). is there anything else i need to change other than the springs/struts in order to bring the ride height up to stock suspension (cars without m-sport)?. i'll be leaving the m-sport sway bar for sure.