Quote:
Originally Posted by SomeoneWhoIsntMe
It's not that hard to pop those open and trim the bumpstops inside the inverted housing, is it?
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Depends. The rear dampers aren't inverted and neither are the front struts. Inverted dampers would have the damping oil inside the exposed "piston" rod allowing for a much smaller diameter actual piston rod. There would be no point to building these for the rear as the rear dampers are not loaded, all suspension loads are taken by the links, but the rear springs are preloaded I believe, though possibly not by much.
Bilstein builds inverted front struts which are of course loaded suspension components, and these have slightly lower unsprung weight and much better rigidity in their function as the steering "knuckle" since what would normally be the piston rod on a strut is the cylinder that contains the damping mechanism, oil and gas. The strut body where these gubbins are normally located is just a sturdy dust shield for the piston rod which in turn can be much smaller diameter than a regular strut would require.
Monotube dampers can be installed wither way up and could care less. There should be a dust shield when installed either way up.
The way Subaru builds the rear suspension the damper and spring are essentially a coilover unit which unbolts as such. To trim the bump stop without risking nicking the piston rod you should use a spring compressor to dismantle the coilover and to reassemble it. The bump stop cannot be accessed with the dust cover in place and the dust cover is retained by the upper spring plate, corresponding to the upper strut plate on the front.