Wishbone bushes
Discussion
I did hear Mike from BR on Youtube discussing the option of them producing some new suspension arms as at the moment it seems the replacement price from AM are going through the roof (£350-£400 per arm) and no option for swapping out bushes (yet). On the basis of lots of V8/V12 out there, the demand is only going to increase. Is designing/manufacturing of bushes so difficult ?
Jon39 said:
I am presuming the bushes are unlikely to be unique to AML.
I spoke to Mike at BR about bushes 18 months ago. My front upper arms had a bit of play so I asked if the bushes could be pressed out / replaced. He said that due to tolerances and the bush pressing-in process not being compatible with aluminium arms, pressing in a bush was "pretty much impossible". His words not mine!
Obviously they must have been pressed in for manufacturing so with the correct tooling it can be done. Will be interesting to see the Powerflex product as the price of replacement arms has gone up by nearly £100 since I looked in late 2019.
Obviously they must have been pressed in for manufacturing so with the correct tooling it can be done. Will be interesting to see the Powerflex product as the price of replacement arms has gone up by nearly £100 since I looked in late 2019.
JonnyCJ said:
There's things going on behind the scenes ! A couple of PHers are investigating this as we speak and Dave at Powerflex, who I think owns a V8VS, reckons the release isn't far off (couple of weeks or so)
If anyone cares to drop Powerflex an email it can only help.
I sent them a full set of suspension to develop the kit last year. Theyve been working hard on getting it sorted and the first complete kit is on the way to us now. Will post pictures asap pending brexit delivery times !!If anyone cares to drop Powerflex an email it can only help.
Valiant-Ecosse said:
I sent them a full set of suspension to develop the kit last year. Theyve been working hard on getting it sorted and the first complete kit is on the way to us now. Will post pictures asap pending brexit delivery times !!
Did I see you post on Far$ebook saying you now have these from Powerflex?The first set has in fact landed with me yesterday, and they look great. Ive only fitted a set to the front upper arms and they are a great fit and very snug in the subframe so should be a massive improvement. I'll be testing all of the bushes before Im happy with them. The fronts shown are very simple style bush, but the others are quite a nice bit of design work and should be very well suited. Having spoken extensively with Powerflex they have said they were extensively tested to try and optimise ride without increasing NVH.
You can see in the following photos examples of the most common failure in the front upper arms, Ive lost count of how many of these that are perished and destroyed even on relatively low mileage cars, so I always recommend having them checked when possible.
Im sure there will be some naysayers about these but so far Im very happy with the quality of the items produced and look forward to testing as the proof is in the pudding.
As earlier mentioned, these probably wont be the easiest fit on some of the larger bushes (specifically removing the pressed in old bushes with require special tools to ensure no damage occurs to the alu mag arms), and as such I will be offering full service exchange arm kits that have all bushes already fitted and new ball joints, with the old arms then returned to me. Hopefully this will enable people without a fully kitted out workshop and expertise to remove and refit the arms.
You can see in the following photos examples of the most common failure in the front upper arms, Ive lost count of how many of these that are perished and destroyed even on relatively low mileage cars, so I always recommend having them checked when possible.
Im sure there will be some naysayers about these but so far Im very happy with the quality of the items produced and look forward to testing as the proof is in the pudding.
As earlier mentioned, these probably wont be the easiest fit on some of the larger bushes (specifically removing the pressed in old bushes with require special tools to ensure no damage occurs to the alu mag arms), and as such I will be offering full service exchange arm kits that have all bushes already fitted and new ball joints, with the old arms then returned to me. Hopefully this will enable people without a fully kitted out workshop and expertise to remove and refit the arms.
JonnyCJ said:
Looks like they’re 3 piece, so pretty simple to fit compared to the original ? Are the ARB bushes standard or do they do Sportpack as well ?
Looks like another project coming up !
3 piece are king. So so easy to fit. Great thread and good luck with installing. Having poly bushed a few of my previous cars you're in for a treat Looks like another project coming up !
All this is great news, AM parts dept have really shot themselves in the foot with the outrageous prices of these arms.
So basically can you remove the old bush by destructing the worn one from the inside out and then the new 3 piece bush can be pushed in without a professional garage press?
Or do you need to use a press? Not alot of DIY garage mechanics have a hydraulic press.
So basically can you remove the old bush by destructing the worn one from the inside out and then the new 3 piece bush can be pushed in without a professional garage press?
Or do you need to use a press? Not alot of DIY garage mechanics have a hydraulic press.
Edited by paulrog1 on Monday 15th March 20:50
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