Thrust washers

[nerobo]

I am in the middle of my body off referb and at the moment costing parts. There is 44 Thrust washers needed for the wishbone bushes and at £2.27 each they come in at £99.88
Surely there is a cheaper option, has anyone else found an alternative to buying these from the TVR suppliers?
Not sure of the exact size's yet i will look tomorrow, found these on ebay what do you guys think?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/50-M5-X-10-X-1-METRIC-BL...

Cheers
Graeme

[carsy]

You not fitting Steve Heath polly bushes. They come with thrust wshers.

[nerobo]

I have been advised against fully polybushing the full car buy a TVR specialist. He told me to use the standard bushes on the wishbones and polybushes on the Anti roll bars and the diff mounts.

Cheers
Graeme

[andy450]

hi graeme, any reasons given by garage as why fitting polly bushes isnt reccomended ?

[TVR500Morgan]

A cheaper option if you have access to a lathe (or local friendly machine shop) purchase a bar of nylon(£15-£25 roughly)and make them, pretty simple to do.

[nerobo]

Advise was that the polybushers can give a very firm ride and he has seen several instances where the bush nearest the exhaust manifold has melted.
Is that what they are made out of, Nylon?

Cheers
Graeme

[haircutmike]

That's c@bblers.

The ride is very similar and a bit of heat wrap around the front top bushes, (most kits come with it) solve that problem.

Mine have been on 3-4 years now.

[TVR500Morgan]

Yes nylon.

[nerobo]

haircutmike said:

That's c@bblers.

The ride is very similar and a bit of heat wrap around the front top bushes, (most kits come with it) solve that problem.

Mine have been on 3-4 years now.

Just going on what ive been told. Just been pricing things up and a full set of standard bushes do work out cheaper too. Will see what the sizes are like tomorrow and work out if the ones on ebay are going to work. Thanks for you advice all

Cheers
Graeme

[CHGRIFF]

SC Power sell them as front, rear or complete sets very cheap and you can order via web site.

[black and green]

I've just poly-bushed my Griff and dida side-for-side comparison. With the springs and dampers removed, the poly-bushed side could be articulated through the whole arc of suspension travel very easily with no binding or sticking. The rubber bushed side took a lot more effort to move from full droop to full compression. This seems to me to show that if anything the ride will be better when poly bushes are used as the only factor affecting the ride will be the spring.

[Ozstyle]

I looked into installing thrust washers until, like you, found the cost was excessive for a few poxy nylon washers. I located some steel washers of appropriate size and installed those with copper grease, work a treat.

[nerobo]

CHGRIFF said:

SC Power sell them as front, rear or complete sets very cheap and you can order via web site.

Thanks CHGRIFF SC Power offer a full set of Zinc coated Thrust washers for £19.20 delivered. Much more reasonable than £99.88 +delivery

Cheers
Graeme

[shpub]

nerobo said:

Just going on what ive been told. Just been pricing things up and a full set of standard bushes do work out cheaper too. Will see what the sizes are like tomorrow and work out if the ones on ebay are going to work. Thanks for you advice all

Cheers
Graeme

I do complete bundle deals for Powerflex poly bushes along with the bolts etc that are needed. One stop... all the bits including different width thrust washers to cope with the slight differences in the chassis bracket width.
The other point is that the Powerflex bushes come with a LIFETIME warranty.

https://shengltd.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=69_12...

[shpub]

As for the don't use poly bush comments... I have posted this several times of over the last few months.



QUOTE:/
The first thing is that there are poly bushes and poly bushes. There are also a lot of "chinese whispers" about poly bushes making the ride hard. However, they are several different poly bush designs that have very different characteristics. So the comment that poly bushes make things hard is a generalisation that is not applicable across the board. In other words, yes they can make the car ride harsher but that is because the wrong compound has been used.

Let me explain....

Most poly bushes are essentially a poly version of the original and the bearing is actually based on the poly moving on the sleeve. The problem here is that the poly needs to be hard enough to prevent wear but this removes the complience. This is why these bushes are available in several different hardnesses. The harder the bush the harsher the ride. Many of the Chinese whispers about poly bushes are based on early experiences where this type of bush have been used with either a soft compound (leading to wear) or too hard (leading to a harsher ride). It is this type of bush that has lead to stories that they are too hard etc, melt and so on. I don't sell this type because of this. However, it is very misleading to say that these problems apply to all poly bushes. It is like saying that because a budget tyre is hopeless in the wet that all tyres are the same.

The Powerflex bushes that I do sell are designed for road use. They use a special glacier bearing which does not rely on the poly material acting as a bearing surface. This removes the conflict with hardness that I mentioned earlier. They also provide heat shielding for the bushes that are more susceptible to heat. BTW the original rubber bushes and engine mounts are also quite vulnerable to heat so this potential problem is not just restricted to poly bushes.

In terms of handling, the Powerflex poly bush acts as a good pivot with no preload unlike the rubber standard ones. This means that the handling is more consistent because the bushes no longer act as a mini spring/shock absorber. They do not stiffen the suspension. Almost quite the opposite as the wishbones are no longer held in place by the rubber bush stiction. They hold the components in position better and thus reduce any changes in the suspension geometry caused by loading.

One final point... Powerflex offer a lifetime warranty on their parts.
UNQUOTE:/

[spend]

shpub said:

..problem here is that the poly needs to be hard enough to prevent wear but this removes the complience....

I wouldn't feed the myths by answering them that way, it will only justify their existence?

Just what compliance are you going to see from a compressed 1/4" of solid rubber or nylon in comparison to what is going on in the dampers & tyres? ~ even 1990 Bridgestone bricks that some may still have fitted...

It's just a plain daft myth IMHO, keeping the suspension pivoting about fixed axises is going to outweigh any compliance issues caused by the letting them move around like a string bag (even microscopically).

[shpub]

Yes you are right.

I was really referring to the type that use the poly material as a bearing surface. In this case it is a dilemma. Resilent enough to work without having high wear rates. Powerflex address the problem with the glacier bearing so that the poly is not a bearing surface.

[SILICONEKID340HP]

nerobo said:

I am in the middle of my body off referb and at the moment costing parts. There is 44 Thrust washers needed for the wishbone bushes and at £2.27 each they come in at £99.88
Surely there is a cheaper option, has anyone else found an alternative to buying these from the TVR suppliers?
Not sure of the exact size's yet i will look tomorrow, found these on ebay what do you guys think?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/50-M5-X-10-X-1-METRIC-BL...

Cheers
Graeme

Can`t actually see how you are going to restore your car when you are panicking about thrust washers ...Just get on with it !

It costs what it costs !and it will be in the thousands if you refurb everything just like any other car.At least your not working on body panels like most classic cars

Edited by SILICONEKID340HP on Wednesday 4th April 11:30

[Shawbags]

Just updated my front suspension with S. Heath bushes, new ball joints, track rod ends, Nitrons and Leven drop links....what a difference!! I was also given the advice to use the standard bushes but chose to go with the poly's. So glad that i did. They are a bit of a rigmarole to get to fit perfectly in the bores but well worth the effort. David.

[Simon says]

nerobo said:

I am in the middle of my body off referb and at the moment costing parts. There is 44 Thrust washers needed for the wishbone bushes and at £2.27 each they come in at £99.88
Surely there is a cheaper option, has anyone else found an alternative to buying these from the TVR suppliers?
Not sure of the exact size's yet i will look tomorrow, found these on ebay what do you guys think?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/50-M5-X-10-X-1-METRIC-BL...

Cheers
Graeme

Not all of the cars were fitted with the thrust washers on standard bushes as I recall I have seen plenty without and no issues