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Suspension bushes?

John Doe

Enthusiast
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802
Ok, I've replaced rubber bushes in the upper suspension arm, this is what they looked like:

04112008365Small.jpg


04112008368Small.jpg


The thing is that my father claims that the suspension arm pivots around the bolt that goes through it and the nut shouldn't be tightened. As soon as you tight the nut just a little bit it locks bolt and the bushes. I am saying that the arm doesn't pivot around the bolt, it twists the rubber in the bushes and works in that matter. Who is right? I hope you know what I am trying to say, at the end it does pivot around the bolt but inner metal shell is fixed with the bolt.
 
You are right. The nut should be fully tightened, but only when the suspension is compressed at the normal ride height. This reduces the stress on the rubber.

The old bushes were in very poor condition. I've never seen R4 bushes as bad as that.
 
You are right these are "Flexiblock" bushes, not "Silentblock", they are designed to twist their rubber. As Malcolm said, the position where they should be fully tightened is critical, as they will be stressed too much (and become useless in short time) if the arm is positioned incorrectly.
The manual states a "loaded suspension height" but witout the special tool it is impossible to obtain. The solutions are two: Either you leave the wishbone pivot bolt loose, lower the car on its wheels, then fully tighten it, or, before connecting the upper balljoint, bring the upper arm to a position parallel to the ground or pointing very slightly upwards and then tighten the pivot bolt. This is approximately the official "loaded suspension" position, it has worked perfectly for me.

P.S. Why did you change the bushes, there was still some rubber on them :-) :-) :-)
 
You are right these are "Flexiblock" bushes, not "Silentblock", they are designed to twist their rubber. As Malcolm said, the position where they should be fully tightened is critical, as they will be stressed too much (and become useless in short time) if the arm is positioned incorrectly.
The manual states a "loaded suspension height" but witout the special tool it is impossible to obtain. The solutions are two: Either you leave the wishbone pivot bolt loose, lower the car on its wheels, then fully tighten it, or, before connecting the upper balljoint, bring the upper arm to a position parallel to the ground or pointing very slightly upwards and then tighten the pivot bolt. This is approximately the official "loaded suspension" position, it has worked perfectly for me.

P.S. Why did you change the bushes, there was still some rubber on them :-) :-) :-)

This is exactly what I did ;)
P.S. Well I was thinking about leaving these bushes until spring :D

P.P.S. When I was at it I've changed the right shock absorber (only right) to test will it affect the ride height (it's little higher now on the right) and stiffness, it did. This was an old shock absorber but much much better than the one on the car. The car is acting very funny now, when I accelerate the car steers to the right a little bit but when I release the throttle it steer to the left fairly much and the car is very wobbly. Ok, I do know that absorbers should be changed in pairs and I will do so soon but I wonder how much do new bushes affect height and stiffness? Should I change bushes on both sides?
 
No it's not necessary to change bushes in pairs (it is for shocks, though). They do not affect the spring rate, although they have some torsional "springyness" it is minuscule compared to that of the torsion bars.
 
Track rod end.
Your suspension seems tired...check the wishbone ball-joints for play too. And also the tie-rod rubber bushes, located at the front of the chassis.
 
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