A word of warning: Not too long after I got my car, I decided to rebuild the
front suspension.
The 20-year-old original bushings were ratty looking, but not falling apart.
A year after that, the car effectively went into storage for five years.
Shortly after
getting it back, I looked and the front suspension and I saw that the almost-new
bushings were completely shot, in much worse shape than the original ones were
when
I replaced them.
The moral of the story is: new parts are generally not as well-made as the
originals, and
crummy new parts often work worse than old, dirty, rusty, but well-made
original parts.
Doug Braun
'72 Spit
At 02:50 PM 3/16/2005 +0000, you wrote:
>With all this talk of bushings - original rubber/urethane/metal/etc. - it got
>me to wondering. My car has a "firm" enough ride with the 26 year old rubber
>bushings - not sure I'd want to go to urethane (even if it does make the
>handling razor sharp). The car handles well enough for the street driving I
>do, and I autocross so seldom these days, I wouldn't worry about it. But I
>can't help but wonder - If I go to all the trouble (when my garage is finally
>finished!) to replace bushings, are there rubber bushings that will be a bit
>firmer (and more durable) than the original rubber, but not as firm as the
>urethane??
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