Guest Anonymous Posted October 11, 2000 Share Posted October 11, 2000 Anyone have an opinion on how well they work? A bit of rear toe adjustibility would be nice, but I don't want to put up with the falling out of adjustment all the time and whatnot. How well do they stay in place? How long do they last? Any opinions? ------------------ Morgan morgan@z31.com http://carfiche.com http://z31.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted October 12, 2000 Share Posted October 12, 2000 I have adjustable bushings front and back. If you didn't know already, they are good for only 1 degree camber. Better than nothing, that's for sure. I like the fronts a lot because they are very easy to adjust and have a grease zerk even. The rears are not as much fun to adjust, and are more prone to wear. The thin plastic bushings that fit inside the rear aluminum eccentric bushings wore out over 4 years and estimated 30,000 miles. I have replaced the plastic bushings with Bronze ones. I think they should last very long. I had to buy some bronze flanged bushings and have them modified to fit by a machine shop. I think the rear bushings, even though they are not as nice to work with and have wear problems, are very important because they allow you to adjust away any rear toe you may have, and I had a lot. Regarding loss of adjustment over time, I have not had a problem with that at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scca Posted October 12, 2000 Share Posted October 12, 2000 how do the offset bushings adj toe? all the ones i've seen only do camber... and they are JUNK.. the alum wears out FAST> spend the money on camber plates or take the strut and have it bent at a frame shop to correct deficiencys..... or go all out and install 3/4" heims - more adj for toe and no friction as a bushing. camber should still be done at the top as you dont want a narrow track width... ------------------ Mike http://www.fonebooth.com raceparts and brakeupgrades Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted October 12, 2000 Share Posted October 12, 2000 On the rear suspension, there are two inner eccentric bushings for each rear suspension arm located maybe 18" apart. The center of these bushings run parallel to the length of the car as well as the wheel mounting surface. If you adjust one of these eccentric bushings differently than the other you change the toe of the wheel. Most people want negative camber to make a car handle well around the corners. These bushings push the bottom of the wheel out to create negative camber. So the track, as you would measure it at the road surface, would actually increase. I respect your opinion, but my experience is that the plastic bushing inside the aluminum was the wear/durability issue, not the aluminum itself. Time will tell how the bronze holds up. I bonded the bronze bushings in the aluminum to keep the friction areas restricted to bronze against steel. So I don't consider them JUNK. Given an unlimited budget I'd have someone build me a fully custom adjustable titanium arm with heim joints specified by NASA for the space shuttle. But that not being the case I'm getting by OK with the bushings for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted October 12, 2000 Share Posted October 12, 2000 I have used the camber bushings on different applications and they work OK at best. I currently have heim joints on my front lower control arms and I plan to do the same on the rears. I agree with SCCA about camber plates for the rear... they do make things a bit nicer. Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scca Posted October 12, 2000 Share Posted October 12, 2000 i used to have the alum things in my convt and what wore out was the alum...... i have spoken to 2 other who had the same thing happen. the plastic wears a bit- but on mine the alum wore off center so it clunked. as far as toe i forgot one went the other direction.... my mistake. as far as the track i dont think you understood my comment. only a lowered car will have the bushings to begin with. assuming this --the bottom of the tire would have to go in to correct for excessive camber from lowering this then DEcreases - probably a miniscule amount-- track... am i missing something here too??? moving the top out will maintain the original track or increase it. ------------------ Mike http://www.fonebooth.com raceparts and brakeupgrades Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted October 13, 2000 Share Posted October 13, 2000 In the rear I am using them more for toe adjustment. The camber was about 1 degree negative before eccentric bushing installation which was the target. In the front, even with the bushings adjusted all the way out I can only get 1 degree negative on the right and 1 1/4 degree on the left. I'd like to try 2 degrees in the front for autocrossing, so I'm still looking for more! I'm using the Motorsport Auto lowering springs. I think they are supposed to be 2" lower. I had a knocking sound in my rear suspension for a while, but I found that it was the gland nut that holds the strut cartridge down. It had come loose. Something to look for, if anyone has a mysterious clunk. I kept looking at the exhaust system for the longest time thinking that was it. I'm not trying to say that you didn't have a problem with your bushings here scca, you just reminded me of a problem that I solved that others may be struggling with. Anyway, I wish you the best of luck in your search for suspension adjustability Morgan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randy 77zt Posted October 13, 2000 Share Posted October 13, 2000 i used those things for a while but took them out and put in urathene & out camber plates on top.could never get enough - camber for the track.track alinment is -3.2 camber 0 toe front -2.5 camber .25"toe rear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scca Posted October 13, 2000 Share Posted October 13, 2000 that exactly what i did as well...... the urethane is much smoother and my car seems to ride nicer as well. and i put neverseize on everything so it moves real easy now. ------------------ Mike http://www.fonebooth.com raceparts and brakeupgrades Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modern Motorsports Ltd Posted October 13, 2000 Share Posted October 13, 2000 quote: I had a knocking sound in my rear suspension for a while, but I found that it was the gland nut that holds the strut cartridge down. It had come loose. Something to look for, if anyone has a mysterious clunk [/b] Just in case some didn't read slow enough, this happened to me as well and was v. annoying, front strut housing top nut came loose and would make a 'clunk' on most any mild low speed bump, took a lot of checking to find that (had strut boots at the time), great reminder of a rare occurence but nevertheless don't want someone else scratching their head solving the same problem if it can be that simple Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted October 13, 2000 Share Posted October 13, 2000 I guess this is more common than I thought. I had Bilsteins in my 240Z years ago (man were they stiff!) and the weird nut on the top was hard to get their special wrench to tighten well. It came loose and after much searching I found that it was the culprit of the banging noise. It had backed out a long way, and I found it by jiggling the car side to side and seeing the strut slop around! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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