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I'm at 35K since installation. I bought them right when they came out -- can't remember how many years ago that was. No noise or problems at all. Great product.
With these bushings, I originally set out to add toe stability to the front of the 993, nothing more. Curing the random 50mph steering wheel wobble was just a nice side effect to be honest.
I have read a number of posts referring to the "wobble" which seems to be overcome by using your bushes. Is the 50kph wobble still a problem with new rubber bushes installed or does it go away and come back over time?
I've done this to two 993s and in both cases the wobble did not return. However, other causes can cause wobbles such as warped rotors, play in other suspension bits etc., so ymmv.
I have replaced my bushes with the Elephant Sports- rubber and there is no wobble, I did install PSS10's and had a full alignment including corner weights at the same time.
The suspension and handling of my 993 is perfect. no complaints.
In saying that I did not have wobble before the changes as my car had only done 40,100klms.
bump for this thread - the feedback from real world experience rather than the opinions part
I ask as I ran into a fellow 993 owner & RLer at a race day a few weeks back - hey there Mr T. and while showing him my newly sprayed 993, and chatting RL* he said first off, get the Walrods .. seems their reputation precedes them
bump for this thread - the feedback from real world experience rather than the opinions part
I ask as I ran into a fellow 993 owner & RLer at a race day a few weeks back - hey there Mr T. and while showing him my newly sprayed 993, and chatting RL* he said first off, get the Walrods .. seems their reputation precedes them
* what a great place it is indeed
from that day
I;ve got 2 sets of junk Walrods in my garbage pile, one was under 10K mi, they both show wear from twisting.
Here's one set, its' hard to see the wear in pics
The only thing going for them is that they are a cheap short term solution, which I suppose is why they are so popular
for long term go w/
street & some track use: Elephant sport, best results come from doing this w/ full RS rear or Elephant sport rear
track & maybe some limited street use: Full monoballs w/ RSR rear monoballs & Rennline or similar monoball arms
p/u is fine for non sliding applications like the steering rack bushes
I;ve got 2 sets of junk Walrods in my garbage pile, one was under 10K mi, they both show wear from twisting.
Bill,
Can you be more specific about what wear you see, how long you'd expect them to last given this wear, and what you see the future failure mode to be? What application were these used for (street, AX, DE, racing, etc)?
The engineer in me is trying to better understand the real story and trade offs here (versus supposition and mud-slinging that can sometimes go on with the rubber vs poly bushing debate). I suspect not many sets of Walrods have come off cars yet to be inspected so you have some valuable insight here.
I'm at 35K since installation. I bought them right when they came out -- can't remember how many years ago that was. No noise or problems at all. Great product.
This mirrors my experience in all regards.
Originally Posted by Bill Verburg
I;ve got 2 sets of junk Walrods in my garbage pile, one was under 10K mi, they both show wear from twisting.
Are these "junk" because you've placed them in your garbage pile or because they failed in some fashion?
When I bought my 993 four years ago, I had a steering wheel shake. I replaced everything on the front suspension including shocks all around. I then replaced tires. At the time, I didn't know about aftermarket bushings and relied on my installer to decide what to use. He went OEM for everything (but shocks). It drives "fine", but to me, it still has a loose feeling. I have to think if I had gone with walrod bushings, I would have that "connected" feel to the road that everyone else has raved about. My point is, don't go OEM bushings.
I Have yet to install the Walrods after 147K- Miles.
Although I have a Set - If someone wants them.
My car has been inspected regularly (DE) and I am told I do not need them. - although in Rear Bushings I can see what appears to be cracks forming.
My wobble or Shimmy was due to worn out Front Sway bar Stabilisers.
There was No wear in the Front Sway bar Bushings after 147K., to spoeak of But I changed the sway bushings, struts and stabilisers all within a few thousand miles of each other - One change at a time. I have no shimmy today.
But the Rear Sway Bushings were Destroyed - so I replaced those.
kjr914 - Keith, I wonder if the wear Bill Refers to is due to Intensity of (his) Use?
Until I hear otherwise I feel intensity of use is the determining factor. In other words How the car was driven, the use and quality of roads driven upon.
If u r going to drive DE and Push it then the Strret rubbe ris likely too soft when driven at speed.
IMHO The racer will say all the rubber bushings were originally too soft from the factory.
That supports Bill's view - who's Opinion I too would like to hear.
TJ
Last edited by TJ993; 08-27-2015 at 08:58 AM.
Reason: typo
Bill,
Can you be more specific about what wear you see, how long you'd expect them to last given this wear, and what you see the future failure mode to be? What application were these used for (street, AX, DE, racing, etc)?
The engineer in me is trying to better understand the real story and trade offs here (versus supposition and mud-slinging that can sometimes go on with the rubber vs poly bushing debate). I suspect not many sets of Walrods have come off cars yet to be inspected so you have some valuable insight here.
Thanks,
Keith
I would never use these on my own car, they came off others, mileage is unknown, one was all street, the other low mileage set was 50/50
p/u bushes rotate in the arms, the lube eases the twist but doesn't eliminate abrasive wear, similar to what happens w/ mono-***** but more rapid, the more lube and the less grit and water these see the longer they last. Squeeking is the most obvious sign but they wear w/ or w/o squeeks being obvious. It's just the wrong material for this application, Porsche tried using P/U for a short time back in the '60s and moved on to rubber for street use and mono-***** for track use.
factory used rubber for a reason, there is no abrasive wear, the rubber itself twists, yes, they will eventually fail but it will be a long way down the road. The only thing wrong w./ stock bushes is the softness, use sport rubber and you will be very happy. You also need to do both ends of the car, doing just the front is a false economy. The rear steer built into these cars at the factory is fine for normal use when new but as the rubber softens it gets too intrusive, the all the bushes probably need replacement at this point but the big culprits are thetoe arm, KT arm and the A-arm, besides the soft rear bush on the A-arm the leading mono-ball bush also gets sloppy. The toe arm is usually the first to go followed by the A-arm then the others equally.
Life expectancy from shortest to longest
mono-ball
Walrod
rubber
Wow, Bill. If these two sets of worn bushings have indeed 'failed', I would like to know about it. Also would like to disassemble, clean and have a close look at them.
Since you never bothered to reach out to me, rather just continue to bitch and moan about these bushings on a forum, this clearly suggests you wouldn't care to send them to me so that I can learn the alleged failure mode(s).
Have a close look at the 'hard' spec aftermarket rubber bushings after some miles. Tell me what you see.
Originally Posted by Bill Verburg
I;ve got 2 sets of junk Walrods in my garbage pile, one was under 10K mi, they both show wear from twisting.
Here's one set, its' hard to see the wear in pics
The only thing going for them is that they are a cheap short term solution, which I suppose is why they are so popular
for long term go w/
street & some track use: Elephant sport, best results come from doing this w/ full RS rear or Elephant sport rear
track & maybe some limited street use: Full monoballs w/ RSR rear monoballs & Rennline or similar monoball arms
p/u is fine for non sliding applications like the steering rack bushes
As for the rack bushings - here is one example after about a hundred miles. These rack mounts do work well for on-center steering response, by the way.
Edit: I should add - these mounts were purchased on-line from eBay via an outfit in California.
When I bought my 993 four years ago, I had a steering wheel shake. I replaced everything on the front suspension including shocks all around. I then replaced tires. At the time, I didn't know about aftermarket bushings and relied on my installer to decide what to use. He went OEM for everything (but shocks). It drives "fine", but to me, it still has a loose feeling. I have to think if I had gone with walrod bushings, I would have that "connected" feel to the road that everyone else has raved about. My point is, don't go OEM bushings.
It is just a feeling....
The majority of the 993 fleet today runs on OEM bushings. Elephant bushings ARE OE bushings. Elephant for you people in the US, is Hartech for the UK, http://www.hartech.org/porsche_996_9..._for_sale.html , Buser in France http://www.jeanbuser.com/en/ etc. etc.
Elephant produces zero bushing for the 993 in original or hard rubber (65 shores or 85 shores)
The 'loose' feeling on your car is a wrong alignment ,
nothing to do with Chris Walrod's or not
When I bought my 993 four years ago, I had a steering wheel shake. I replaced everything on the front suspension including shocks all around. I then replaced tires. At the time, I didn't know about aftermarket bushings and relied on my installer to decide what to use. He went OEM for everything (but shocks). It drives "fine", but to me, it still has a loose feeling. I have to think if I had gone with walrod bushings, I would have that "connected" feel to the road that everyone else has raved about. My point is, don't go OEM bushings.
I have had stock from factory (soft) rubber, walrod, and RS bushings on the front arm. Your not going to get a "loose feeling" with proper proper rubber bushings unless something else is wrong.
Typed this while George sent his reply…same thoughts.
02-13-2012, 09:34 PM
and while showing him my newly sprayed 993, and chatting RL* he said first off, get the Walrods .. seems their reputation precedes them 
