zcacogp

Chaps,

I'm UK-based.

My '89 944S2 has just been MOT'd, and while it passed, it needs the front left-hand-side lower front balljoint replacing. The old one is worn and there is play in it. As it is an alloy-wishbone car, it's not as simple as removing the old balljoint and fitting a new one. The options seem to be Hartech at £175 per side, plus VAT, plus postage, plus return postage for sending your old wishbones back. Total would be around £410, plus postage both ways, so not much change from £450. Link here: http://www.hartech.org/parts.html

Or Rennbay, from the states. Their super deluxe kit (with metal cups rather than nylon ones) is $134. Plus postage. That's about £88. OK, there may be some tax to pay when it's imported, and the postage will be a bit, but that's a LOT cheaper. And, having read their instructions (here: http://www.rennbay.com/info_pages.php?pages_id=13), there is nothing that sounds too terrifying. Link to the kit is here: http://www.rennbay.com/super-deluxe-...7a8b4386cdbe87

Now the Hartech option is clearly quality stuff, bulletproof, and you can be sure it will work well and it's easy - replacement wishbones, swap 'em over, job's a good 'un. BUT, £350 buys quite a lot of faffing around in my book, and I'm seriously interested in the Rennbay option. It seems that of all the DIY rebuild kits the Rennbay is the best; who has used them, and what was your experience? There are a few threads on the PCGB forum about them, but I'd like as definitive an opinion as possible ...

First hand experience of the Rennbay kits? Let me know.

FWIW, the car is a pretty standard S2, road-use, on the stock D90 16-inch wheels.

Thanks.


Oli.

catamax944

First off any replacement wishbones have bog standard ball joints in them so they are not even close to bulletproof ,i would actually say that they are the worst option ever. Now onto the rennbay kit , i think it's great ,i installed mine over two years ago and they are still like new ,worth every penny . I installed the super deluxe kit that has the NYLON cups , the track/performance is the one with metal cups and i suggest you get that one because those are really bulletproof . Only thing to watch out for is wear in the ball joint socket of your wishbones . If the ball joints have gone bad for quite some time and wore down the aluminium walls of the ball joint socket then your wishbones are garbage. Even the slightest amount of wear will cause premature failure of the ball joints and render them useless. Only thing that could happen if you use a new kit on worn arms is the upper cup will get worn down in a matter of months .

Matt O.

Rennbay kit is absolutely worth it. Fairly certain I have never seen in 12 years of being on Rennlist, anyone complain about the kit.

arthropraxis

I installed the track kit and it was straightforward, not hard at all. It only took about an hour to do both.

zcacogp

Chaps,

Thanks for the answers. I am warming to the the idea of the Rennbay kit - the super-deluxe one, with the metal cups. It sounds like an excellent option.

Catamax, thanks for the comments about the wear on the wishbones. My question is how do you tell whether the wishbones are worn to this extent, and I guess the answer is to take them apart and have a look at the sockets (I am presuming there is no way of telling without dismantling them.)

Is wear in the sockets obvious? As in, can it be seen by eye, or do you need to take measurements to be sure?

My S2 is my only car, and hence I think I'll buy another set of wishbones, rebuild those and then swap the rebuilt ones onto the car. That way the car will be off the road for as little time as possible. (My worst fear is dismantling my existing wishbones and discovering that they are worn beyond rebuilding, and then having to locate some replacement wishbones before I can drive it again.)


Oli.

catamax944

Of course you have to take the old ball joints out in order to inspect them .If they are worn it should be fairly obvious ,you should be able to see it or just feel with your finger if there are any deformations in the socket. PS: ONLY THE TRACK / PERFORMANCE KIT HAS METAL CUPS LOL

Mark944na86

I rebuilt both arms with the Rennbay "uber-deluxe" kit about 6 years ago. About a year later, they were both shot. The quality of the bushing material was complete rubbish, IMHO. Based on some of the feedback I received at the time, it appears mine was not an isolated case either.

I replaced with a set of Vertex rebuilt arms, and they have been going strong ever since.

I would look to other sources, based on my personal experience.