Red rooster

Marc,
Thanks for the pictures. Very difficult to see how this has happened.
The only real assesment would be for someone to take a look at the mangled bush.
What puzzles me is that the center steel sleeve is a snug fit in the subframe U channel. The wishbone and its top hat bushes rotate on that sleeve.
The outer faces of the top hats are barely in contact with anything .
There is long life grease supplied so that the wishbone moves very freely .

When I changed over to Polyflex bushes I found the wishbones to move very freely before re-attatching the ball joint/hub.

Maybe the original bush outer steel sleeve was not removed as per the instructions and the Polyflex bushes were jammed into the wishbone ??That could lead to the bushes binding up and evetually tearing.
I am suprised that that situation was not picked up during assembly !
That is just about the only explanation I can see for this damage .

All the best

Geoff

boubi

I did the work exactly the same as it is mentionned on Powerflex web site
The wishbone moved parfaitely freely before re-attaching the ball/hub.
I used the grease witch was supplied with the kit. As I thougt there wasn't enough, and that it looked poor quality, I used a Zinc base grease !!!
I will throw off the left wishbone next week, and I will post others pics !!!
Why I don't contact Powerflex office, is that I'm quite sure it's gonna be a waste of time.
I already know the answer they are going to give me: bad assembly !!!
And if they propose to send me a new part for free ( we can dream ), I don't know what I will do with it: The porsche wishbones will be in my hands Monday afternoon !!
And anyway, I need to drive the car frequently, so I'm not going to wait for their answer, and eventually an exchange, a couple of weeks !!!

Laurence Gibbs

Just curious, when you fitted the A arms back onto the car what proceedure did you use to Torque them back up?

911addict

I have worn bushes on my Turbo. My investigations showed it is almost same price to replace the whole A-frames than just the bushes when one takes into account the work involved. And less risky too.

Megatron-UK

Interesting. I've used powerflex bushes in many cars and never had a problem with them (other than being very tight to get in on occasion!). It looks as if it has almost gone brittle and cracked - the bushes I've fitted (never to a Porsche though) have always been a very hard rubbery consistency.

Indycam

"I used a Zinc base grease"
A clue , maybe ?

boubi

Don't think it as any influence on the bush solidity !!!
And it is the same type that the one given by Powerflex with the kit !!

Red rooster

Boubi,
The way that bush works is that the centre steel pin is held to the U section in the subframe by the bolt that passes through.
The "top hat " bushes are held by the wishbone and are very slightly clear of the subframe U .
The longitudinal thrust on the wishbone is taken by the large front bush .
For a "top hat" to be ripped off it must have been firmly held by the U section ?
I cannot see how that can happen with correctly installed bushes!

Shame you wont contact Powerflex ,to at least to let them investigate.
I cannot see it is helpful to publish pictures of a potential problem and then claim the supplier will not help, so you are not going to tell them !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All the best

Geoff

boubi

Well, let's forget it !!!
If I've posted these pictures, it was only to prevent a potential problem with these bushes, and to know if somebody had face this type of situation !!!
If it is not the case, everything's fine !!!

Laurence Gibbs

Still like to know what proceedure you went through when torqueing the a arm/wishbones up. It may well have a bearing (no pun honest) on your situation.

kris

I've had a request for a copy of the article herebelow from Siver Steve but I was unable to send him the said article by mail. Marc, hope this is ok from a copywrite perspective.

silver steve

Kris,

Merci.
Thanks for your efforts on posting the article, sorry to see that you had a load of problems with the bushes. In my searches the other lunch time, I didn't come across. It'll certainly be useful part of making my decision on whether or not to go OEM or powerflex.

Regards
Steve

ThomasC2

I used the article above when I installed my powerflex bushes. it was very straight forward and I haven't had any problems since. The feeling in the car is also better than with the stock bushings and they weren't worn out when I changed them.

Red rooster

Thomas,
Thats good news. I was running these bushes for about a year before the article arrived in 911 Porsche World. I take a look when the wheels are off but so far nothing has happened !!
The cost thing is maybe less clearcut because Porsche dropped the arm price quite a bit !!
I still find it sad that a problem has not been investigated . I know Powerflex quite well and the assumption that they would not be interested is wrong.
Ah well , we all have a different take on this stuff.

Geoff

kris

Geoff, I too am very happy with the result, only thing was that removing the old bushes was a major PITA. Perhaps the article I posted could be made a sticky for future reference. I got it via e-mail from Jan at Milford Microsystems Ltd, a very nice bloke it seems.