John McM

Has anyone replaced the bushes in the front wishbones on their car? Mine need replacing and I'm looking at using the solid bushes available fron a UK supplier, rather than replacing the whole wishbone.

Sameer

Try out www.elephantracing.com

I just bought their Polybronze bushings.

John McM

Hi Sameer,

Thanks for the info, but the 964 suspension is different. Having seen the photo today of the bush, I'm actually wondering whether I should be too worried about replacing them

Sameer

John,
I wish I could advise you but I cant. The other good brand would be ERP I think. Whatever the case, do not get the polyutherane bushings for street driving cause they make a hell lot of noise. BTDT.

cobalt

Looks like they need replacing. That tear will only get worse.

I replaced the bushings on my earlier car with solid bushings and although it improved the cars handling it transmitted a lot of noise and made the car less enjoyable on the street. If you use your car for mostly street driving you may want to think about staying stock. Just a thought.

Good Luck

Sameer

I think Performace Products and Pelican parts sells these rubber bushings. You might wanna look into the 2.

Miles965uk

try the uk dudes www.powerflex.co.uk
In a recent article in porsche world mag - like last year i think they have a DIY on how to do it.

You really just need to press out that bush then the sleeve left inside will need hacksawing in two withouth fouling the arm. then just chisle out the sleeve and press your new poly bush in- i reckon these are better. But best to have a press so you get them straight.

John McM

Thanks guys,

I showed the mechanic the method of replacing the bushes and I could tell from his expression that I was talking heresy. He reckons he can source the original wishbones for ~ $450 each

I think I'll go that way and keep the car 100% original.

John McM

The more I read the more I'm convinced that OEM is best, especially as Berlyn in the UK have them for sale @ USD 275 each. FWIW the part numbers are

964.341.017.06* FNT WISHBONE L 964
964.341.018.06* FNT WISHBONE R 964

Miles965uk

ok if you are going to get your mechanic to do it then it probably wont be worth the poly bushes. Porsche have only just reduced these wishbone prices anyway before they were 300GBP each.

cobalt

John,

What do you attribute the failure of the bushing? Mileage, bad roads, age etc. I was curious if you felt any difference in the suspension to observe this or was it just discovered by the mechanic?

Miles,

Just noticed your 460BHP number. Care to let us in on what you have done to bring the HP up to this level?

Miles965uk

Well i havent done anything yet to the engine myself but it has:
GT2 cams,
B&B exhuast
K29
K&N induction filter
No air pump (must be worth 3 BHP!)
Scott & Hayward sport muffler
1 Bar spring

im at my limit now until i go efi....

MB965

John,

I replaced my front control arms this year as the original arm bushings (42,000 miles) had torn in the same location as yours. This is not an uncommon problem on cars which see some track use, as mine does.
If you look at the tear location relative to how the bushing is located in the control arm, you can see that the tear is the result of side loading on the bushing during cornering.
Also this front bushing is keyed (prevented from rotating) to the chassis and as a result it also has a torsional loading as the control arm moves up and down, which is added to the side loading.
If the car is lowered the amount of twist will be increased and the loading will be higher.
I believe that there are many 964's running with these bushings torn. It it very difficult to see the tear with the control arm on the car.

I used 964 RS control arms as the replacements, which use the same front bushing and a much harder rear bushing. To address the lower ride height of the RS, the factory pressed the front bushing onto the control arm at a different angular position.

I used ERP solid spherical bushings to replace the rear control arm bushings and did not feel any significant ride harshness changes. The rear control arms also have a keyed outer bushing which can be an (wearout) issue on a lowered car.


I will use EPR bushings in the front the next time I need to change. The on track handling improvements are significant.

Mike

Miles965uk

hey Mike, the EPR bushings are v interesting. Where are they from? and how much would they be?
Cheers

John McM

Hi Mike, ever knowledgable and helpful. I gather you are the same Mike I e-mailed back in 2001?

Hi Anthony, the problem was picked up by my mechanic during a power steering fluid change. He said it should be replaced, albeit I would be unlikely to feel a difference afterwards.

My car has ~ 57k miles on the odometer. I don't think any of my ownership would've contributed to this problem, our roads are good, I've done one DE day, but no other track work and our climate is benign. It could just be age and normal wear. Considering that lower mileage cars here have exhaust valve problems, failed seals etc I don't feel that it's out of the ordinary on a car this age.