When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Reminder to check bushings even on fairly new/low mile cars
In doing a coilover install, I noticed the rear outer control arm bushings/center bushings are completely destroyed on my '14 Cayman S with 27k miles (6 track days). Never occurred to me that a car that relatively fresh would have completely toast bushings already, but see pic below. New Tarett goodies on the way like I already have in front, but remember to check your bushings even on low mile cars. Even my E46 bushings way back in the day (which were notorious for failing) lasted 80-100k miles and 8-10 years!
It is very discouraging to see it happening so early in the cars life. I’m sure tracking the car plays a partial role but 6 track days is not significant.
Next time mine’s on the lift I’ll inspect them to make sure they’re ok.
It is very discouraging to see it happening so early in the cars life. I’m sure tracking the car plays a partial role but 6 track days is not significant.
Next time mine’s on the lift I’ll inspect them to make sure they’re ok.
That's what I thought too! I have no doubt tracking sped up wear, but 6 days and 27k seems super short to fail to the degree these have failed. Both rear center bushings are chunked out like this, about evenly L/R.
Oddly enough, ball joints are fine as are the inner bushings, and front control arm centers were fine as of replacement with GT3 units about a year ago.
Can you describe exactly what you are seeing in the photo that indicates bad bushings? Just curious as I have more miles and many more track days on my Cayman. Mine are probably beyond toasted at this point..
Can you describe exactly what you are seeing in the photo that indicates bad bushings? Just curious as I have more miles and many more track days on my Cayman. Mine are probably beyond toasted at this point..
Sure. The pic is kind of crappy. The black rubber should be around the entire circumference and has large chunks missing (see bottom). I'll take some better pics during replacement before I torch them out.
I replaced my LCAs with Tarett cup LCAs (and changed to a lot of other Tarett parts) a year ago. My old LCAs had 6 DE weekends and 18K miles and the center bushings were visibly used/dirty, but were servicable and did not look like yours.
If you ever replace the drop links or rod ends, I recommend adding the rubber weather seals to increase life of the heim joints if the car is driven in the rain.
In doing a coilover install, I noticed the rear outer control arm bushings/center bushings are completely destroyed on my '14 Cayman S with 27k miles (6 track days). Never occurred to me that a car that relatively fresh would have completely toast bushings already, but see pic below. New Tarett goodies on the way like I already have in front, but remember to check your bushings even on low mile cars. Even my E46 bushings way back in the day (which were notorious for failing) lasted 80-100k miles and 8-10 years!
I see nothing wrong. What little bit of shadow I assume you're claiming is rubber chunking looks like a molded-in void. It's there to tune the stiffness so you get different fore-aft and lateral rates to impact suspension motion and vibration isolation. To have huge chunks missing I would expect to see significant damage to the rest of the rubber and there is none. That part looks really good.
I believe that is the thrust puck you are referring to. How much wheel motion forward and rearward was noted. Probably no way to check. I have a rear Tarett GT adjustable swaybar that actually marked the side of my OEM rear LCA's on both sides. That was about 1 1/2 inch away. My installer said that the rear wheels can move about 3 inch total back and forth all along changing the toe. So for those who say that the solid Tarett thrust puck is overkill and creates NVH, there is another side to the story. Yes, a little more NVH occurs , but I have found that the Cup LCA's that have the red solid thrust puck, the benefit is much improved turnin, better control over mid corner throttle modulation and trailbraking vastly outweight the small amout of NVH that is created.
It is the thrust puck, same thing. It's also known as the outer or center bushing on the LCA. I already have solid Tarett pucks in front to play with caster, and have frankly not noticed any NVH increase.
I see nothing wrong. What little bit of shadow I assume you're claiming is rubber chunking looks like a molded-in void. It's there to tune the stiffness so you get different fore-aft and lateral rates to impact suspension motion and vibration isolation. To have huge chunks missing I would expect to see significant damage to the rest of the rubber and there is none. That part looks really good.
I did a Google image search for a Porsche rear lower control arm. In red I've circled the darker areas of the bushing where the light is reflected differently because there are voids in the rubber. As I said, it's possible your bushing has no failure at all and there is simply a void in the design which is intended to tune the stiffness of the bushing for some specific purpose.
I did a Google image search for a Porsche rear lower control arm. In red I've circled the darker areas of the bushing where the light is reflected differently because there are voids in the rubber. As I said, it's possible your bushing has no failure at all and there is simply a void in the design which is intended to tune the stiffness of the bushing for some specific purpose.
Interesting find, but the edges of my voids are very frayed and made of crumbling hard rubber. If they were originally intention and punched cleanly, they have still deteriorated. There is a ton of play with the bolt through the bushing, as in 1"+ side to side, which seems insane for a suspension geometry component like that, since the whole range of motion is going to eff up toe, camber, caster. I can't imagine why they would want to have this level of play.
Can anyone find a new OEM bushing to compare? My Googling failed me.
PorscheAddict- What LCA's are you using now f and r. Did you upgrade to Tarett Cups, or modify a set of GT3 with the red solid Tarett thrust puck front and rear? Also what coilover and spring rate did you install? Just want to know how the suspension pieces came together and the result on the track as well as around town. JRZ's, Ohlins, MCS. I assume you had your car corner balanced, which would require downlinks, did you change your swaybars as well?
09-10-2018, 02:25 PM
Reminder to check bushings even on fairly new/low mile cars
