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Ok the car's tech specs page on Porsche.com says "all suspension mounts ball-jointed." So I guess that's that. No rose joints. So there's no difference between the RS's suspension joints/mounts and the GT3's?
I think they’re the same type of joints as in GT3, but RS uses them in additional place(s) where GT3 still uses a rubber bushing.
Based on my examination, the GT3 has a mixture of rubber bushes and weather sealed ball-joints, whereas the RS has no rubber bushes. Put your GT3 on a ramp and have a look, you'll immediately see which are rubber bushes and which are sealed ball joints.
Ah. Ok, so that makes sense now. Thank you for the clarification. So RS has mostly ball joints. GT3 has mostly rubber bushings. And somewhere along the line people confused ball joints with rose joints. So the answer to my original question is "don't worry about it lol."
The mixture of rubber bushes and ball joints, is one difference that help make the GT3 a better road car than the RS.
Sure, that's understandable.
That's why I was asking about rose joints. They're even worse on the road. But since the RS doesn't have them, it's a non-issue.
Ah. Ok, so that makes sense now. Thank you for the clarification. So RS has mostly ball joints. GT3 has mostly rubber bushings. And somewhere along the line people confused ball joints with rose joints. So the answer to my original question is "don't worry about it lol."
Just to be accurate, the GT3 has slightly more ball joints than rubber bushes, but I can't remember the exact number. The RS has no rubber bushes except for the anti-roll/sway bar rubber bushes. And yes, nothing to worry about regarding premature wear.
While it is technically correct to refer to the joints used by Porsche for the RS suspension (and in a portion of the GT3 suspension) as ball joints, they are not ball joints in the traditional American auto manufacturer manner.
Traditional automotive ball joints have a ball or sphere at one end and a tapered shaft extending from the ball to a straight threaded end and are typically found at the ends of the front spindle upright. Normally the ball and housing is pressed into the spindle. The side of the ball away from the tapered shaft has a metal cover and there is a rubber boot on the side with the tapered shaft.
The Porsche joints are similar to bearings used by other European auto manufacturers (I've specifically seen them on BMW rear trailing arms where the upper and lower control arm connects from the diff housing to the trailing arm. Effectively they are a greased, double shear spherical joint with dust boots on both sides.
Heim and Rose joints are better defined as rod end bearings - they are designed to provide both a low tolerance spherical bearing for movement and length adjustment of the specific suspension member to which they are attached. The length adjustment may be designed for manufacturing and assembly or for end user tuning depending on the specific application.
IMHO Porsche selected durable, quiet components similar to those used in their competition cars. They didn't need to select rod ends as the adjustment in the suspension is accomplished by other means.
Rose joints, heim joints, rod end bearings, and ball joints, are all common terms for a Spherical Bearing. Rose joint and heim joint are effectively interchangeable and genericized brand names for spherical bearings. Spherical bearings can be either: male, with the stud integrated into the sperical portion; or female, with the spherical portion having a bore extending therethrough.
A vehicle's "ball-joints" (which are more or less universally used to connect control arms to the wheel hub) are a type of spherical bearing. They are frequently male with a tapered shaft and are retained to the wheel hub with a nut threaded on the shaft, and typically do not have any compliance, between the spherical portion and the race (unless they're worn, and should be replaced). They are usually sealed with a rubber bellows type boot.
Rubber bushings, as the name suggests, have rubber in them, and permit movement between the inner and outer portion similar to that of a spherical bearing, while also damping NVH. On race cars and cars Porsche has deemed worthy, some or all of these rubber bushings may be replaced with spherical bearings for the benefit of handling.
Marketing depts. will take creative license with the advantageous removal of rubber bushings and will use any of the aforementioned terms (rose, ball, heim, etc) interchangeably, as dictated by regional customs, intended audience, and/or without regard.
Now that we've cleared up bearings, regarding the OP's original questions specific to the RS, I have no personal experience.
Just to be accurate, the GT3 has slightly more ball joints than rubber bushes, but I can't remember the exact number. The RS has no rubber bushes except for the anti-roll/sway bar rubber bushes. And yes, nothing to worry about regarding premature wear.
Apologies for the ancient thread resurrection... but I was just wondering if you (or anyone) might have a handy picture of where the .2 gt3 has ball joints rather than rubber bushings as I was just reading on another forum it's being claimed that it's all rubber bushings only on the gt3. cheers..
Don’t see why the factory joints shouldn’t last a pretty long time given that high quality Tarett spherical bushings installed in Porsches and BMWs have lasted for north of 30,000 street miles with zero issues. Street miles are more punishing as any jolt to the suspension via bumps or potholes are what causes the wear.
Right, the pictures are the proof. So why do the tech specs for the RS say "all suspension mounts ball-joined" whereas the GT3 does not? And what does Porsche mean when they say, "all suspension joints have been REPLACED with ball joints" in the RS models? What are they in the GT3 models?
The main difference regarding many of the suspension bushings between the .2RS and .2GT3 is that the RS has spherical bushings on all control arms vs the GT3 which has mostly rubber bushings on the control arms. Might be just word semantics that's creating the confusion.
Resurrecting this thread, my 2016 GT3RS front control arm outer spherical bearing has failed with approx 1-2mm of vertical play. Porsche only sells the complete control arm. Does anyone know if the piece can be purchased separately?
Resurrecting this thread, my 2016 GT3RS front control arm outer spherical bearing has failed with approx 1-2mm of vertical play. Porsche only sells the complete control arm. Does anyone know if the piece can be purchased separately?
Any details on the car please, eg mileage on road and track, tire selection
Any details on the car please, eg mileage on road and track, tire selection
The car has a total of approx 5,400 miles. Roughly 3,000 track miles, a mix of Pilot sport cups and Trofeo R's. No accidents, no bent rims. About 2.7 degrees negative front camber. Came off passenger side.
03-20-2019, 08:04 PM
