Garage star derlin door bushings - NB

[The Green Goblin]

Gday lads,

so I recently installed the garage star door bushings on my NB, there is nothing wrong with my OEM ones, but have read the GS items assist with keeping the doors locked in/solid, which in turn will helps with chassis rigidity etc.

i have adjusted them the best i could in terms of positioning & tightness (found that the more i tightened them the harder it was to close), but am finding that i have to slam the door for it to close properly which is already starting to annoy me.. & i don't enjoy slamming the doors..nor do i want to damage or bend them.

questions, do others have this issue, if so what can you do to make the door close easier? is it normal that i have to close the door harder than i do with the OEM items?

cheers,
jas.

[NitroDann]

They are snake oil. You picked it.

[bruce]

Reinstall the OEM, or I'd give the delrin a shave.

[taminga16]

Dann, They are not 'Snake oil' but do require careful thought and adjustmet so as to reap the rewards. Greg.

[NitroDann]

Well they dont do anything as claimed except stop your door rattling. soo, by definition...

[Steampunk]

(found that the more i tightened them the harder it was to close),.

You're probably twisting/distorting them.
You never thought of putting some grease on them?

[The Green Goblin]

(found that the more i tightened them the harder it was to close),.

You're probably twisting/distorting them.
You never thought of putting some grease on them?

I think it's cause they compress as you tighten them.. Hence they stretch & the door is harder to close, in my case I haven't tightened them too much so it's a tad easier to close the door .. But still it's not. Played around with adjustment for ages.

I don't think lubrication will fix the way it fits. Would like to keep them on but will consider installing OEM ones again.. Its a good concept though cause the doors do move around when driving hard.

[ManiacLachy]

It took me a little playing around to get them just right, heres a breif guide of how I got mine done.

Make sure you're on level ground when setting them up, because there is less tollerance in the gap between bushing and door, and less give, any chassis twist will have an effect.

Install them snug but not tight, so there is just a little movement by hand if you push with moderate effort. Open and close the door a few times on them, the door will move them some, but if it's not closing nicely move them yourself untill they're sliding into place.

Tighten them some more, you souldn't be able to move them by hand easily, but don't torque them massively. Open and close the door, use a bit of force with the door if needed, it will shove the bushings into position. Hopefully it's latching like it was earlier.

Now, give them a good tighten down so they won't move any more. They should be in the right position now.

This step might not be to everyone's taste, however I still had bit of "POP" with one door, so I gave it a few hard slams - think teenager angry at mum. This bashed the door cup a little to better fit the bushing. Doors now close easily, but snug.

[Lokiel]

My passenger side delrin bushing fit/functioned perfectly with almost no adjusting but the driver-side is a different story, the door no longer sits flush (not really visible unless you look for it), there's a distinct pop when I open the door and it's harder to close.

A bit of shaving would fix the door sitting flush.

I've fitted Frog Arms in the past which could explain these differences (ie. the passenger door may be correct but the driver side door is slightly out of alignment).

I don't have door bars or a roll cage but have an MX5Plus Twin Hoop roll bar, Frog Arms, FM frame rails and a 3-point front strut brace so my car was fairly stiff to start with.
For me, I think that the delrin bushings made the doors fit firmer so don't rattle as much when driving.
When I installed Dynamat in my doors, the car actually felt more solid when driving since that seemed to stop a lot of rattles and the doors seemed/sounded less "tinny" - I think this is what people feel with the delrin bushings, the doors just feel more solid.

[hks_kansei]

Well they dont do anything as claimed except stop your door rattling. soo, by definition...

I tend to agree with Dann on these.
They stop the door rattling and so give the impression that the chassis is stiffer.

It's a locating bush held in with two 10mm screws, sitting against a brass cup also held in with two 10mm screws. How much weight/force do people think it supports?



I'd love to do a double blind test, have a standard car and get someone to drive it, fit the delrin ones without telling them, remove them, etc and see if they can pick the times they were fitted with any accuracy.

[Vat]

I got a very similar product from an Australian manufacturer. Most noticeable difference was in sharp secondary ride vertical movements, suspect the stronger mount allows the chassis to recruit the doors more effectively as a brace to better resist bending. There is section of elevated freeway not far from home that provokes a lot of vertical movement as the surface has developed dips between the various sections and the little fella was considerably more pleasant to be in through there.

I think, much like the shock tower and the seat belt post braces it is a mechanical refinement gain with essentially no performance gain. I'm more than happy with the refinement gain.

Sent from my SM-P605 using Tapatalk

[joshuam]

I installed KenAuto ones today.... I wasn't really planning on getting them but a local member bought 2 sets by mistake so I was offered them at a good price so thought I'd give it a go.

Apart from a dodgy drivers door (poor repair in the past) making it a little harder it was a simple job and I can definitely feel the difference. Who knows whether it is 'stiffer' at all, but over potholes, changes of pavement and rough semi-corrugated roads the distinct lack of rattling and carrying on that I was used to is notable, and worth every cent. Hopefully the effect will still be the same once they have worn in better and you can actually shut the doors

[The Green Goblin]

It took me a little playing around to get them just right, heres a breif guide of how I got mine done.

Make sure you're on level ground when setting them up, because there is less tollerance in the gap between bushing and door, and less give, any chassis twist will have an effect.

Install them snug but not tight, so there is just a little movement by hand if you push with moderate effort. Open and close the door a few times on them, the door will move them some, but if it's not closing nicely move them yourself untill they're sliding into place.

Tighten them some more, you souldn't be able to move them by hand easily, but don't torque them massively. Open and close the door, use a bit of force with the door if needed, it will shove the bushings into position. Hopefully it's latching like it was earlier.

Now, give them a good tighten down so they won't move any more. They should be in the right position now.

This step might not be to everyone's taste, however I still had bit of "POP" with one door, so I gave it a few hard slams - think teenager angry at mum. This bashed the door cup a little to better fit the bushing. Doors now close easily, but snug.

i installed in a similar way..on flat surface with incremental adjustments & tightening, but as i said, both doors still not as easy to close - especially with the windows fully raised.

so what i might do is take them off, install OEM ones again, get them shaved length & breadth wise..

a bit disappointing though.

[StillIC]

There are variations in steel cup size between the one million MX5s produced to date. There is no one door bush that will work perfectly on every car. If you want the best result you will probably need to sand/file the bush down a touch to get the fit spot on.

I recently 3D printed my own bushes from PLA (and had to file them down a touch...doors still a little sticky to get best torsional rigidity result). I drove my car with the roof down for the first time on Sunday. I could not believe how good it was compared to standard door bushes. It is *the best* bang for buck modification I have ever made to *any* car. Less than $2 of plastic, an hour to design and print, half an hour to fit, and a car with no scuttle shake anymore. Brilliant.

[trader]

I fitted some local AT performance bushings last night - had them on order before I read these posts. Glad I did as I may not have spent the dough. However they do for me exactly what I had hoped - got rid of door rattles!