Super Pro bushes - WOW!

[Caffeine]

Installed a full set of super pro bushes on the weekend, and all I can say is WOW!!


They have firmed up the whole car very nicely, feels very solid and planted.

Pros:

Everything feels better, steering, suspension, handling, braking
No more rattly suspension!!
Firmer, but more controlled
No more crashing through bumps, rides over them with more dignity
Much better braking (note, changed to DBA slotted discs at the same time, but it's more due to the bushes keeping the front wheels in contact with the ground)
Better 'feel' for the road, more information coming back, less isolated (this is a con as well)

Cons:

More road noise
Less isolation from rough road surfaces (this is a pro as well)
No more rattly suspension (so I can hear the rattles from everything else now)
The roads around my house are infested with potholes and speedhumps, nothing that makes the suspension firmer is going to make the roads nice to drive on.


Conclusion:

If you standard bushes are getting long in the tooth, and you bought the car for its handling rather than it's ride, then get these things into your car, you won't believe the difference!!


Bear in mind they were replacing some geriatric stock bushes with 170000 hard dríven km on them.

[Fatty]

yes i agree with all that. i was surprised what a difference they made to my car. it feels new again. a lot of the old rattles and squeeks have dissapeared and i feel more in touch with the road now. more in control.

[Andrew]

Great, now i have to replace my engine mounts as well as the suspension bushings

[marcusus]

What was the cost of the bushes? Were they installed dodgy style, or did you pay to get them put in? If you paid, how much was it if you don't mind my asking?

Kinda contemplating doing a fairly big suspension thing (Tein/Bilstein coils) and figure I should do everything that can possibly be done in relation to suspension whilst I'm at it.

[Babalouie]

I was thinking of doing the bushes too Liam

Are the wishbones hard to get off? I was thinking of just removing them and dumping them at East Coast Suspensions for them to press in the new bushes.

...was also thinking of getting the wishbones powdercoated while they were out too

[rzzzwilson]

I've got 160,000Km on my '99 and am thinking of replacing
all the bushings. The two choices are the Super Pro and the
ProBush ones from the UK.

I lean towards the ProBush because the central tube bushes
are bonded to the elastic material and don't move like the
Super Pro, hence maybe less maintenance later on. With our
dollar so strong now the UK bushes aren't too outrageously
priced.

Am I being too anal here? Does anybody have any experience
with the ProBush bushes?

Ross

[bigdog]

I was thinking of doing the bushes too Liam

Are the wishbones hard to get off? I was thinking of just removing them and dumping them at East Coast Suspensions for them to press in the new bushes.

...was also thinking of getting the wishbones powdercoated while they were out too

What was the cost of the bushes? Were they installed dodgy style, or did you pay to get them put in? If you paid, how much was it if you don't mind my asking?

Liam had them changed over in around an hour all up as you can clearly see in the following video clip...

http://vid23.photobucket.com/albums/b394/bigdogedits/Dodgy%20Day%20Oct%2007/DecaffinatedSuspension.flv

No big deal, just keep Mania's phone number handy

[Babalouie]

Ahh....you use a pulley puller to get the old bushes out? I thought you needed a bbq or flamethrower or something

[StanTheMan]

I was thinking of doing the bushes too Liam

Are the wishbones hard to get off? I was thinking of just removing them and dumping them at East Coast Suspensions for them to press in the new bushes.

...was also thinking of getting the wishbones powdercoated while they were out too

You have to go hard for most of the day. From word go. Sunday made me really raelise without ampz & big dogs help it would have taken me 2 days at least.

caff didn't really start until midday I started on the bushes at 8am

its a fairly big job......not for the faint hearted. Babs. If you want to host another doddgy day. I'm sure i'd be allowed to bring Big Dogs press

Dodgy Days are good fun

[Caffeine]

As has been said, it's an all day job!

The rears are relatively easy, nothing you can't do at home with a lot of brute force.

After partly disassembling one side of the front, I realised I didn't have the knowledge, tools, or time to pull the steering arms off, and so I put it back together and took the car to mania. They installed the fronts in 4 hours.

The bushes were $600 from mania, you can get them cheaper elsewhere but I'm glad I bought them from someone I could run to for help!

I did use a blowtorch on one of the rear upper control arm bushes, the rubber had perished inside the arm and wouldn't press out, so I set it on fire and left it to burn the rubber out, then wire brushed out the remains when it cooled and whacked in the new bush, all good!

It would be easy to remove all the parts and take them somewhere to have them push out the old bushes and put new ones in, the only one you'll have trouble with is the rear upper control arm outer bush, it's not on the wishbone, I pushed it out while it was still on the car (as in the video)

I highly recommend the change though, it's transformed the car!

[Brad]

I once attempted to do 4 bushes in my Pug 306, got the arm out, bashed it with a hammer a few times and realised I had no hope. With the MX5, fortunatly Cal had his racecar up on stands doing the engine, so I took his arms, got my new Superpro bushes pressed in, then did a swap over with mine the following w/e. He then used my arms. Worked well.

[Juffa]

Yes, one of the must do upgrades if you have older/high Km suspenison components. I have replaced the OEM bushes with super-pro on two MX5s. Took me around 8-9 hours from start to finish on my own. I used a set of special tools owned by the Vic Club, in conjunction with a heavy duty bench vice. I removed all of the components, except for the part at the front that is attached by the ball joint. I then used the bench vice to push out the old and push in the new. I used a giant 'C' press/clamp to work on the front end components that I didn't want to remove. Helps to have plenty of work area and car stands to give you the required clearance.

J

[Babalouie]

When I think about it, the wishbones should come off quite easy, although I'd imagine you'd have to remove quite a lot of things so that you can get those long bolts out that hold the 'bones to the body.

The only snag I can think of is removing the top balljoint from the upper front wishbone...is that stuck on pretty fast?

[Andrew]

I used a set of special tools owned by the Vic Club, in conjunction with a heavy duty bench vice........I used a giant 'C' press/clamp to work on the front end components ....

...one giant 'C" clamp comming right up -

[Bevan]

Aren't they called G-clamps?