spring plate bushing replacement?

[alexandervdr]

On my 86, the spring plate center is closer to the top than to the bottom of the bushing housing (car is off wheels) . The rubber still looks fine as far as I can see without disassembly. When is it appropriate to replace the bushings? I am not going the polyurethane way, I hate the noise. Are rubbers available?

Alexander

[BER]

It would be helpful to know the mileage on your 911 and remember, your bushings are 24 years old.

I replaced my bushings (front and rear) about 10 years ago. I put poly-bronze bushings on the front (no noise) and Neatrix on the rear. I am seriously considering putting poly bronze on the rear this winter.

Elephant Racing sells the rubber bushings for your car.

https://www.elephantracing.com/porsche/911/bushings-bearings-for-911/rubber-bushings/

[Driven97]

That's about what mine looked like when I replaced them. Our host carries several options of aftermarket rubber replacements, plus a poly / bronze hybrid bushing kit.

I went delrin for a while then switched back to rubber myself. The product I have apparently no longer exists, but it's a firmer-than-stock replacement similar to what our host carries, it's fine.

[MBAtarga]

Originally Posted by BER

It would be helpful to know the mileage on your 911 and remember, your bushings are 24 years old.

'86 - makes them 34 years old!

[911tracker85]

those rubber bushings were deformed like that on my 78 911 project. that makes my car 42 yrs old?

got the stock rubber bushings from ER.

[88911coupe]

There are a lot of threads on this. I got the wrong bushings sent from Pelican which were hard, almost plastic material. The squeaking was horrible. Pelican was happy to send the correct, more "rubber like" ones and they are much better, however they STILL squeak when driven in cold weather. This is b/c the replacement rubber never really adheres to the tube like it did from the factory. I found a really good 3M epoxy that was designed for rubber and steel and was totally useless. Removing the old rubber is a major PITA. After it was all said and done someone, can't recall who, mentioned that you can just flip them to the other side! I wish I'd known that!

[alexandervdr]

Originally Posted by BER

It would be helpful to know the mileage on your 911 and remember, your bushings are 24 years old.
........

https://www.elephantracing.com/porsche/911/bushings-bearings-for-911/rubber-bushings/

It's a 105.000 miles car. Thanks all for your replies.

[chrismorse]

Hi Alex,
It depends a lot on how you want your car to perform. Porsche designed the car to perform well for a broad market, that is guys going towork, week end autoXers, but generally a more performance oriented market.
Your maintenance of the car can be anything from totally stock, to bumping each item up a bit for more performance/ or allthe way to track prep.
front or rear torsion bar and or bushing replacement willrequire a corner balance and re-alignment. this is not a small expense, so, it is "wise" to plan ahead, get some professional advice, (like Chuck at Elephant) to help you go through your suspensionm in a practical/economical manner.
There are many threads, here to help you do the work, or choose your parts..
Everyone has their own desired levle of performance, comfort, money, so talk it up a bit with your buds.
I really want to sharpen up my dads porsches perfformance and im willing to suffer considerable NVH and cost to make it what i want.
I like Chuck, at Elephant. I talked to him at length about what i have and what i want. I feel confident with his advice, so i have stayed with rubber bushings, slightly stiffer T bars, Carrera sways and bilsteins. It is easy to succumb to the allure of racing hardware, but an honest supplier will give you good advice, appropriat for your needs.
Given the cost of the work, cornerweighting and alignment, this is money well spent.
chris

[rokemester]

105K, barely broken in!

[rokemester]

Suspension is the slipperiest of the slippery slopes.

[rw229]

Yeah, those are shot. Elephant rubber front / rear torsion bar and sway bar bushings, shocks (Bilstein greens) and a good alignment. Maybe add some turbo tie rods.

You can certainly do more, fancier stuff, but the above will transform how the car rides and handles without the compromises or cost that comes with performance parts.

[alexandervdr]

thanks all, I'll stick to the rubbers bushings already bought them. Will be a winter project.

[chrismorse]

Originally Posted by rokemester

Suspension is the slipperiest of the slippery slopes.

Be prepared, ($$$, time), for fixing problems or maintenance items you uncover, "While in there": CV boots, torn rear bar mounts, cracked brake hoses, brake pads, discs, wheel bearings.

Then there are the, "well heck, as long as i'm in there" stuff, might as well do this or that since all the stuff is out of the way, powder coating parts, brake cooling kit, steering rack overhaul, pedal cluster rebush, master cylinder, strut top bushings.

One helpfull decision point - do work that would normally require an alignment and or corner weighting and leave the other stuff for a later adventure. You do not want to pay for several corner weightings/alignments.

Looking back, i'm a bit amazed at the depth and width of my slide.

good luck,
chris

[alexandervdr]

Originally Posted by chrismorse

Be prepared, ($$$, time), for fixing problems or maintenance items you uncover, "While in there": CV boots, torn rear bar mounts, cracked brake hoses, brake pads, discs, wheel bearings.

Then there are the, "well heck, as long as i'm in there" stuff, might as well do this or that since all the stuff is out of the way, powder coating parts, brake cooling kit, steering rack overhaul, pedal cluster rebush, master cylinder, strut top bushings.

One helpfull decision point - do work that would normally require an alignment and or corner weighting and leave the other stuff for a later adventure. You do not want to pay for several corner weightings/alignments.

Looking back, i'm a bit amazed at the depth and width of my slide.

good luck,
chris

I know what you mean. I restored (actually a full body off rebuild) a Corvette C2 and as the saying goes: you start with wanting to replace a light bulb in the glove box, and all at once you find yourself with a bare chassis surrounded by zillion parts. Been there, done that