Elephant Brass vs. Plastic Bushings

[Lucky]

Just crawled out from under my car with the Wurth's synthetic spray lube in my hand. It seems the change in weather has caused my plastic, race-hard bushings to swell and squeak badly. It's really bugging me. I've been putting off dealing with these for 2 years now.

So now I'm thinking of ordering some of Chuck's fantastic looking brass bushings. I do have a few questions, though, before making the leap...

1) For those that have installed Chuck's bushings, what is your impression of before/after noise/vibration/harshness? And what bushings did you replace (stock or street-hard plastic or race-hard)?

2) How often (or after how many miles) do the brass ones need to be re-greased?

3) Any installation issues for the novice DIYer to overcome?

Thanks!

[Superman]

I opted for the firm but not hard bushings, but in retrospect I don't think we should be worried about harshness from these bushings. Shocks and shock mounts are by far the worst in this area, and I don't think control arm bushings will make much noise no matter how hard they are, unless they are loose.

If you use that sticky, stringy amber grease, you will probably never have to grease them again. I would be surprized if installation were anything but a breeze.

[CamB]

I've got very hard plastic bushings and they didn't seem to make the ride any harsher than the POS Squeakmeisters they replaced.

I actually have nylon ones (self-lubricating, I believe) - when people say plastic they seem to mean the Weltmeister ones, which are a bit rubbery if you ask me.

[andyu911]

I'm in the process of installing Chuck's brass bushings. Very high quality product. Installation is very simple compare to the stubborn rear busings. With Chuck's instruction and Bentley manuel by my side, I have no problem at all. No road test yet cuz I'm upgrading the tie rod also. I should be able to put it back together this weekend. Mmm, can't wait...

Andy
'87 Carrera
'73 914 2.0

[Dave Ploss]

The ride is firm, but not harsh at all. I have bilstein HD's installed.

As far as installation, you just clean the arms and slide the bearings on....it's that easy. I would highly recommend them.

Since I just installed them, I don't know how often you need to grease them.

Dave

[914timo]

Dave Ploss, did you test that the arms rotate free AFTER tightening all bolts ??

I have some problems now with those brass bushings. The arm moves very nice as long as the bolts are not 100% tightened. When I put them to the correct moment, the arm moves very tight. It looks like the problem is the aligning of the mounts in the body. The front and rear mounts have to be in very same line that the arm moves free.





I have cleaned the mounting points and checked the bushings are well seated to the mountings. I know I should "rotate" the front mounting to make the arm move free. The front of the mounting should be slightly upper . I think I have to adjust the front mounting points in the body. Or have somebody some other good suggestions ??

[john70t]

914timo- The following is just an opinion, but one of the positives is that the solid mounting of the bushings may pull the Tbar mounts into alignment.

Lube generously, tighten the bushing down, work the arm up and down while lightly hammering the mounting points to make the metal lose it's memory, move the inner bushing 90 deg to correct any spurs in the bronze. This would be based on the theory the factory sheet metal is soft enough.

You could shim the mounts if need be, and add a lock washer and a wider grade8 washer under the bolts.

Runout/bend on the a-arm can also be checked with a dial caliper. Beautiful pics BTW.

[Dave Ploss]

914timo- no problems at all with the bearings. The a-arm moved feely when I attached the struts, set the torsion bars and there were no issues at the alignment shop.

They are working great for me.

Dave

[Lucky]

I'm feeling good about switching to Elephants! Thanks to those that responded with first-hand accounts!