Subframe bushings

[denglish318ti]

Hi

My Ti passed its annual MOT, yay. I got an advisory saying 'cracked rear axle supports'. I dont really know what that means, could it be the rear sub frame mounts, or the rubber ring in the diff? Does this look normal?
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m28/zx7rdylan/suspension.jpg
There seems to be a large gap between the top of the rubber and the plate. Also when I put a screwdriver in the bottom I can get it to lift up and down quite easily. Are they shagged?

Cheers
Dyl

[Mallard]

Yep, they are fecked..

Get a set of Powerflex´s in there,

Have a good look about in that area anyway to see if there are any other probs, but it looks ok as far as i can see from the pics

[1996 328ti]

I'd stick with stock subframe bushings personally.
Polyurethane made the car more twitchy.
Or it could have been the polyurethane RTBs.

[denglish318ti]

Ah noooo, proper ****ed. How can you tell they are gone? Cheers for the quick reply :) Not too sure if I should go standard or not, I am sure standard are fine but they sound like a right pain to fit. Powerflex ones are easy to install right?


Cheers
Dyl

[Mallard]

Ah noooo, proper ****ed. How can you tell they are gone?

the bushes sould only have a gap of around 4-5 mm above and below.

I am sure standard are fine but they sound like a right pain to fit. Powerflex ones are easy to install right?

Removal of the old ones will definitely take longer than fitting of the new powerflex ones, thats for sure ;)

[denglish318ti]

Cheers mallard. So the rubber has torn from the metal shaft and the whole thing has dropped leaving a big gap at the top? Powerflex ones are £50, whereas the original ones are only £20, so I might have go with the cheap option. Sounds like a pain in the ass of a job :frown:
Thanks again :)
Dylan

[Mallard]

the e30 lads (i included :lol: ) developed a method of burning the bushes out with a blowlamp.

After the inital rubber mass is scorched, the bush can be pulled alot easier... but will still require a pulling tool, or a minor quantity of C4..

[LimitlessTI]

hmmm sounds like i'm headed in the same direction. Pretty much all of my bushing are shot. 180,000 miles and still on original bushings. Mine look about the same as mentioned above. So about how much C4 is recommended for that removal:tongue: . Any specific puller you could recommend Mallard?

[johnclem88]

my car has the exact same problem as in the picture. Im going to get them done when i take it to have my front end vibration sorted. Out of interest what apparent differences when driving will occur with the bushes looking like that?

Cheers

John

[mohaughn]

Fixing the rear suspension bushings makes several differences if the old bushings are completely shot... You will get rid of the clunk that you probably hear now when you go over bumps, as well as you will get rid of the annoying rear end steering at higher speeds...

My car had a tendency to feel like it was swaying back and forth at the rear end, and that is all gone.

[johnclem88]

Fixing the rear suspension bushings makes several differences if the old bushings are completely shot... You will get rid of the clunk that you probably hear now when you go over bumps, as well as you will get rid of the annoying rear end steering at higher speeds...

My car had a tendency to feel like it was swaying back and forth at the rear end, and that is all gone.

Thanks for the fast reply.

O thats good i was wondering what the clunk was!! haha Maybe this will help the light front end and 'wandery' feeling i have on motorways aswell.

Cheers

John