Kieran
30-06-2006, 12:42 AM
Well, as some of you lot know, I've been trying for some while now to get new bushings for my suspension. They're all looking in a bit of a state, but then again so would you if you'd had to cope with a tonne and a half of estate car rolling around over nine years and 107,000 miles.
We can only get a limited amount of bushings in the UK, from Super Pro. Nothing wrong with the bushings per-se, it's just they don't do a comprehensive kit. There are kits available in the USA that will fit our cars, from companies like Energy suspension and Prothane, but getting hold of them is proving to be a nightmare. The biggest problem I've had is that half the companies want me to fax over things like passport and bank details/statements, whilst the other half simply never respond, despite my repeated efforts!:inquisiti
http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12688
Anyway. I was poking around Ariadne the other day and noticed that the nearside balljoint cover on the rear suspension control arm was looking rather perished and in danger of splitting. And that triggered a brainwave....
You see, replacing the bushes will no doubt help things, but it might not remove all the 'soggyness' in the suspension; they can't fix broken/worn balljoints. There's also the trade off that urethane mounts can be stiff and noisy.
So I went back to the drawing board and re-assessed exactly what I want my suspension setup to achieve. I realised that my driving style and the fact that trackdays will be infrequent at best means I don't really need ultra-stiff suspension. I therefore decided to bin the idea of upgraded bushings and concentrate on finding new wishbones/control arms with the bushings and balljoints already affixed.
PSB's excellent research in the member's area takes care of the front lateral and compression arm assemblies, and now I think I've got the rest sussed out. I've found a supplier that offers genuine Mitsubishi OE parts at considerably less than the Mitsu UK price, and although it's an international order, there are not the usual problems over payment and shipping. Tonight I have ordered a set of rear drop links to test my theory.
If this comes off, I'll order the next bits I need and I'll post details in the member's area of the bits that fit and where to get them from. I don't want to say too much more for now, just incase I've got it all wrong, but let's just say it looks like there's a lot more DSM genes in our cars than we perhaps realised in the past...
I shall keep you posted!:book: :book: :book:
We can only get a limited amount of bushings in the UK, from Super Pro. Nothing wrong with the bushings per-se, it's just they don't do a comprehensive kit. There are kits available in the USA that will fit our cars, from companies like Energy suspension and Prothane, but getting hold of them is proving to be a nightmare. The biggest problem I've had is that half the companies want me to fax over things like passport and bank details/statements, whilst the other half simply never respond, despite my repeated efforts!:inquisiti
http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12688
Anyway. I was poking around Ariadne the other day and noticed that the nearside balljoint cover on the rear suspension control arm was looking rather perished and in danger of splitting. And that triggered a brainwave....
You see, replacing the bushes will no doubt help things, but it might not remove all the 'soggyness' in the suspension; they can't fix broken/worn balljoints. There's also the trade off that urethane mounts can be stiff and noisy.
So I went back to the drawing board and re-assessed exactly what I want my suspension setup to achieve. I realised that my driving style and the fact that trackdays will be infrequent at best means I don't really need ultra-stiff suspension. I therefore decided to bin the idea of upgraded bushings and concentrate on finding new wishbones/control arms with the bushings and balljoints already affixed.
PSB's excellent research in the member's area takes care of the front lateral and compression arm assemblies, and now I think I've got the rest sussed out. I've found a supplier that offers genuine Mitsubishi OE parts at considerably less than the Mitsu UK price, and although it's an international order, there are not the usual problems over payment and shipping. Tonight I have ordered a set of rear drop links to test my theory.
If this comes off, I'll order the next bits I need and I'll post details in the member's area of the bits that fit and where to get them from. I don't want to say too much more for now, just incase I've got it all wrong, but let's just say it looks like there's a lot more DSM genes in our cars than we perhaps realised in the past...
I shall keep you posted!:book: :book: :book: