Wishbone Wednesday

[conaero]

Well, day off and before the spanners get too cold I though today is the day to have my wishbones out and check them, and I am happy to reports they are all good.















As you can see or maybe you already know, I had a cracked one two years ago and rather than pay the then £1600 the factory was asking, I opted to have it welded. The wishbone concerned had a hairline crack across a third of the knuckle and was not open. So it was milled out welded, then a 6mm plate was fully welded over the top all the way round.

Now my dilemma is, do I replace it. As you can see from the pics, I have zero cracking and all is well so I am struggling to justify the point.

The ES patten parts are on discount till the end of Octover at £395. Should I replace, the welded on, both or save my money?

I may sell the car at some point in the next 2-3 years.

 

[leeq61]

IMO Matt, i'd save your money. You've done more than most and checked the wishbones thoroughly and no cracking . So why fix something that isn't broken (The welds seem to be doing the job). If there were signs of cracking then i would have gone down the route of new ones. I'm sure that if you do come to sell it in 2-3 years time, you'll do your usual getting the car up to full sale spec anyway and they'll be checked again.

 

[allandwf]

I agree, don't fix something that isn't broken.

 

[jluis]

Don't replace it as it seems to be holding off nicely.
But do tell that to potential prospects when you are selling the car.

 

[mjheathcote]

I would have no problem with it being welded and wrapped. This is done as a matter of course in Motorsport to strengthen the wishbone.
Only issue is would an independent inspection come sale time highlight this repair, and how would the buyer react? You are happy it was done correctly, but how would the buyer know?
So I would leave it, if a potential buyer in the future is happy, great, if not, change it then.

 

[conaero]

I would of course make this know to any future owner.

Mike it makes me feel a lot better that I can consider my repaired wishbone "motorsport strengthened"

decision made, I am not replacing it.

Also I have since found my PS leak, it's the rad/cooler. I'll save this story for another day.

 

[drewf]

I would of course make this know to any future owner.

I'm sure you would - you are an honest chap. There's a lot of background on here about your car, so any prospective purchaser will almost certainly be able to read through it and see all this anyway, so it would be fairly tricky to hide it. I suspect you'll only know when you come to sell it - say that's in 3 years and the wishbone still looks like it does today, then it will still be up to the purchaser to decide if they trust it. Not a lot you can do to sway that situation. I'd not personally replace it today.

 

[Fat Arnie]

Matt, how do you rate the condition of your bushes in the wishbones. Mine do not have any play, but they have the same perish marks around the exposed edges of the rubber. Wondering if this is a significant indication of trouble ahead or should I not be concerned?

Also I think welding your wishbones without plating would be fine as long as you use AC TIG and heat the wishbone first to ensure weld penetration. My wishbones are fine, but I would always resort to welding as a fix. I actually suspect the cracking is probably down to the tolerances of the bush size and the hole in the wishbone anyway.

 

[Zep]

I'd suggest also making sure the centre of the bush rotates reasonably freely inside the outer. It is designed to rotate without putting any shear stress into the rubber. If the inner part seizes it will try and rotate the whole bush in the arm.

 

[alfi boy]

I would rather yours than mine as yours look bullet proof, I was shown a bad one at McGraths and it seems to be corrosion on the steel within the bush which causes the expansion resulting in the split to outer surface as Zep mentions.

 

[Zep]

I should say, the rubber in mine was a bit frilly like in Matt's pics. They were certainly good for a few more miles but when I replaced them all it made a big difference to the handling.

 

[safrane]

The ES pattern parts were on special offer this same time last year...in fact I believe the offer has never ended...rather like DFS!

 

[CatmanV2]

The ES pattern parts were on special offer this same time last year...in fact I believe the offer has never ended...rather like DFS!

I'm pretty sure it's been constant. Taking a guess, their ecommerce package requires an end date.

C

 

[davy83]

i take it we are talking about Eurospares, i have recently replaced a rear upper arm and they did not have any reasonable priced arms for sales despite me probing them on this? what am i missing here?

 

[safrane]

The arms are for the 4200/GS, but I also understand they can be made to fit a 3200 but you need additional brackets.

 

[conaero]

I should say, the rubber in mine was a bit frilly like in Matt's pics. They were certainly good for a few more miles but when I replaced them all it made a big difference to the handling.

The one I had welded has new bushes, the offside has the origionals. If I wasn't worried about fitting new bushes and cracking the bones I'd do it but they are ok so will leave them as is.

 

[Zep]

The one I had welded has new bushes, the offside has the origionals. If I wasn't worried about fitting new bushes and cracking the bones I'd do it but they are ok so will leave them as is.

Fair enough. I doubt they are too bad anyway. I did mine and check them regularly - no cracks. I have the press here to change them if you ever need it.

 

[conaero]

Cheers Zep

 

[Spartacus]

Id weld the other one as well while its out . It obviously strengthens them .

 

[OGAJOE]

Hi everyone,

I am a bit lost with all threads on wishbone and arms... My mechanics are telling me that the rear bushes are bad, that might be the cause for my heavy vibration after 140 km/h.

I see that superperformance provides many bushes, but I don't get which one are needed ? and which quantity I need per bush ? I live very very very far from my car, and I am the one to take care of parts order...

Any recommendations about bushes change ?