Superpro bush failure

[SteveW]

Hi Jez,

 

I hope things are going well. I tried to PM you this but it seems your inbox is full so I'm posting here.

 

Last year at the end of July I bought full front end set of Superpro suspension bushes from you for my 350z. The emails I have are dated July 29th as despatch date.

 

I have just taken my car for the MOT and it got an advisory for play in the front bush. I said you can't be right but it seems one of the Superpro bushes has failed. Here are the images.

 

Driver side-all good

 

Passenger Side-oh dear

 

Does this part come with a 12month warranty? If so how do I go about a warranty claim?

 

Looking forward to hearing from you.

 

Thank you

Steve

Edited July 13, 2015 by SteveW

[GT4 Zed]

I've used and fitted Superpro, energy suspension and whiteline bushes and done heavy track use and I think it's probably effect rather than cause with that bush failure.

 

I'm sure Superpro will send you a replacement bush but if I were you I would look deeper as you are likely to have camber arm/bush/ball joint issues or toe arm issues (tie rod) on that side which has lead to failure of that inner LCA(translink) bush.

Typically when that bush fails it affect caster only as the bushes can only slide front to back. When you accelerate the caster reduces and when you brake it increases. More so you would have been hearing the obvious knocking and the steering to the affected side would have been less responsive as the caster will be less. You would have also noticed slight pulling on moderate to heavy braking due to this difference.

It would be very hard to have that failure and not notice it.

That were pattern is a camber/toe related cause.

 

So the questions you should answer:

-did you get this professionally fitted and within the tolerances?

- did you swap the camber arm(UCA) inner bushes with Superpro too? If not check that the UCA inner bush have not failed or the UCA or tie rod outer ball joint on that side.

- is your compression arm bush and ball joint ok?

- Have you hit anything eg kerbing at speed to explain this?

 

Note I'm not trying to cover for Superpro or say urethane bushes cannot fail but most times it's due to poor/cheap designed bushes, improper fitting, suspension bind of some sort due to mismatched bushes, other component failure and misalignment from keebing/potholes etc just want to make sure there's not an underlying issue that will lead you to this again.

Either way good luck with everything.

Let me know if I can help in anyway. I've got a complete zed suspension arm/parts for sale with energy suspension bushes.

Edited July 13, 2015 by GT4 Zed

[Adrian@TORQEN]

Steve, have you tried email or direct call? http://www.h-dev.co.uk/contact_us.php

 

Jez is a very nice guy, I'm sure he'll sort it out if needs be and/or if those are still under warranty, but he's ever so busy. Try calling him tomorrow.

[SteveW]

I've used and fitted Superpro, energy suspension and whiteline bushes and done heavy track use and I think it's probably effect rather than cause with that bush failure.

 

I'm sure Superpro will send you a replacement bush but if I were you I would look deeper as you are likely to have camber arm/bush/ball joint issues or toe arm issues (tie rod) on that side which has lead to failure of that inner LCA(translink) bush.

Typically when that bush fails it affect caster only as the bushes can only slide front to back. When you accelerate the caster reduces and when you brake it increases. More so you would have been hearing the obvious knocking and the steering to the affected side would have been less responsive as the caster will be less. You would have also noticed slight pulling on moderate to heavy braking due to this difference.

It would be very hard to have that failure and not notice it.

That were pattern is a camber/toe related cause.

 

So the questions you should answer:

-did you get this professionally fitted and within the tolerances?

- did you swap the camber arm(UCA) inner bushes with Superpro too? If not check that the UCA inner bush have not failed or the UCA or tie rod outer ball joint on that side.

- is your compression arm bush and ball joint ok?

- Have you hit anything eg kerbing at speed to explain this?

 

Note I'm not trying to cover for Superpro or say urethane bushes cannot fail but most times it's due to poor/cheap designed bushes, improper fitting, suspension bind of some sort due to mismatched bushes, other component failure and misalignment from keebing/potholes etc just want to make sure there's not an underlying issue that will lead you to this again.

Either way good luck with everything.

Let me know if I can help in anyway. I've got a complete zed suspension arm/parts for sale with energy suspension bushes.

 

Thank you for the detailed reply, however surprisingly there has been no knocking whatsoever which is strange in itself. There is still some urethane in the bush that must be stopping any banging. Car hasn't been tracked since these were fitted.

 

All other front bushes (with Superpro) and comp arms were replaced at the same time as these bushes were fitted followed by full alignment. I haven't hit any kerbs but have noticed over the last couple of weeks it has started to pull to the left, now obvious why.

 

The failure of this bush has created a large increase in camber from 2 deg at alignment to around 8 deg now. Caster as you say is also all over.

 

After fitting all bushes and alignment I checked all free play in joint etc and all found in spec. Alignment specs were all in except camber which was 0.5 out due to being lowered.

[SteveW]

Steve, have you tried email or direct call? http://www.h-dev.co.uk/contact_us.php

 

Jez is a very nice guy, I'm sure he'll sort it out if needs be and/or if those are still under warranty, but he's ever so busy. Try calling him tomorrow.

 

Hi octet, no I hadn't.

 

I started sending the PM which didn't work so just posted. I should have just contacted him direct which I'll do tomorrow.

[GT4 Zed]

Wow!! -8deg of camber!!! That would be something to behold visually. Something is not right. I personally will take everything down for full inspection just to be sure as that arm/bush should affect camber very minimally.

In anycase Superpro will replace the bush.

 

[Mark@Abbey m/s]

Wow!! -8deg of camber!!! That would be something to behold visually. Something is not right. I personally will take everything down for full inspection just to be sure as that arm/bush should affect camber very minimally.

In anycase Superpro will replace the bush.

 

I agree this bush failing wont cause that amount of camber to be gained;

 

I had our track car on our Hunter Alignment rig and the alignment was pretty close but the TCA inner (stock) bush had failed like yours.

 

If the car had gained that much camber the toe would of been miles out as well.

[SteveW]

Yes the toe is massive also, it wasn't but is now. All other joints and bushes appear to be in good condition. There isn't any play anywhere but a little hard to tell with the failed bush. I will check again once this is sorted to ensure no other problems.

[SteveW]

Also wanted to say great service from Jez and Superpro. Fault reported yesterday and the replacement bush has arrived already. Now to get the arm off and the failed bush back to Superpro.

[Adrian@TORQEN]

Also wanted to say great service from Jez and Superpro. Fault reported yesterday and the replacement bush has arrived already. Now to get the arm off and the failed bush back to Superpro.

 

Good stuff!