Wishbones
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- Joined: Thu 18 Jul, 2013 15:01
- Posts: 32
- Location: Charante Maritime, France
Wishbones
Hi, having now replaced both wishbones on my Z3 and at the same time sorting the rust out under the front of the car... The steering now is very precise and i can feel every bump in the road through the steering wheel will getting the tracking done sort this ? or is there another issue ?
Re: Wishbones
The only thing I can think of that might make the ride harsher, when changing the wishbones, is the replacement of the standard bushes with less flexible ones.
Re: Wishbones
i replaced mine, just with standard unbranded bushes, and felt no noticeable difference. Tracking also made no difference.
Did you replace the bushes with solid ones or with ones with a gap between the inner and outer rings?
Did you replace the bushes with solid ones or with ones with a gap between the inner and outer rings?
"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered." George Best
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- Joined: Thu 18 Jul, 2013 15:01
- Posts: 32
- Location: Charante Maritime, France
Re: Wishbones
RichP wrote:i replaced mine, just with standard unbranded bushes, and felt no noticeable difference. Tracking also made no difference.
Did you replace the bushes with solid ones or with ones with a gap between the inner and outer rings?
I replaced the complete wishbones fitted with standard bushes purchased of ebay for about £180. they looked well made my only complaint was that they didn't come with a complete set of new nylocks some of which I had to source locally (not easy in rural France).
The steering wheel now moves with every bump in the road now... which I hope will be cured when i get the tracking done next week.
Re: Wishbones
The price of £180 sounds like a premium after-market product and so I can’t imagine that there is a problem with your wishbones. Sounds like a good plan to get the tracking checked and reassess afterwards.
One experience I have encountered when renewing suspension parts on my own 15-year old Z3 is that the renewal of one part has immediately exposed a weakness in another. I had this when I replaced my rears shocks and mounts. I went for a drive and the handling was much better but there was a clink-clink-clink noise when corning to the right at anything other than a snail’s pace. The immediate reaction from both me and others was that I had made some sort of error when fitting the shocks. After some head scratching and studying the rear of the car, I noticed that one of the rear drop-links looked perished and cracked – I renewed both drop-links and ARB bushes – the problem was solved and the handling was perfect.
Turning to your findings, I wonder whether the fact that you now have nice firm geometry on the wishbones is exposing a bit of play in something like the steering end ball-joints?
One experience I have encountered when renewing suspension parts on my own 15-year old Z3 is that the renewal of one part has immediately exposed a weakness in another. I had this when I replaced my rears shocks and mounts. I went for a drive and the handling was much better but there was a clink-clink-clink noise when corning to the right at anything other than a snail’s pace. The immediate reaction from both me and others was that I had made some sort of error when fitting the shocks. After some head scratching and studying the rear of the car, I noticed that one of the rear drop-links looked perished and cracked – I renewed both drop-links and ARB bushes – the problem was solved and the handling was perfect.
Turning to your findings, I wonder whether the fact that you now have nice firm geometry on the wishbones is exposing a bit of play in something like the steering end ball-joints?
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- Joined: Fri 19 Jun, 2009 10:27
- Posts: 2093
- Location: Daglan, France
Re: Wishbones
Frog Farmer - I had the same problem until I fitted poly bushes in place of the original gapped things at the rear of the wish bones - another example of OE parts being unsuitable, in this case for the lateral loadings placed on the susension via 45-section front tyres and French country roads. Since fitting poly bushes the car only jumps up and down, instead of from side to side!
A Z3 is not just for Christmas - it's for life!
Re: Wishbones
Hi Mike
Where did you get the poly bushes for your wishbones
Had a great run to North Berwick today in the Z3.
Still had a desire to use the 1100RT but couldn't fit my wee dog into the equation !
Best regards
Alistair
Where did you get the poly bushes for your wishbones
Had a great run to North Berwick today in the Z3.
Still had a desire to use the 1100RT but couldn't fit my wee dog into the equation !
Best regards
Alistair