Spring Plate Bushing Suggestion

[bfunke]

I've always wondered about glue vs grease since the 356s just grease them to the springplates. Has anyone ever tried this with rubber bushes in SWB911s?

[edmayo]

Right or wrong I only grease mine, haven't ever been aware of any problem doing that, even on LWB cars.

[jesseandersson]

+ 1 Edmayo

[Xavier PJB]

Just made the complete ones everywhere with grease only (silicon grease).

[Tom F.]

I have heard that improved replacement bushings for LWB cars are available, now. What is the word on the best rubber replacement bushings?

[VintageExcellen]

I have heard that improved replacement bushings for LWB cars are available, now. What is the word on the best rubber replacement bushings?

I finally was able to get a stiffer rubber bushing made at International Mercantile, that’s my vote for the best quality bushing on the market for SWB or LWB spring plates. Harder rubber, higher Douro meter test. The same material used in Willhoit’s 356 spring plate bushings which has really helped those cars.

[66S]

I don’t like the concept of a bonded rubber bushing dertermining your effective spring rate so I don’t bond rubber bushings. I want as little friction as possible. Elephant racing and Rebel racing sell bushings for front and rear that provide this such as poly bronze and work well. Neatrix makes stiffer rubber rear bushings that are inexpensive and might not deform like Oem bushings.

[Tom F.]

I'm surprised that no one vouches for the factory original replacement spring plates. Has anyone compared them directly with the aftermarket bushing replacements, say in a timed autocross situation or similar? Aside from price, are there disadvantages to using the factory part?

The harder replacements that Mark mentions seem like a pretty good compromise. My one experience with the rubber replacement bushings is that they distorted quickly to be worse than the aged factory parts that I removed. But this was ten years ago, and the aftermarket stuff has surely improved since then.

[NorthernThrux]

I greased mine, as Ed mentioned. Having done a lot of work with motorcycle springs and shocks where "stiction" is a serious confounding problem when setting up, I just can't believe that having multiple resistive pathways (torsion bars, bushings and shocks) which vary in time is a good idea. I prefer to let the torsion bar handle the height and springing duties and the shock absorber handle the damping and let the bushing just be a frictionless pivot.

I went with stock factory bushings, plates and Koni shocks.

Ravi