Cheap compression rod bushing mod

[dsgerbc]

Just to be clear, you have trouble undoing the nut on the ball joint?
Penetrating oil, if that doesn't work, heat it up.
In theory, you maybe able to free the bushing side of the arm w/o undoing the ball joint side, but it'll be a PIA.

 

[Motion122]

Hi, it's the inboard and outboard bolts that secure the rear front lower control arm that stops the suspension from moving forwards under acceleration an backwards under breaking. I know it's torqued really high about 139 ft lbs. Not left handed threads or anything like that. I do know the car was built after Tesla had a run if poorly torques front suspension and sub frame bolts that were coming loose but both sides are impossible to move . Even tried my air gun , it's not overly powerful but shifts most things , worried about breaking the ball joint on the outer end.

Impact gun is your friend!

 

[Yperformance]

They say I can get the inserts in without removing the arms, bet that will be fun.

 

[gearchruncher]

They say I can get the inserts in without removing the arms, bet that will be fun.

You really can't get the stuff off on a car that is less than a year old? It's always popped right off for me.
Like said before, you HAVE to hold the nut on the top on the body side- it is not captive. For the ball joint, you really want to put a Torx in the middle to prevent rotation also.

 

[Motion122]

They say I can get the inserts in without removing the arms, bet that will be fun.

Lots of silicone lube and words you don't typically like to use, that is for sure!

 

[Yperformance]

Ok guys, checked it's torqued to over 150 lbs, ha guess the factory set it wrong.

 

[bcpm3p]

What better bushings are on the market?
The only ones I know of are the full solid ones from MPP for $450, so $280 does not buy you better bushings. A solid bearing is not a bushing. MPP calls theirs MPP.R because of the NVH tradeoffs. It's a great product, but not right for everyone. You also need to press out your stock bushings and press the MPP ones in, so you still have to do all the same labor as rotating a bushing. And if you think a full solid bearing doesn't create new stresses on other parts of the suspension also.....

I know of no other aftermarket bushings, and you can't buy just the bushing from Tesla. What am I missing?

How about the ones from Unplugged ??

https://unpluggedperformance.com/product/front-lower-control-arm-compression-link-bushing-sealed-uniball-spherical-tesla-model-3-and-tesla-model-y/

 

[gearchruncher]

How about the ones from Unplugged ??

The unplugged ones are $325 solid bearings. Did you even read my post?

A solid bearing is not a bushing. MPP calls theirs MPP.R because of the NVH tradeoffs.

 

[Collutio]

I would love to buy stiffer compression arm bushings that don't go full metal like those MPPs. Paying $$ for OEM arms to get new bushings seems like a waste tho.

Noticed these while looking at anti-roll bar options the other day: Whiteline KCA532

 

[dsgerbc]

Noticed these while looking at anti-roll bar options the other day: Whiteline KCA532

Cool find, thanks!

 

[gearchruncher]

Noticed these while looking at anti-roll bar options the other day: Whiteline KCA532

Wow, nice find! Only $98 USD during the Black Friday sales too.

 

[Mash]

NVH is exaggerated imho. I can't hear any difference. Now it's completely different story with ball top mounts, but not here.

 

[NoNoBadDog]

I found these online. Not sure of price or availability. Hardened rubber bushing, no caster adjustment. Q1075 - Harden Rubber Equipped 2PCS/SET

They make pillow ball versions with and without caster adjustment, too.

 

[Mash]

I found these online. Not sure of price or availability. Hardened rubber bushing, no caster adjustment. Q1075 - Harden Rubber Equipped 2PCS/SET

View attachment 878153

They make pillow ball versions with and without caster adjustment, too.

Again, imho, it doesn't worth it. You can do inserts much easier and cheaper. Or make it solid. I barely trust whiteline, but going unknown Chinese brand is beyond understanding.

Those things are to remove wheel hop and sketchy hard breaking. If you fine with that - keep it stock. Why would you want half solution for almost the same price?

 

[gearchruncher]

unknown Chinese brand is beyond understanding.

While I get that most people love to hate on anything from "China," Hardrace is one of the bigger manufacturers with some quite good products, and I think it's awesome to see them supporting the Tesla platform. They've been around for 25 years and are actually pretty big in Europe. We're talking about a bushing here, not a set of shocks.

Now, do $300+ sphericals from them, make sense against other stuff on the market for similar prices? Probably not. Do $200 camber arms make sense against $800 ones? Yeah.

Kinda hilarious that you would "barely trust" a company that is 30 years old, and call a 25 year old company "unknown. That just reeks of unfounded bias.

It's dumb of us to hate on anything that just because it isn't priced high enough. How about we wait until someone reviews them?

 

[Mash]

While I get that most people love to hate on anything from "China," Hardrace is one of the bigger manufacturers with some quite good products, and I think it's awesome to see them supporting the Tesla platform. They've been around for 25 years and are actually pretty big in Europe. We're talking about a bushing here, not a set of shocks.

Now, do $300+ sphericals from them, make sense against other stuff on the market for similar prices? Probably not. Do $200 camber arms make sense against $800 ones? Yeah.

Kinda hilarious that you would "barely trust" a company that is 30 years old, and call a 25 year old company "unknown. That just reeks of unfounded bias.

It's dumb of us to hate on anything that just because it isn't priced high enough. How about we wait until someone reviews them?

Yeah, sorry, I forgot that they got ambassadors here, so they legit.

Hardrace is a typical Chinese brand with sales office in Taiwan. Racing car shops in China don't buy Hardrace. Because it's just uncontrolled junk from whatever factories doing anything.

"Supporting Tesla platform"... Lol. They just resell anything that sells. As fast and as cheap as possible. Where is their factory? Secret location? 25 years old... Look they actually 43 years old.

And, yeah, I barely trust whiteline, because their QC is *sugar*, but at least they have local representative who will exchange it (and I had to exchange with them many times) and they invest into brand instead of gray ambassadors.

I'm honestly tired of people defending noname Chinese junk, because nobody died yet. This is not helping community at all. And I'm not racist, I just lived 8 years in China and worked with factories there every day, so don't tell me how I should be unbiased.

P.S. Chinese bushing is special kind of garbage. They just know that whoever really uses a car is not going to buy their garbage and those who need it to show off as "real racer" - they would barely drive a car, so who cares what rubber they poured into that bushing. And the cost just wins. Its guaranteed to be way worse than stock.

 

[Huskyfan]

Did you ever get removed? Bet you were turning the wrong way due to lying on your back or working over head.

 

[Huskyfan]

You like speed? You rather spend money on entry fees than parts? I got the mod for you.

Like many of us know, the front compression rod bushing takes a lot of abuse when driving the car hard. Many people have seen this tear after hard track use. It's also something that the aftermarket has created great products for, as making this bushing stiffer increases handling performance.

The compression rod only has force on it in one axis- directly in line with the ball joint. The stock bushing is meant to be most compliant in this direction, with two voids in the bushing creating a "beam" in this direction.

Rotate the bushing 90 degrees, and volia, no beam, just a solid bushing in the axis you care about. This should highly reduce the chance of tearing, while also making it a bit stiffer to boot with reduced deflection.

Top arm rotated, bottom stock

View attachment 846545

When I did this, I also did the old school trick of injecting urethane into the voids to make the whole bushing more solid, but this was just belt and suspenders. Not even sure this will do anything given there is no side load on this bushing once rotated.

As a hint for anyone needing to push this bushing out for any reason, you can borrow Powerbuilt 648617 from Advance Auto Parts. It has a great 2 9/64" socket that fits perfectly and makes pressing it out easy. Also has a 3" tube that works to go below the bushing as you press it out.

These things are shredded. looks like turning or filling in the voids won’t fix a broken part.

 

[gearchruncher]

These things are shredded.

A few surface cracks don't make them "shredded." They were plenty solid, and continue to be. Those things only have 7K miles on them in that picture.

Looks like you've done some nice mods to your car. Come join us at a local AutoX sometime and use them the way they were meant to be!

 

[gearchruncher]

I bought and installed the whiteline caster bushings. They fit fine, install as you'd expect, and yep, they increase caster.
Autocrossed them today, but it was in rain and snow so not a good way to identify the changes.