bigmackloud

Last weekend at the track, I noticed a "clunk" from my suspension when I load the suspension hard. It was suggested it might be a control arm bushing. I'm swapping back over to my street brakes but while inspecting the suspension I don't see anything that stands out, other than it looks like my rear sway bar might be shifting (possibly the source of my clunk, i've got to look into it closer).

Regardless, this got me thinking about when should I replace my control arm bushings. (i run conti slicks). There seems to be mixed reviews on poly bushings (noisy), and delrin transmits too much nvh.

So for those who have replaced control arm bushings, at what point did you decide to do it? And what did you go with?

Though mine only sees a couple thousand miles per year on the street, I don't want to ruin it's street manners.

Thanks in advance.

wtb-z

If you have stock eccentric camber adjustment bolts, make sure none of those are loose.

hungryhippo

I'm surprised your front upper bushings aren't coming out.

Soloontario

For me the worst bushing extrusion is the front bushing on the front LCA. Decreases my caster quite a bit.

OTOH, I don't think it is a good idea to change just 1 bushing, you have to change them all.

bigmackloud

Anyone have a picture of the bushings coming out? A good visual reference may give me more insight on my bushings.

Sox-Fan

Just FYI, I daily drove my 04 z06 with Ridetech's delrin setup. The only NVH I noticed was driving it on the cobblestone streets down in Savannah. That was absolutely brutal, other than that it was no issue.

It's pretty obvious when the bushings are coming out. For example, look at the left front upper control arm. If you look at the front of the arm where the dog bone goes through, if the wide shoulder of the rubber is not against the arm but has moved 1/4 inch or so forward of the arm, then it's moving. Usually braking with big sticky slicks will move the upper arm fore and aft on the bushings. Hell, mine walked out with RE-11s.

wtb-z is also right on the money with the eccentrics. They often move no matter how hard you torque them down. I ended up buying a camber kit from Sperkins to keep from having to mess with them all the time. I'll be calling him for a kit to put on my new (to me) c6 pretty soon too. You might want to mark them and see if they are moving.

Larry Myers

LG has a forum video that shows how much the oem bushings permit a arm movement when power is applied (rear) and during a high g turn (front).

My car is almost 11 years old, logged 59,000 miles with about 50 track days. Looking at the bushings reveals it is time for replacement. Considering Ridetech delrin bushings.

bigmackloud

thanks for the feedback on the delrin bushings. Gotta admit I'm gun-shy with solid bushings. In my Mustang I had heim joint bearings in the rear upper and lower control arms. It was like listening to the rear end with a stethoscope. It amplified road noise like crazy. Swore I'd never do it again.

And also thanks for the suggestion on the tip on the eccentric bolts. I'll make sure to check those as well.

Sox-Fan

They are not metal solid. and they are teflon impregnated. I really did not mind driving on them at all. I had them for about 4 months before that car got wrecked and other than the one time I hit a cobblestone road I did not mind at all. I'm sure they are others that have them in the car as well and can put in a word or two.

Dan H.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ke-a-look.html

Here are some pics when I had this issue last year. The arms move and the bushings squeeze out and what eventually can happen is you get LCA interference with the cradle. This could potentially be your clunk.

I believe this is caused by heavy braking. Since your on scrubs, I would imagine your braking and driving at a level where this is happening on your car.

There are a variety of vendors and stories on here about what bushing to use should you decide to go this route.

apex26

While you guys are on this topic, my car has an issue I have not nailed down yet. It's all stock underneath except a camber kit, and is lowered on stock bolts. After a recent autocross (and around here the tracks are never smooth) I rushed to take off the 305/18 square Nitto Nto1 setup (4 stock rear wheels) and put on the street Michelin wheels and tires. Later I noticed that something had scraped on the "outboard bead seat" area--the inside of 2 wheels. One is scraped quite a bit. Driving home from the event it rained, so no fresh scrapes to see, I noticed it later anyway. What could flex so much? I'm suspecting the rear, and the rear sway doesn't look entirely symmetrical, but it's never hit anything. Car lived in a climate controlled garage and now has only 25k miles, 2003 z06.