863 bronze bushings @ Supermiata
#41
Supporting Vendor
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Lake Forest, CA
Posts: 7,956
Total Cats: 1,008
Thanks for posting. We have been planning an announcement, but since you asked...
The last few weeks have been full of research and development for us. We received 4 reports of the front lower control arm bushings having the flanges cookie-cuttered off. Turns out, this has been a problem with polyurethane bushings from the get go - when this was posted on Facebook several people piped in saying they'd seen normal poly kits from all brands that had done the same thing. It does seem that eliminating the friction in the sleeves exacerbates this issue, as does greasing the outer bore of the bushing when installing them in the control arms. Our instructions now explicitly state *NOT* to grease the outer bore of the polyurethane when installing. That should solve the problem for most people.
When the last batch of poly ran out we decided to make some tweaks to solve this problem. We think we have it sorted but we will share details of the revision once we know it fully resolves the problem. This is the reason you can't buy the full kit on the site right now.
Once the new bushings are ready we will begin offering the full kits again. Retrofit kits are still available on the site if you want to run them with an existing Energy kit, as we have yet to receive a report of the cookie cutter issue happening there with our kit.
All original purchasers of the 863 kit who have any issues are encouraged to contact us via email at info@949racing.com.
Anyone with failed bushings will receive the revised bushings at no cost.
The last few weeks have been full of research and development for us. We received 4 reports of the front lower control arm bushings having the flanges cookie-cuttered off. Turns out, this has been a problem with polyurethane bushings from the get go - when this was posted on Facebook several people piped in saying they'd seen normal poly kits from all brands that had done the same thing. It does seem that eliminating the friction in the sleeves exacerbates this issue, as does greasing the outer bore of the bushing when installing them in the control arms. Our instructions now explicitly state *NOT* to grease the outer bore of the polyurethane when installing. That should solve the problem for most people.
When the last batch of poly ran out we decided to make some tweaks to solve this problem. We think we have it sorted but we will share details of the revision once we know it fully resolves the problem. This is the reason you can't buy the full kit on the site right now.
Once the new bushings are ready we will begin offering the full kits again. Retrofit kits are still available on the site if you want to run them with an existing Energy kit, as we have yet to receive a report of the cookie cutter issue happening there with our kit.
All original purchasers of the 863 kit who have any issues are encouraged to contact us via email at info@949racing.com.
Anyone with failed bushings will receive the revised bushings at no cost.
#45
Great to see you guys standing behind your product like this!
Regarding grease and zerks, as commented here before, I really do not understand the purpose. Since all relative movement should occur between the sintered and the steel sleeve, it would not do much. I will be skipping zerks when installing mine.
Regarding grease and zerks, as commented here before, I really do not understand the purpose. Since all relative movement should occur between the sintered and the steel sleeve, it would not do much. I will be skipping zerks when installing mine.
#46
Supporting Vendor
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Lake Forest, CA
Posts: 7,956
Total Cats: 1,008
The purpose of the zerks is to essentially clean the bearings. Pushes a lil grease through to push dust and grit out. Definitely not necessary, that's why they're optional. Occasionally pushing some grease through them should extend the life of the 863 bits.
#50
I guess it's mainly answered on the website too, if i were to use V8R control arms, the bearings would only work for my upper inner bushings since I only replaced the RUCA arms and the V8R arms have an alignment bolt in the knuckle point making it bigger than the standard M8 bolts,correct?
#51
Supporting Vendor
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Lake Forest, CA
Posts: 7,956
Total Cats: 1,008
While you wouldn't be able to use the bushings intended for that position, you could probably use two additional sets of alignment bolt location bushings but you may have to sortof sand down the OD for them to fit (the normal RUCA-O bushings are 38.6mm OD where the alignment locations are 40mm).
#52
Ok, just saw this update. My install is not complete yet, are you going to “fix” the kit customers have already bought . And is the problem only one location (flca) or is this a complete redo. Not panicking , but this install is fairly time consuming. I have not completed the fronts yet , rear is done . Again , thanks for standing behind your product
#58
I understand your normal answer to this type of question is “it’s ready when it’s ready” but I need to do something before early next year, so wanting to get an idea if it’s a few months away or two years away. If the latter then I’ll need to look into other options ..
#59
Supporting Vendor
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Lake Forest, CA
Posts: 7,956
Total Cats: 1,008
Well, we got our latest set of prototypes today. The supplier included one of our drawings in a bag of the bushings... But the bushings don't match the drawing
Today was Friday but it felt a lot more like a Monday.
Hopefully we can get this last proto set corrected and tested, then back to production.
Today was Friday but it felt a lot more like a Monday.
Hopefully we can get this last proto set corrected and tested, then back to production.