Bushing scare?

[ProwlerGT]

Most of the POLY bushing kits are no longer available at 3SX.... and I just talked to Rockville Mitsu about my bushings order and there are some that are discontinued - IE:
MIT MB663346 *COVER,RR SUSP UPR ARM BALL JOINT

and some that are on national back-order not due until December. Probably not a big crisis for most, but this seems to indicate to me that perhaps we're approaching a point in time in which these types of parts are getting harder to find. Does anyone else know of ANYONE that sells bushings for our cars?

[ProwlerGT]

Guess its not too scary. LOL - Lately it seems like I'm talking a lot to myself in the threads.

[bluemax_1]

I was interested in getting the complete Stedebani poly bushing kit and asked JeremyC about them (he initially had a group Buy a few years ago). perhaps if there's enough interest (and Stedebani will still make them for us) we could set up another GB?

I can't remember what the laws were but it might be something like spare parts must be available for 15 years after the car is out of production? Seems a bit early to me but the 15 yrs might be incorrect.


Max

[Sephiroth]

I'd be intrested in complete poly bushings as long as they aren't as much as they are on 3sx.

[yellowgto]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

I'd be intrested in complete poly bushings as long as they aren't as much as they are on 3sx.

Agreed. Bushings just aren't that expensive to make. Granted, there is a reasonable amount of work involved in getting the specs for them initially, so I guess any company that would be interested in making a bushing kit for us, would probably want to make sure there was a decent market for them first.

[3000GT_Dave]

A Mitsubishi dealership is the only place that I know of to get them at...but it looks like you have already tried that.

[ProwlerGT]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

I'd be intrested in complete poly bushings as long as they aren't as much as they are on 3sx.

I agree with that completely. The bushings are waaaaay high priced. I dunno if thats just "profit" or if they really need to be charging that high. The only thing that bothers me is the squeaking complaints I've heard about polys, but on the flip side if people would lube their bushings as often as necessary then it probably wouldn't be an issue. Although for the polys you'd have to have lube fittings pressed in in order to lube them right. I wish someone else would get the specs going and make us a kit. I'd settle for a RUBBER bushing set from a 3rd party if it was available too.

The Mitsu dealership can get the most common bushings, no problem, but I was looking to replace ALL rubber down below. Apparently I'm guessing here that because certain rubber pieces weren't available that they don't get ordered, go bad, or both that much so thats why they aren't available.

[bluemax_1]

Stedebani made a full poly bushing kit for 3/S's. JeremyC had a group buy for them a few years ago. I think that's where 3SX got theirs from but the original GB price was of course half (or less than) the price of the full set from 3SX.


Max

[ProwlerGT]

Originally Posted by bluemax_1

Stedebani made a full poly bushing kit for 3/S's. JeremyC had a group buy for them a few years ago. I think that's where 3SX got theirs from but the original GB price was of course half (or less than) the price of the full set from 3SX.


Max

Thats the whole problem. People don't pay attention to their bushings and furthermore unless you live in a really bad road area you probably don't hear the squeaking or notice the loss of performance. So as long as that attitude remains the same I don't think we'll see any other 3rd parties manufacturing bushings. It would be amazing to see a big push from the community for bushing sets and for another reason that putting them on (all the way around) is a real pain in the ass. Meanwhile 3SX has everyone by the ball$.

[bluemax_1]

Considering the fact that replacing worn rubber bushings with stiffer poly ones can improve handling, maybe Phil (Supercar Engineering) might look into this.


Max