Please forgive me for i have sinned!!

[Timmo]

Guys, i am whole fully Sorry for not reaping the wondrous advice given here and fitting Cheap bushes and ball joints!
4 months they have lasted, thought something was amiss when driving it on the weekend in the rain, - Mrs has used it more but am not at all surprised she noticed nothing! the front bushings had Completely died, the inner sleeve freely came out of both, meaning when fitted the front wheel had about an inch of play in it!
the rears had split the rubber in a couple of places on both sides of both bushes, the ball joints were very floppy loose and all in 1500miles, - i do think the reversing up the concrete ramp onto the driveway does add somewhat of stress to the fronts, but the old ones were nowhere near as bad as these!!

i have now ordered a pair of lemforder bushes for the fronts(ordered yesterday and should be here today), febi/bilstein for the back of the arms and a pair of lemforder ball joints, should be here on Thursday,
then its back together ready for Mrs to take it tho somerset on the weekend,

Lesson well and truly learnt,






now, Does anyone have a angle for fitment for the rear bushes??........................

[c.morewood]

Caught me out the first time as well Timmo. Here's my post together with a very useful angle diagram from Mandrake.
http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... =3&t=39357" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Good Luck.

[Timmo]

Thats great, picture saved! Will try and line it up on the bench and mark them so to get it close as!!
UPS lady has just come! Left the depot at 07:15 in bodmin! Think she does the whole county now! :-O

[Old-Guy]

I'm sure correct bush alignment is absolutely crucial to a reasonable life: the Green Lady is, as far as I know, still on her factory originals at 114,000+, certainly not been touched in the last 8 years, 47,000 miles. I have a bill for a new O/S/F lower arm on the VSX in April 2011, the small (front) bush knackered by June 2013, 2,187 miles later, failed MoT immediately after buying it! Unmissable on the test drive!

Exactly the same failure mode as above - inner sleeve torn out of rubber bush which then rapidly disintegrates. Almost certainly because the through-bolt was tightened with the suspension on full droop - thus the bush is constantly twisted in one direction only and through something like twice the intended angles. In which case, Citaerobics undoubtedly hastens bush failure!

[CitroJim]

I'm sure correct bush alignment is absolutely crucial to a reasonable life

Yes it is.. I keep a pair of template wishbones just for that... They are good in themselves and could be fitted but I find them vital for lining up new P bushes. Pictures never do it for me...

[Timmo]

I think a fair few of the issues with the bushes were other than buying cheap, due to throwing it back together! The Driver side p bush was much better condition that the passenger and that one was at a much more close to where it should be angle, but this time I will be a lot more cautious about refitting,
I am tempted to see if they still have the french p1 down the road and grabbing the arms from it as a spare set so am not left without the car for a few days!

[Timmo]

All back together again! UPS lady delivered the bushes and ball joints at 10-5! Wasnt allowed out to play straight off as tea was ready, but got out at 1/4 to 6, put the bushes on, tools round, ball joints in, arms on, left the front bolts until was sat at normal height, Biggest PITA was without question the drivers side ball joint! Ended up having to get one ramp out, drive it upto get enough weight on it to stop it spinning! But its All done and hopefully will stay that way for a while now!