Winter Project - Suspension Upgrade

[S.hafsmo]

That's the major issue with urethane stuff. Not as great as the ads imply.
Is it even possible to aquire stock rubber bushes these days?

I'd love to give my suspension a similar treatment as you've given your's, but I really don't want to install urethane.

[Jagdpanzer]

This time around with 3/8” hard neoprene rubber
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[secondchance]

Looks great!

[dredgeguy]

Nice, does this mean we are going to add this to the Wazoo assembly line in addition to the 427?

[Jagdpanzer]

Sure, why not


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[Jagdpanzer]

Gorgeous weather today so took the Z out for and extended drive.
SuperPro bushings performed just as I had hope. Quite firm but not harsh like the hard urethane bushings I had in before. And best of all no squeaks.


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[Jagdpanzer]

DR trailing arm bracket mounting holes are not offset drilled like the stock brackets. This resulted in the upper dog bone bolts rubbing inner sidewalk of the larger 345/30ZR19 tires I’m running.
Solved the problem by re-drilling the bracket mounting holes the same as the stock brackets and changing out the stock 12mm forward dog bone bolts to these low profile 1/2” button head bolts.
Plenty of clearance now even with the suspension fully bottomed out.


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[Jagdpanzer]

Final chapter in this project was wheel alignment and tire balancing.
I’m a big fan of road-force tire balancing and modern laser wheel alignment. Hunter Engineering is a leader in equipment for performing both of these tasks so I went on their website to find a local shop.
Much to my surprise I found a shop just a couple of miles from me in Northern Virginia. They opened last year with and have the latest Hunter machines. The shop is Craftsman Auto located at 11611 Lee Highway.
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Turns out this shop is run by the Curry Family who used to run several shops in Northern Virginia under the name of Curry’s Auto before being bought out by the Mr. Tire chain ten years ago. The old Curry shops were the best around for car us nuts. Unfortunately Mr Tire had a different business model.
My experience today at Craftsman was excellent.
Their alignment specialist Reggie align the wheels perfectly to the custom specs I gave them.
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and Drew performed an expert tire balancing with their Hunter Elite Road Force machine.
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With the SuperPro bushings the car drives better than it ever has. I highly recommend this shop for anyone looking for expert four wheel alignment and road force tire balancing.



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[JSad]

Great write up and follow up. Sounds like this may be next winter's project for me.

[secondchance]

Thanks Phil! I’m so glad that you found a shop that takes work seriously close to where we live.