The Cal-look Lounge

my buddy went for an IRS conversion, so i practically got his Sway A Way adjustable spring plates for almost nothing.

also got a set of new blue colour "semi urethane??" sprong plate bushings from him, these arent as hard as the red ones.

thinking of getting these http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=288453  when i install the spring plates.

(http://images.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/pix/1079840.jpg)

what do you all think? worth spending the extra money or i should just use the stock ones instead?

anyone?

don't know about the blue eurathane but those retainers you pictured are great. what are you using the car for? I personally still run stock retainers with red eurathane and they work fine. If you plan to launch the car alot jay cee retainers would be better but then so would the spring plates you have and some 28mm torsion bars and adjustible rear shocks and some sort of engine support and or frame horn support.

All I've heard is that the solid retainers are not recommended for road use. A friend who used to A-frame his car to race meetings used to take his off and replace with stock before towing.

thanks, it will be a 99% road car, so i guess will stay with stock now and save the $$.

the blue torsion bar bush are sold by Topline, they call it graphite impregnated something, iusing them on another car now, the hardness is in between the stock rubber and red polyurethanes.

Ignore the no-squeak claims. If you run urethane bushings do yourself a huge favor and get yourself one of these tubes:

(http://static.summitracing.com/global/images/prod/large/PTP-19-1751_HH.jpg)
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PTP-19-1751/ (http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PTP-19-1751/)

That's the same stuff that the bushing people send but in sufficient capacity to actually coat a bushing so it won't squeak. Don't EVER use petroleum-based (synthetic is also petro based) lubrication on urethane bushings. It acts as a solvent and decomposes the bushings and won't prevent the bushings from squeaking either (dumb experience talking here). The dedicated bushing grease will prevent them from squeaking forever...if you use enough.

If you run the Topline bushings tell us how they work. The durometer that most bushing makers use minimizes deflection but at the cost of noise, vibration, and harshness. I'd be game for softer-durometer urethane bushings if they did the job well without making the car miserable. 

great info. thanks.

the Topline softer durometer bushings have been in my car for over 2 years now, they seem fine so far, but then my car is very rarely driven. they are definately firmer than stock rubber but not as hard as the red ones.  installation wasnt hard and i dint have to do any grinding. yes i used those grease supplied by them, tiny tubes. i used them all. i would definately use these bushings again.

I use the Jaycee plates. Love them. I do recommend using the inner bushings as a dampener. I like the OG ones or Wolfsberg West with synthetic grease all over.

Its a shame that someone does'nt do a set up like the elephant racing, that is available for porsches.  http://www.elephantracing.com/

I think even a jaycee with a sprial grove, a grease nipple and seals would be cool. 

Was thinking about the grease nipple as well. Possible to mod the stock plates to accept grease nipples?

no need for grease nipples. The silicone grease does the job permanently. The bushings that I installed YEARS ago in my daily-driver 380,000-mile T0yota pickup have the same sili grease. They don't squeak.

I don't even think you could jam the silicone grease through fittings and into an assembled bushing even if they were grooved. It's in a tube for a grease gun but the stuff is thick like cold butter.

And don't ever use conventional or synthetic grease on urethane. Conventional and synthetic oils are solvents for plastics. They WILL break the plastic down. Experience talking here.

I was not talking about grease nipples in urethane, please read my post again and links. thanks