Active toe in the rear!, poly bushings already crapping out... Options

[cha914]

So I have the car up in the air dealing with the oil as usual, and I happen to lean on the inside of one of the rear tires and I hear a sucking sound as the control arm moves about a 1/8th inch...hmmm...check both the large nuts and they are both tight as they should be.

DAMN...it seems that the inside bushings on BOTH control arms have failed. They both move about 1/8th inch (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/icon8.gif)

Now, I know these wern't the best solution, but I expected them to last more than 4000miles...I do have a pretty agressive alignment -2* camber and 0 toe in the rear, but I am still on street tires, and almost all the driving I have done has been on the street maybe 3 autox's...

I grooved the bushings for grease on the inside, and I reamed them out so that they would fit snugly but not have to be pressed on...and I also checked to be sure that I shaved the outer edge down so I wouldn't get the wallow effect I have seen posted here so many times...however, it seems that none of this mattered because its been maybe 4K street miles and I now have the neato active toe...

Sooooo...I know the real answer is to go to the muller bearings, but in the case that I can't get that kinda scratch together, did I do something wrong in the prep of these bushings, or do they just not last more than 4k miles?

It seems like the inside of the bushing has been wallowed out, so that the control arm is moving around the center rod, the rod doesn't seem to be moving, but I know that is a dangerous assumption. I also find it strange that both sides have failed in the same way, at the same time...I guess I was consistant in whatever I did wrong (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/headbang.gif)

Any thoughts, comments welcome...

Tony

[cha914]

QUOTE

are you sure that the thru hole for the 14mm threaded portion of the shaft is not oblong??

As of a year ago they were not oblong...and right now its definately the bushing that is moving not the center rod...I have been dreading pulling off that nut to see if the hole is now oblong...I hope I have caught this early enough, i am sure if I let it go, it would make the hole oblong.

QUOTE

Ayup, I posted some pics a while back showing plastic deformation of poly graphite rear bushings a while back. As far as I'm concerned, cutting lube grooves just makes it worse......more room for the material to flow. Mine were in there for 2-3 years with no grooves...but still toast.

I guess thats what happened, the grooves just sped the process, I will know for sure once I pull the things back apart (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/mad.gif)

You said yours lasted 2-3 years, but if you didn't grove them were you having the standard "stiction" issues?

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Muller bearing= end of problem. Dunno the longevity of them, tho.

I eventually want to run full muller bearings, but I need to actually get some use outa the current setup before I go drop another 800 bucks on it, right now the next 400 bucks is going into tires, or I will never get this car on a track and might as well sell the damn thing...