Front Suspension Bushing Replacement (OE or Aftermarket?)

Hey Everyone,

I've made a handful of posts on here, but I've been waiting to formally introduce myself until I have my car fully sorted. I'm nearing the 10 month mark right now. I'll tell my full story soon. Long story short, I overpaid for a car . . . and have spent 10 months and over $35,000 bringing the car back to the state it deserves to be in. This next repair blows me past the 6 figure investment in this car, but I very much want y'all's advice here at this stage (and, I did search previous threads without finding what I was looking for - including on that long one that turned into a discussion of spring rates and shock mounts):

I was putting new tires on it, and we noticed there was play in the left wheel . . . and, we saw a bushing that was blown out. I took the car to James Patterson @ Norwood Performance to give the front end a full review. All joints and everything for the most part look pretty good, however all four bushings on both sides pretty well need to be replaced. They look like the OEM ones from 1997 with most pretty catastrophically blown - particularly on the left side (driver's side).

Obviously, these parts are very expensive, and I don't mind spending the money here . . . hell, I'm in this far and might as well do it correctly. The job with replacing all 8 bushings (4 per side), the labor, and a 4-wheel alignment comes to around a $3K plus or minus job. Hopefully having all these new bushings will last quite a while going forward.

My question to you all is about aftermarket solutions like Energy Suspension bushings here. They are less expensive and would likely be tighter, but do they really wreck ride quality and take away from what you want out of a 550 - grand touring? Does anyone have any opinions or experiences with these? Are they better than OEM ones, do they last longer? Do they perform better? Is the ride quality prohibitively degrading? Hypothetically, if a car is offered for resale - is having aftermarket suspension bushings a negative?

Any advice/feedback here would be appreciated. Thanks in advance, guys.

 

Thanks so much for the feedback. Let me clarify. The estimate is as follows:

$329.31 for a 4 Wheel Alignment.
4 Pcs. of #169326 @ $280.6775 ea.
4 Pcs. of #163038 @ $166.95 ea.

Then, the labor is 7 hours @ $108.00 ea. complete. After 6% shop fees ($45.86) and 8.25% for tax ($151.46), it comes to $3,072.64. Yes, it sounds steep - but sounds like mostly a parts job.

 

It's hyper expensive, and I was hoping I would find a non-OEM solution that was just as good, but it doesn't look like I will.

As for the labor and the quote from the shop - I do trust James Patterson/Norwood Performance to be giving me a fair deal. They have a solid reputation, and he's just been an overall good guy to work with. I don't doubt that 7 hours is fair, for sure. Just a rough go at parts pricing . . .

 

First of all, folks . . . thanks. Based on the advice, tips, and discussion here - I agree with you guys that I should not consider the polyurethane bushings from Energy Suspension, as they would take away from the Grand Touring feel of the car. I also agree that $1,800 (USD) or thereabouts is an outrageous amount to pay Ferrari for these components.

I appreciate the link to Superformance U.K. and ordered these parts this past Wednesday, and to my surprise . . . they already arrived today (Saturday) in Texas. The bill including shipping was less than $400 (USD). So, that is quite a savings in parts. And yes, I am willing to be a guinea pig and post my experience/results to return the favor to F-Chat members who may be in a similar dilemma down the line.

For the parts I ordered: First, the smaller of the bushings looked fantastic. All of them - all around. The larger of the two types had surface corrosion (right out of the bag) near the top (on 3 of the 4). They specifically advertise that the parts are zinc plated to avoid this, and I was a bit surprised. But, then I even noticed that on their website, the sample part shows evidence of that:

http://www.superformance.co.uk/a-v12m/suspension.htm - Click the picture for the #169326, and look at the strip above the rubber on the bottom. It already shows corrosion there on their sample picture. Two of the four I got are MUCH worse than this, spreading past that surface. Is this normal? Should I protest and send these back, wait for replacements, or is it normal and it should be O.K. with just a solid cleaning? Weird, right? What do you guys think here? On Ricambi's website, there is no picture for the part . . .

 

Attached are 3 pictures of the bushings (larger) I consider to have questionable/excessive corrosion, one picture of one that appears good, and one picture of the good small bushing (of which all were good). Your feedback is appreciated, thanks!
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Thanks, John. I e-Mailed Superformance, and I will await their response and follow up with a phone call Monday morning. They've been nice to deal with, and I suspect they'll make it right. I'll be sure to let you guys know!

Again, I can't thank all of you enough for your advice and help here.

 

Alrighty, I wanted to follow through and update everyone.

Last Monday (9/17/12) A.M., I called Superformance to follow up to my e-Mail, and they said they would send me 3 replacements. They asked me to send back the defective ones, which is quite a pain given that it is overseas - but, I understand (so they can reject it to their supplier).

The replacement bushings arrived yesterday (9/24/12 around noon). I dropped them by Norwood Performance, and he had already changed the "uppers," and he just had to do these. They finished them up that day, and this morning they did the alignment, along with a couple other minor things (adjusting a carpet piece that was pulled, replacing a couple wheel center caps, etc.).

The car drives very well (since I did the front tires about the same time as the new control arm bushings - it's like I got a new car!).

The real test will be how these bushings hold up, and I'll be sure they are checked at my annual services, take pics., and try to keep you guys updated. I'm happy to be the guinea pig.

All said and done, I am pleased with the price paid for the work:

http://personal.lilviv.com/images/stories/user_added/motoring/550maranello/service/20120912_frontcabushings_all_vscaps.pdf - The Parts From Superformance (8 Front Control Arm Bushings and 6 Valve Stem Caps). This is in British Pounds. I believe this translated to $414.94 in USD after foreign transaction fees.

http://personal.lilviv.com/images/stories/user_added/motoring/550maranello/service/20120925_frontcabushings_alignment_misc.pdf - The Bill From Norwood Performance. Labor and Alignment.

Looks like I spent right around $1,500 (USD). This was about half as expected when I was looking at using OEM parts from Ricambi.

Thanks again to everyone for the advice.

 

For the sake of keeping the thread up - I sent a copy of the receipt to Superformance for the $21.xx I incurred to ship the bushings back (the cheapest way possible), and she seemed receptive to showing a credit in my account there. I asked that once they are received, they simply credit me the shipping costs. They seemed receptive to that.

Also, I took the car on a 185 mile drive yesterday (including some very high speed blasts and twisties), and the car performed wonderfully. Between these bushings and new tires at the same time, it's like I got a new car. So, the bushings seem to perform well.

In the future, I will likely replace the rear bushings and then do the dreaded shock mounts all around with all new shocks - wish list. I mentioned this plan to one of my friends, and he simply replied with, "Do you just hate money or what?" Haha, sigh.

 

Hey Guys, I just wanted to follow up and update everyone here. One thing I was concerned about when I put these new bushings on was longevity. Are they going to hold up alright or fall apart right away?

To offer one more data point, it's been 21 months and about 3,300 very spirited miles on the car . . . and today, when I had the wheels off to be spin balanced, I took a very close look at all bushings. They look fantastic (and, the car obviously still drives fantastically).

Boy, after being off to a very rough start with this car in the first year and spending tens of thousands of dollars bringing it up to my standards, it has really treated me well the last couple of years. I don't want to say this too loud because I fear the car will hear me, but I went annual service to annual service with no unexpected issues this last time around. Loving this car!