Replacement suspension components for 348 / 355

Hi guys,

I've been using a local company down here in Oz who have produced suspension bushes for my Lexus sc400 coupes for a few years now. Toyota only sell complete arms so the local manufacturer produced a series of exact replica suspension bushes from the various samples provided, right down to the rubber composition and Duo hardness. Having done 50 000kms on the replacements under a variety of conditions I can certainly attest to the quality. Hundreds of Aussie Lexus coupes have been fitted with the replacement bushes, particularly the lower front control arms which cop a real flogging. Even Toyota dealers are buying them now, knowing that the parent company in Japan can only sell the entire arms!

So this got me to thinking recently about replacement bushes for my Testarossa and other models in the Ferrari line up. When I started looking at the prices from either UK or USA supliers, I near fell off the chair. Some of the suspension bushes run $90 USD per bush and in many cases 4 and even 8 are required. We are talking some serious money to look after your suspension, sway bar linkages and shocker bushes.

Now those of us driving older cars like my Testarossa or any of the 348 / 355 series are sitting in 10 - 15+ year old cars which have been pretty well maintained, regular belt services and the like, but how many blokes on here have changed their suspension bushes?

10+ years of pounding the pavement in all sorts of climatic extremes has to have taken it's toll. Some of these bushes must be either fractured or rock hard by now. I can only imagine what the cars would feel like with nice new, pliable rubbers under them!

So rather than being bent over by the F Pimp, or paying the inflated prices offered by USA or UK parts suppliers (because they get reamed by Ferrari) I wonder how many of you would be interested if suspension kits were offered for the various models and these included all of the required bushes.

Ie: 348 / 355 front suspension kit would include upper and lower wishbone bushes. Upper and lower shocker mount bushes would be in another kit, and sway bar mount rubbers and linkage bushes would be in a third kit. Ditto for the rear of the car.

Given what I've seen, I believe that I could offer these kits for a fraction of the cost of genuine factory bushes which; may or may not; have been sitting in their pretty yellow boxes for years on some dormant shelf in a warehouse in Italy or the UK.

Yes there are a few aftermarket manufacturers offering poly bushes to replace some of our suspension components, but in my experience I've always found poly bushes to be far too hard and transmit unnessesary harshness and noise back through the vehicle. Nothing compares to the rubber bushes as fitted from the factory on day one.

Creatng the bushes is not a simple issue. Samples must be provided, castings made to create the bush 'shells', tests and analysis needs to be performed to determine the factory composition and Duo ratings, and then the bushes must be tested. This takes time and cash, so before I commit to this I need to ask how you guys as the owners, would feel about a quality product such as this being available for your cars. I need to gauge an expression of interest for want of a better term.

If you are like me, then you haven't considered doing your bushes due to the cost of the replacement factory items, but we all must consider how old, hard and tired these components must be now, and how great our cars could be if they were replaced.

Please put up a post with your opinions and your own experiences with crook bushes.