Control Arm Bushing Replacement???

I went out with the tech at the dealer the other day and he thinks it is coming from the lower control arm bushings. It won't be under Power Normal warranty because it is considered wear item. He mentioned it is a common problem and seen about 5-6 cars with same issue with some cars only has 5k miles. I'm gonna ask around local indy shops in next few days for the replacements.

Once I make sure my drop links are not the source of the noise, I'm doing the same thing copying you, Rad

 

I could personally give a rats-@$$ what Ferrari recommends or says regarding my car. They are in the bidness of making their company money so they can race F1. Once they don't have a specific written contract to fall back on, I wouldn't presume any goodwill at all. Get it back, have it checked out by an indy and replace or enjoy it. I personally don't trust a tech at any dealership. Wait and see what they say in the future when I convert a 458 to manual.

 

Hysol? That is a structural bonding adhesive. Where is that being used around ball joints?

 

The ball joint is pressed in with a special tool, and hysol holds it tight even more, and there are two clips (upper and lower) to center the ball joint in the UCA or LCA.

I got a spare kit from Ricambi as these are maintenance items. Hill Engineering produces higher quality parts than the OEM Ferrari, so as these things get replaced with H.E. parts I would expect a longer lifetime on the replaced part.

It is not like we drive these cars 30,000 miles/year, so with my current usage, the replacement cycle on these monoball bearing might exceed 4-6 years.

I would rather have these monoball bearing, than the crappy rubber bushings on most so called sport cars.

 

The procedure specifies bonding the Hill units into the arm with it. The reason I didn't do it myself on my car is I was having trouble finding the Hysol in a sane quantity and I had the car into Competizione for other work at the time. Richard and Fernando took care of it.

Yes I had the same knocking over bumps and it was the front lower ball joints.

 

this thread is an interesting illustation of another thread I've been recently posting to, but i digress...

with regard to the ball joints, couldn't the OP just jack up the car with a floor jack, grab one the front wheels firmly at 12 and 6 o'clock, and then try to move the wheel in and out to see if any play is felt? if the lower joints are worn, they should reveal themselves like this.

if the upper joints are worn, he could probably feel it with the car on the ground (no jack at all). probably grabbing the tire at 10 and 2 o'clock and just trying to pull/push really hard should reveal if there is any play/movement. it should be tight as a drum, right?

 

Hey Rad hope you are doing well! I'm still racing the zo6 but itching to track the 550 too. Anyway, I wish someone knew the mechanics of the hysol. Pressing in bj's without glue is standard in the industry. Hysol is good to 350*f. Cheap and easy to find loctite 271 has a higher heat range and might do similar. I can't imagine the hysol really doing much over the friction fit but I'm no engineer. I really wonder what the engineering thinking was on that choice except to be typically Ferrari. Hysol seems like a real burden like the used of the special grease in the Ferrari flywheel packs.

 

I will have plenty of Hysol (in Sempak dispensers) arriving on Aug 1. We will list it on the site as soon as its in stock.

It has been on order since June 1. Yes -- the leadtime is that long in the quantities we need.

 

Things are good. I'm seriously thinking on getting a C5Z06 track car, a T1 car, their prices are very tempting, use it to geta CR license and play with SCCA/NASA on a budget.

Agree on the hysol thingy, I did some research on an equivalent product, but there are missing details on the specs, so did not want to re-invent the wheel and got the same stuff, a ball joint is a critical part of the suspension, I won't mess around trying something different.

550 and track, not recommended, it is too nice of a car to track it.

 

We now have the Hysol in stock, in 50ml Sempak sizes:

http://www.ricambiamerica.com/product_info.php?products_id=349815

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How do you tell if the bushings are bad??