bushes- dealer or spurios/namely firstline?

[liam012]

Given the choice between dealer and Firstline brand
the later being considerably cheaper
what should i go for
i really ned to save some monmey but i dont believe in false economy either
maybe i only HAVE to get some from the dealer and others from firstline or is the quality difference negligable?



on another note if i have 325i trailing arms on my 320i which traailing arm bushes should i get - 320 or 325?!

[M5pilot]

Don't buy either - buy Powerflex - fit and forget. Cheaper than the dealer, easier to fit.

Also, there is no extra harshness unless you use the Subframe bushes.

[JimmyC]

Don't buy either - buy Powerflex - fit and forget. Cheaper than the dealer, easier to fit.

Also, there is no extra harshness unless you use the Subframe bushes.

but avoid the contol arm bushes from powerflex

[M5pilot]

Please explain why.

[JimmyC]

...as I've seeing more and more being thrown, very dangerous and not an isolated case, several and not all on track

I had heard of this before an been advised against them, but thought thats crap, then in the last few months 2 PBMW cars have done them

I'll be removing mine, in favour bmw ones as I cant afford to miss races because of this

[boomer]

...as I've seeing more and more being thrown, very dangerous and not an isolated case, several and not all on track

I'll be removing mine, in favour bmw ones

Exactly which bushes do you mean?

[JimmyC]

Don't buy either - buy Powerflex - fit and forget. Cheaper than the dealer, easier to fit.

Also, there is no extra harshness unless you use the Subframe bushes.

but avoid the contol arm bushes from powerflex

as above ;)

[M5pilot]

Jimmy,

seeing as your basing your advice on fact maybe we should elaborate on this a little further. What kind of failures are talking about here? Bushes splitting, coming out the Bush holder that attaches to the chassis?

If the PF Control Arm bushes are known to fail and possibly cause a dangerous situation then maybe they should be removed from the Zone Shop altogether until Powerflex sort their act out.

I have heard of 1 failure also but only 1.

[JimmyC]

2 PBMW cars have busted them this season, one car newly built this year. Also been told about a few cars that DK looks after that has done the same.

When I bought mine along and started fitting them at his workshop he did advise me against it from his experience.

On the flip though 100s/1000s use them on track, road etc and have been fine????

I guess its personal as to what you or anyone will choose but after a terrible start to the season with engine failures and overheating, i'm eliminating all the weakness I can see.

Maybe OTT??

Drop taffy a line as he has something to do with them, he may be able to pass on more details. I guess it could have been a faulty runof the??

[M5pilot]

Thanks Jimmy,

Atleast people are now aware of the failures and can make up their own minds.

I've spoken to Powerflex about this and they said it may well be down to bad materials in a batch because alot of this has happened quite recently.

Good luck with the racing!

[liam012]

so if powerflex have admitted a bad batch are they willing to say that future batches will be up to scratch? i certainly dont fancy buyig a product that may or may not fall of my car
its either safe and up to scratch or not
which is it?

sorry to sound rude or short but to hear something as blase as " oh they had a bad batch" with no other explanation does nothing for my confidence especially as i am about to spend 200 notes on them....

[M5pilot]

I'm not sending any futher ones out so you'll have to buy them from elsewhere if you want some.

I've already refunded one customer.

It's not something we can exactly go and test without it being a very dangerous test and potentially hazardous to other road users.

They were a good bush until these recent developments.

Will see what I can do on Genuine BMW ones.

[liam012]

Thats a shame
i was hoping you were gona say that the storeis were jus freak incidents...
shouldnt't poerflex really pull them from their site if they really are dangerous?
bizzare....

[JimmyC]

Its only the control arms I've been told about/seen

The rest seem fine, why not get full set less control arm with M3 BMW ones on the control arms?

[JazzMan]

Is the failure restricted to E30's, or have they affect other models E36/E46 for example. It's a very popular change on E46's as the stock bushes fail very soon (mine went at 39k). I do keep a regular eye on everything on the bottom of my car and after 3000k miles everything still looks fine

[M3GTR]

I sell them on my site too and have had one set fail and refunded the customer with the ok from Powerflex. Having said that though, I run them on BOTH of my race cars without any problems. IMHO I think there's been a duff batch go through, as needless to say, I have been keeping a close eye on the ones fitted in the racers and they have been fine. They were fitted two seasons ago presumably from a seperate batch. I do know of the failures DK knows about too though.

Just to add though... as far as I'm aware, it has only ever been the eccentric front wishbone bushes that failed.

[M5pilot]

Must have been a duff batch/materials.

Powerflex have not pulled them from their products nor have they changed the design.

Sal

[Ziggy]

Damn - instead of 'fit & forget', I'm now stuck with 'fit & worry about it'.

[Dan318-is]

well if you fitted them some time ago dude im sure theyl be fine, they seem to have a pretty good reputation elsewhere.

i would love a set of these, but think il be buying the bmw m3 eccentric ones, there is not much choice in terms of polybushes other than powerflex (UK wise) is there

[Templ8e30]

Oh FOOK, I've just fitted a set of these powerflex eccentric wishbone bushes in readiness for a trip to the 'ring.

Bollocks, i'll have to keep a beady eye on these buggers

Cheers,

Iain T