What's aftermarket in terms of wheels/suspension components, Nigel?

My feeling would be stiffer shocks, lowered springs, bigger alloys, etc would have an adverse affect on the longevity of the other parts of the steering/suspension system, if only because that extra energy has to transfer to another component down the line.

That said, how many of us run all of the above with no issues at all. Could it be just poor manufactured quality?

Ah sorry Nigel, couldn't see the original photos from my work PC (and presumed it was nut/bolt related)

The standard wishbones brackets are zinc plated aren't they. Would heating them up - and scraping/wirebrushing) damage this coating.

When I fitted my PU bushes I used a normal propane gas torch so not the hottest of hot gas torches. Once the outer bracket was loose-ish I then removed the large end washer and the bracket could be removed. The majority of time heating the wishbone was spent with the bracket already removed.

A thought here: given that the normal wishbone uses a soft(ish) rubber bush, and you've replaced it with a less resilient type, could be that you're shoving a lot more load into the housing which would previously have been absorbed by the flex?

The voice of the devil...

'Mr. Coop - let me introduce you to Mr. Speedhump, Mrs Pothole and millions of their relations spread all over the UK.

They have destroyed BMW alloys and now it's your suspensions' turn .MWAHAHAHAAAAAA !!'

Personally I blame Stan - if only he hadn't claimed preposterous government expenses on Mrs Stan's upkeep there would've been enough funds left to repair our roads

Anyone know a company that would make up wishbones for the coupe? Ideally with a replaceable balljoint and one that could compensate for lowered cars. Could even have spherical bearings rather than bushes if people were uber keen.

Neil - that's my diagnosis too - quite simply, the metal is getting far more shock through the suspension than it was designed for (its also getting far more acceleration force, although I don't think this will have anything to do with it, as a standard Coupe can brake with far more force than any modded Coupe can accelerate)

I think not the load but the rate of change of load; energy which would previously have been converted to heat in the rubber is being passed to the mount in the high frequency spikes. It's flexing the mount, not the flex.

I suspect there's a reason why you will often see solid aluminium blocks being used to clamp this type of flex.

That's the rear mount, yeah? So it's in tension under acceleration, compression during braking, and shear under any suspension movement or steering load. It's the shear that's killing it...

Rose joints are one way of maintaining suspension alignment - get busy with a welder and grow your own adjustable wishbones. Your NVH will be *grim*, though...

The bolt normally just goes into a thread..... in Nigel's pictures you can see how he has used longer bolts and added a nut on the other side. It's very easy to strip the thread - and a locking nut will stop them coming loose anyway.

Hell, if we are going the whole hog with custom made wishbones we could get some adjustable camber on their too - replaceable balljoint with adjustment in/out.

Edit: We could also have spherical mounts on the ARBs too.

You'd need them at both ends. That link doesn't run parallel...

Uprated alloy wishbone bush carriers might be a good idea and probably quite easy to produce.

What did the others look like Nigel when Paul took them off ?

I had been thinking of designing an alloy wishbone bush carrier - easy design - two piece (to save all the grief of pressing the bushes into the mount)

However, the bush mounting is a very close fit with other mechanical bits (driveshafts, I think, or was it bits of engine - can't remember)

Either way, there's not enough room for a chunky machined mounting

All the other mountings were fine - we insected them closely

Looks like it may have been a rogue (or perhaps it came from a pattern wishbone)

Dont know what the state of your engine mounts are, but is there any chance that the drive shaft has been battering hell out of it too?

They run very close to the driveshaft Nigel, when I added an extra bolt to the top of one of my wishbone bolts it would catch and cause a real knocking on acceleration. I still think it's possible with a good design.

So when are you doing the next group buy