RE: Rubber Components

[Richard Brake <richard.brake@domain.elided>]

	Adding my two penn'erth my Mk 1 Saloon a "Barb" (not an
"Innsbruck") has had polyurethane bushes for the last 41/2 years. This
car is in daily use 12 - 60 miles a day and has done two "Round Britain
Runs". I've not had any bush or suspension component failures since
then. I'm not sure of the total mileage but it's somewhere around 40,000
miles.

	I have got through two manual re-con steering racks, I put this
down to increased load and/or poor quality reconditioned components.

	The only other failure I've had was when the nut on top of the
Koni strut came undone (the nut was too deep), meaning the nylock wasn't
on the threads! This caused the side of the car to collapse, most
embarrassing. 

	Next I want a set of Chris Witor's Strut mounts with the
ball-bearings. Must be better than those teflon coated washers.

Richard  Brake
richard.brake@domain.elided


	Everyone who tries them seems to agree on this, the polyurethane
bushes seem
	to work particularly well with the Stag set-up (also the similar
Insbruck
	cars). I'm putting them on my own car at the moment in the
course of its
	restoration. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who installed
them
	sufficiently long ago to have clocked up significant mileage too
see if
	there was any longer term wear, but I would expect anything
significant.