would a strut tower brace help keep them from pushing out?

I dunno, like I keep saying mine got a gap but no noticeable difference in ride/handling and no noise so I really DGAF, but for you guys that are concerned if its a common issue MAYBE you could get the dealer to honor after the 36,000 mile warranty - BUT they are a wear item.

 

Poly FTW!

Over 20k on my BMR mounts, and the gap is the same now as it was after install.

Depending on the road and your driving habits, the rubber ones can fail every 15-20k

 

Thats really interesting that is sits flush now.

 

Well, they don't sit exactly flush, and they are not supposed to (unless she's in the air). There is around a 1/8" gap.

To compare, here's my BMR poly strut bushing gap

 

And they are not a wear item, I dont care what anyone says. This bushing collapssess internally over time.

it is a bad design that needs to be redone and replaced with a correct part that wont fail, or like said do poly like some of us have done.

 

I second that. This is not a wear item. Shock, struts and the like are wear items. These should not need to be replaced every 20K.

 

I just got my G8 and I'm not sure if my bushings are bad or not. However, I recall reading a thread on here a while back about them and the guy recommended a full set of replacement ones. I'm pretty sure he was just talking about the bushings and none of the other related parts.

He basically said even if you got the car brand new and were keeping it bone stock, you should at a minimum replace these parts.

I don't know a ton about working on cars but I have people who can help me install stuff.

I searched and read a few threads about this but couldn't find this specific one. If I wanted to replace all of these with some of the good polyurethane ones like Pedders or something, what all pieces do I need to order?

 

You will need Strut bushings and bearings. Usually the companies will sell these as a set.

Compare your car to the first pics that Speed posted and see how much of a gap you have. Just because you have a gap it doesn't mean that you have problems. Symptoms might be steering wheel shake, slop in the steering wheel or front end noise.

 

My car now has 42K miles on it. At present, I do not have any of the issues that people are talking about with the shakes and such. I did have a shake issue that was corrected when I turned the rotors and replaced the brake pads.

However, I too have a large gap between the body and the bushings, over 1". If I put the car up in the air, the bushing will sit flat to the body and is compressed some. There is about a 1 1/2" total travel from full extended when in the air to level on the ground. That meas there is probably even more of a gap whet it's at full compression, like hard cornering. To say that this is normal wear is incorrect. Also to say that it's OK for a car to have that much "slop" in the bushings is also incorrect.

I'm taking my car back to the dealer today to try and get mine replaced.

I've had other cars with strut type of suspensions and have never seen anything like this in any of them. Nor have I seen anythoing like this in any other type of suspension of cars I've had over the last 35 years.

 

BMR Poly strut mounts at approx 25,000 miles with some spirited driving :gears: Still look the same.

 

BMR Poly strut mounts at approx 25,000 miles with some spirited driving :gears: Still look the same.

Thanks for posting those Shawn. They look good. Nice to know the BMR polys are holding up!

 

Reviving this thread....

I was just inspecting my strut bushings. On level ground, one has more of a gap than the other between the upper strut mount and the bushing itself.

Does anyone know what the torque specs are for the nuts on top of the bushings? I can easily move mine a little with an adjustable wrench but it moves the entire bushing too somewhat.

I will say this...mine look NOTHING like the BMR bushings in this thread. How do I know if they have gone bad?

Mine are the original and I've got about 43K miles on the car now. My dealer has replaced the LCAs with the new and improved versions.

 

I will say this...mine look NOTHING like the BMR bushings in this thread. How do I know if they have gone bad?

If you've got a gap like the first pic, you've got collapsed strut bushings.

If you can fit your little finger between the rubber top and body, you've got collapsed strut bushings.

 

WOW, those are shot!

FYI, all of the bearings (White and Yellow) are made by ACCOR, so find the cheapest price on them.
Absolutely go with Poly mounts over rubber, unless you don't mind replacing them every 20k.

 

Yup - disappointing for sure. I think they have been like that for a very long time too - they look the same as they did at 12,000 miles.

Please take a look at my posted request for repair assistance...just looking for what exactly this entails (whether DIY or better to take to a repair shop/dealer.)

I definitely want the poly BMRs! Thanks for everyone's help.

 

How do these look guys?

I am at 19k miles. Took it in to the dealer and they said it was lower control arms.

 

Yup, those are worn, not shot to crap, but the space is too big. Have them replaced.

 

Also just pulled off my llovel poly mounts after 1 1/2 years and 15k-20k miles. They looked brand new and no cracking or compressing. Also the bearings worked good and where not cracked

so everyone poly is the way to go. Doesn't really matter bmr, llovels, whiteline, superpro, pedders(cannot confirm causethey are actually harder rubber). So buy poly bushings guys

 

I don't think its all account of rubber And by the the way, poly bushes increase the noise and harshness in the car.

I think the reason the rubber bushes fail early is the boat ride over here. basically the springs are blocked, so that the weight of the car is rigid to the bushes. all sea motions are transmitted though the bushes without spring movement and no damping. thus taking life away from the bushes.

The design is not unique. Many strut equipped cars have a similar design. and those rubber bushes last more than 70K.

 

Could worn bushings affect alignment? Had LCA's done and bushings are showing some wear. Car has slight pull to the left with 28,100 miles.

 

Well, you are describing my situation almost exactly! New and improved lcas installed at around 36k and in spite of alignment immediately was pulling to the left as I drove away from the dealership. Odd. Now I have 44k miles and I am pursuing it with the dealer who thinks he can get gm to pay for my bad and collapsed strut bushings. I feel the car can not be aligned properly with collapsed bushings and would at least partially explain the pulling to the left.

I am hoping that the tech will recognize the bad bushings from visual inspection (that they should be flush with no gap between the metal and the bushings.)

Car goes back to the dealer next week to see if they can help me out. So far, my dealer has been good and has worked on my car extensively to try to fix all the front suspect probs. An ex gratis repair ofnthe bad bushings would certainly make me happy especially if my issues go away!

 

i replaced my arms and bushings and the car pulls to the left. trying to find an alignment shop.

 

Body shops are typically a good place to get an alignment. They know what they're doing.

 

As part of the TSB, an alignment is suppose to be done on GM's dime.

 

A lot of body shops sublet their wheel alignments out. I've always believed that corvette dealerships have good wheel alignment techs.

 

I would suggest watching them align your car, I supervise all work on my G8.

Never hurts to double check someones work.

 

It looks like the mighty Camaro ZL1 will have the same issue.

 

Or that ZL1 is not sitting on flat, level ground and/or that ZL1 is a test mule and has been beaten to death.

 

Some alignment shops are outright thieves. (I guess I should say some of their techs are thieves since people are people & one bad tech does not necessarily make a bad shop)

We had a customer come in to our Dealership after having an alignment done at an alignment shop. (at the time I didn't know he had just had an alignment done) He said he wanted 4 new tires, so I priced him out a set of 4. We had the best price so he gave us the business & I ordered the tires... When he returned to have the tires installed I did a walk around on his car. I told him the tires appeared to be in really good shape (tread wise at least) and that I didn't think they needed replacing, unless of course there was some damage on the inner sidewall or inner carcass that I was unaware of. He said no, no damage, just that the vehicle was pulling to the left. I then suggested a wheel alignment, but he said he had just had one done at an alignment shop but it did not solve the problem so the alignment place recommended tires. I said O.K., if you'd like us to just install the new tires with out diagnosing the problem, we can do that...but tires are non returnable once mounted on rims & that you would still have to pay us for them & the install even if it did not correct the problem. He said yes, that is what I want you to do, just install the tires.
Well at that point I said O.K. I made sure to drive the car before & after the tire installation. The pull was just as bad after the tires as it was before the tires were installed. I called the customer & asked him if he would like our alignment tech to look into the problem or if he wanted to take it back to the alignment shop that worked on it previously. He gave us the O.K. to look at the car further. We found the alignment was way out of spec on one side. When we tried to make the necessary adjustments to the lf tie rod we were unable to. The tie rod was seized in place. It was a fairly old vehicle with about 300000km on it. The owner did not want to replace the part because of the age of the vehicle. He asked us if there was anything else we could do. Our tech advised that he could try to heat it up with a torch and try to brake it free in order to make the necessary adjustment. The customer gave us the O.K. & we were able to free it up (at no extra charge) & correct the alignment. I drove the car one last time just to make sure!! Afterward & during our previous phone conversations I asked the customer if he had the alignment print out from the previous shop, (as it was obvious that they never really did a proper alignment, if anything at all!) He said he was not given a print out. We of course gave him a print out after we were done which showed the before & after specs. I suggested that he take it to the alignment shop & ask for his money back since they not only didn't do an alignment, but also cost him a bunch of money on new tires that he did not need. The customer said he wasn't going to bother...I felt like going there for him & tearing a strip off of them!!

 

Here are mine @ 33K

 

Or it's all normal & that's what they look like new??

 

I just replaced my stock shocks/springs with a Pedders/SLP set up at 30k miles. I also changed out my strut bushings with upgraded ones after reading all the stories about collapsed bushings. Much to my surprise they were fine upon dissasembly. Just my experience.