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VW/Audi control arm bushing offerings

bostonaudi

Go Kart Champion
Location
Charleston, SC
Car(s)
1995 BMW M3
For your reference, Audi TT on top, Audi S3 in middle, VW GTI on bottom.

Really no need to go aftermarket, you have your choice of stiffness right from the factory. The TT's bushings are considerably stiffer than GTI's, S3 in the middle. Note that the TT's housing was made to be the same for l/r, so you have to press out bushing and install into GTI's if you go that route. GTI/A3/S3 are different l/r.

 
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GodSquadMandrake

Radioactive Rotary Rocket
Location
Minneapolis
Good info boston. For the price of a Whiteline ALK you could just buy the h2sport spherical bearings and that is the only aftermarket upgrade that truly stands out. Otherwise, yeah these TT bushings look very similar.
 

Elwood

3-7-77
Location
Long Beach, CA
The biggest difference is the relation of the installed control arm to the bottom of the car. Each bushing is different. The Whiteline unit is poly and has no resistance to speak of, yet there is a noticeable difference. The back of the control arm is farther from the bottom of the car and the camber is increased.
 

shortwave360

dub junkie
Location
Seattle, WA USA
Car(s)
'08 GTi 6MT
I haven't had a chance to drive on the set up yet, but I did a tt control arm swap with the ALK + front bushings. Rear trailing arm as well.

My plans are to run a fairly aggressive - camber and I am curious if anybody can chime in how much the ALK affects the camber? I hope I can get close to -2.5 or more.
 

GodSquadMandrake

Radioactive Rotary Rocket
Location
Minneapolis
You need camber plates to achieve that. The WALK doesn't affect camber to the best of my knowledge and experience using it. If it did affect it, it's a fraction of a degree.
It was advertised to increase caster however, but not much. It's not even noticeable in the steering wheel and if you've ever tuned caster before you know how much it adds to that rubber band feeling in the steering wheel. So stick to camber plates for your alignment changes.
 

shortwave360

dub junkie
Location
Seattle, WA USA
Car(s)
'08 GTi 6MT
^^^thanks for the reply

I'm basing my info from this thread that I can get up to -1.8 with the audi tt arms. I was hoping the rear mount somehow made a difference on the geometry a bit even further after reading a post above. I really don't think I'll like the look of a -2.5, but I was trying to match front and rear camber while squeezing in a 10" rear wheel which I fear will require more then -1.8 after fender work and tire stretch.
 

GodSquadMandrake

Radioactive Rotary Rocket
Location
Minneapolis
The extra camber with the TT control arms comes from the control arm itself, not just the bushing.

Personally I'd skip it all and just get the spherical bearings. They are the only bushing that is a performance upgrade in the sense that you can see results in lap times. Poly/Rubber/Delrin give a nice road feeling, quicker response, but they won't do anything for lateral G's. In some cases poly especially has negative effects because it's so bouncy like a super ball. So it makes the suspension arm bounce laterally over uneven surfaces, rubber band effect. It just feels like a "wash out" in the driver's seat and you might not even know what it is until you switch to Delrin or just plain steel (spherical bearing).

A great example is the multi-link independent rear suspension in the MKV. If you've ever completely removed the spring, shock and swaybar and tried to move the suspension up and down you'll notice that it binds and gets extremely difficult to move more than a couple inches. You probably did something like this when you were installing coilovers.
Anyway the reason it's so hard to move is because of all the rubber bushings. The suspension arms move in an arc so as the suspension moves up and down the suspension arms are rotating on the mounting point in multiple directions. Like your shoulder or something. Well imagine instead of nice smooth cartilage you had rubber in your shoulder. Your arm would always bounce back to the resting position and the further you tried to move it from there, the harder it would be. That's exactly what is happening with rubber bushings, poly makes the effect much worse.
The negative aspect of this is the lack of sensitivity your suspension now has. Imagine trying to pick up a full glass of water without spilling it using your rubber shouldered arm. You'd still get it, but you'd likely sling water around a bit. The same thing is happening when your suspension is trying to deal with miniscule cracks/bumps in the pavement. Instead of moving .1mm it's moving 1mm and the tire is spending less time in contact with the pavement. That's the benefit of spherical bearings and you can really feel the difference. It doesn't feel like you're trying to put on your shirt with baseball mits anymore, best way to describe it.
 

Gotsol

Ready to race!
Location
Wilmington, NC
great thread as always in this forum.

I like the idea of spherical bushings but the idea of trusting those hog rings to keep my suspension together under load gives me pause. i am quite paranoid though.
 

GodSquadMandrake

Radioactive Rotary Rocket
Location
Minneapolis
Actually those look like wheel bearings! lol. That's a pretty clever idea. Machine some inserts and use cheap off the shelf wheel bearings.
 
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