hi can any one help me i am new to multipla and have seen load of questions regarding drop links solving the problem of clonking over bumps, so i decided to change them, but on doing this i noticed that the anti roll bar had a fair bit of play horizontaly through the bushes and a very small amount up and down is this normal?, if not i have heard that you can only buy the bar complete and not just the bushes is this correct.
thanks

Hi Milly, there are quite a lot of threads on this subject on the forum. I am fairly sure the bushes are not sold separately from the bar as they are bonded on. If there is free play in the bushtobar, you could try a quick fix of insulation tape around the bar. Its only a temporary fix and you will need a new bar in the end.

Hello Milly/Fugly

There is no doubt about it, the bushes are integral to the anti-roll bar. Unfortunately you can't just replace the bushes.

Whilst the wearing of these bushes isn't making your Multi unsafe, and I am lead to believe it's not even an MOT issue, you really need to get the bar replaced.

Mine's currently being done. It's about £90 for the bar, and an hours labour. plus VAT of course. So I'm looking forward to quiet bumps in the New Year!

Hope that helps

Thanks

Pete

Hi, just happened to be browsing and read your post.
I was also told by Fiat that you would have to purchase the whole anti-roll bar (£110). Decided to just fit the drop links, whilst at my local motor factor I asked them about the bushes. to my surprise they stocked them @ £10.30 + vat each.
I fitted the drop links myself but unable to fit the bushes as I could not separate the carriers.
I took the vehicle (Molly, kid's named her) to a local garage (not fiat dealer) who charged me £30/£40 to do the job, it took them under an hour.
I asked them why I was unable to separate the carriers. they told me that they were tack welded together, they ground off the weld. Next time they need to be changed I should be able to do them myself. I did the work back in April this year, it certainly stopped the knocking.
Hope this helps.
Bob

Thanks bob, I will investigate this as mine need doing badly.

Alec (Fugly)

Hello

Anti-roll bar replaced, and now no clonks. But now that I'm not distracted by the clonk, my attention turns to the annoying rattles from within the dash!

But at least it doesn't sound like the suspension is about to fall off anymore.

thanks for all the help can trebort help me with where he go te bushes from as its getting that bad ime driving in the middle of the road jus to avoid grate covers im doing the brekes to day so might try the tape bodge just to put me on, thank again for the help this is a top forum.

Been there, done that...
I tried to replace the bushes myself and found that they were bonded strongly to the roll bar anyway, so I forced some large nails in the bushes to expand them and take away the slack of the rubber, very very crude but this worked for a while. So because I had determined the source of the very annoying knocks, I decided to fit a brand new £120 roll bar anyway. It was an absolute b*gger of a job to fit due to the clearances and the bendy shape of the roll bar. Glad I did it as it drove much more smoothly afterwards.

OK, I have taken the anti roll bar off, and the clonks have gone, all I have to do is find some bushes, and put it back together.

To dismantle.
Jack up reasonably high (you'll see why later)
Undo the nuts on the drop links. Easier said than done, the hex in the middle was OK for a few turns and then stripped, so I ended up drilling them out.
take the screws out that hold the a-r bar bush brackets to the 'chassis'
Pull the bar out one side until you get move the other end backwards between the 'chassis' and the floor, then extract it that way.
I gave up trying to pull it all the way out at the side.
The reason for jacking it high was that to get the bar out I had to take the end of it underneath the brake dsic and when it wasn't jacked high enough ift wouldn't get out.

Splitting the brackets that hold the bushes.

Hold the bracket in a vice and put a bolster chisel between the 2 parts of the bracket. Hit bolster with hammer, 2 parts ping apart.
I was expecting to have to beat 9 shades out of it to undo the joint, but I would say that I only used about 2/10 on my hammer hitting scale (where 10 is a 2lb sledge hammer swung as hard as possible).
The 2 halves are only lightly swaged together which is why they come apart so easily.
Clean up the remain of the swaged part using a file so that the 2 parts fit together nicely.
There were no signs of the bushes being bonded to the bar, but maybe that was because the boding had come undone and the bushes had worn them selves loose??

Bushes. My motor factor has them listed in th eparts bok, but has had trouble getting them, so I've left him working on it.
I'll report back if I find the any more info.

If anyone has got hold of some, please post the part no's/supplier here!

John

My afterthought on the above is that, now I know how the 2 metal parts of the bracket are held together, that it may be possible to get the old bushes out thus -

Loosen the screws that hold the anti roll bush brackets a little - maybe one turn and then use a bolster to split them apart. If necessary, loosen the screws a bit more, and tap/lever the brackets apart further until they split open - you've then got it apart without taking the a-r- bar out.

Warning note; it's possible that doing this you could damage the threads on the screws as you use the hammer and bolster as the screws are poushes against the sides of the holes through the 'chassis', which is why I suggest only undoing the screws the minumum amount.

If you manage to do it, please report back.

Of course having taken mine apart, the next time I need to replace the bushes I will be able to do it by just unscreing the backets, taking the bushes out and putting the new ones in!

John

superflex sell a selection of generic polyurethane bushes for ARB's, that fitted onto the cinq/sei at least. Maybe worth a look at their site?

Kristian

edit

http://www.superflex.co.uk/antirollbarmounts.php

Milly,
I purchased my bushes from a local motor factors PCS, they are situated in Clay Cross, Derbyshire. Tel 01246 250999.
The part number on my invoice is PWN PB4532 price in April £10.30 + vat each.
Hope this helps.
Bob

OK, further enquiries show that PWN PB4532 is the part number for Marea a-r bushes, which are no longer available, I guess the motor factor had some old stock.

kritip, thanks for that idea, I checked, and unfortunately superflex don't list them, so I'm no nearer a solution!

Somebody must make them!

I also checked with shop4parts and they say they just do the whole bar, like Fiat.

I also enquired about the bushes from a motor factor and although they are in the book he is waiting for stock but it dont look good really, do powerflex/superflex do em for the marea?

Well i bit the bullet and spent the £105 for a new bar and its a different vehichle now, bit of a bugger to get out because of the cooling tube for the steering rack but if you remove the felt like cover from behind the subframe the roll bar can be taken out backwards towards the centre box of the exhaust .

If any of you are in doubt about changing it id say its worth it and the clamps on the bushes are not spot welded but held together by the captive nut on the top of them.

The use of the captive nut is a standard method on a few cars I've owned.

I'm sure that Powerflex or Superflex must do a set of Polys for the Marea.

From experience, polys generally tend to be firmer than rubber and of the two brands, the Powerflex brand tends to be better (less firm than Superflex) and less prone to shrinkage/permanent compression.

Powerflex tend to be more expensive too, but you pays your money....

I see that Powerflex offers a range of generic bushes in various sizes that can be machined to size:

URL is powerflex.co.uk/universalbush.asp (I don't have rights to post as URL)

Does anyone have a standard bush they can measure, or details of the Marea bush? I imagine it's impossible to measure them in situ.

It'd be good to crack this one before my nails fall out!

For future reference the bars are a little cheaper at partsworld-uk.com

GranTurismo said:

For future reference the bars are a little cheaper at partsworld-uk.com

Click to expand...

No need to buy the ARB, you can purchase the bushes here:
www.silentblocks.com

I've posted elsewhere about Chris Witor now being prepared to make up poly bushes for the ARB. But he needs the ARB clamps to allow them to make the mould to do this.