Technical Anti roll bar bushes

Currently reading:
Technical Anti roll bar bushes

Maggie

Member
Joined
May 4, 2007
Messages
241
Points
109
My Multipla has a knocking sound coming from under the off side front.

I had the offside lower arm and both link rods changed only to find that the anti roll bar bushes are worn. I am also planning to change the near side lower arm as I was surprised how easy it was to do the off side one, and then I will have replaced all of the front suspension other than shock absorbers.

Fiat have said that you can not buy the bushes seperatley and have to buy a whole anti roll bar for about a hundred pounds plus VAT.

This seems odd as the bushes are just clamped over the bar and look like they will come off. Does anyone know whether there are after market bushes which can be used, as it seem strange not to be able to change what appears to be a consumable part?

Mags
 
The a/r bushes are held in a "triangular clamp" and would be difficult to get out without burning or lots of cutting. "Dingbro" can supply new rubber bushes but I bet they'd be even more fun to persuade back into the clamp!-they also cost about £45!!.This then to be compared with the cost of a new a/r bar incl. bushes at about £100. I went for the new bar (bit of a fiddle threading it round everything at rear of subframe) but it was all tinged with resentment that all the front suspension bushes are shagged out at about 50,000 miles. Just after doing the clutch(£500) and all the front suspension someone asked me if I would recommend buying a used Multipla....I told them what I'd had to do/spend and they decided against it and bought a Toyota!!
 
Just to add my experiences.....
I replaced the drop links, and the offside lower suspension arm, to get rid of clonks and groans about 3 months ago. The noises were much reduced, but I still was getting creaking and the odd clunk.
I decided to completely remove the antiroll bar and drop links, and to drive around for a few days (carefully!) to see if the a/r bar was the cause of the problem.
(Incidentally, the car handled much the same without it as with it, except in extreme cornering, particularly going from one lock to the other, as you'd expect).
Without the a/r bar, the noises were completely gone, so I'd found the culprit. I decided to lubricate the bushes first rather than shell out for a new a/r bar. The bushes seemed to be OK; no sign of splitting. I got some Castrol Red rubber grease, and slid the bushes along the bar, smeared the bar where the bushes sit, and slid the bushes back into place.
(It is not possible to split the clamps holding the rubber bushes without drilling out the welds).
It may be possible to lubricate the bushes without removing the bar from the car, just unbolt the clamps from the bodywork and wiggle them along a bit to get the grease in.
Anyway, after reassembling, the car is fine- no clonks, groans, and the handling is back to normal.
The big question is how long will the job last, but for the moment it's good.
I'd advise anyone who knows one end of a spanner from the other to have a go- I'm no expert and I found it pretty easy. The tricky bit is getting the roll bar back into place- just make sure to remember how it came out!:eek:
 
I've done all the above, fitted drop links, wishbones and in the end even an anti roll bar!, still knocked...
I also had a new clutch fitted at 100k too, then of course I sold the car, actually p'exed for a newer Multi!.
Anyway, I messed about with the roll bar myself because I thought you could just change the bushes, especially as the roll bar is @£120.
I even hammered some very thick nails into the rubber to expand the rubber to fill any gaps, crude but it made a difference, and pretty it wasn't.
As I was feeling in a 100k mood, and I knew the roll bar made a difference, I splashed out £120 on a new roll bar, sod it I thought.
Fitting the roll bar was very frustrating, you've really got to fiddle about a lot to thread the bar through, to the extent of moving the bushes up and down the bar to clear chassis etc.--but it was worth it, much tighter and made the car feel newer. The new bushes were a bit harder and I think the bar is actually thicker too, the bushes were much tighter on the bar as you would expect. The multi is a heavy front engined beast, so has to endure a lot of abuse, so somethings gotta give!, good luck!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Decided to bite the bullet and bought a new anti roll bar. relatively easy to fit just a sod to get the old one out and the new in, as per the previous post.

However, the knocks have gone and replaced with a better handling car and we have again started to like the car. This is the only car I have owned which has a love hate relationship, and it has to be said that I have owned more than my fair share of cars.

Since we bought the car we have spent around a thousand pounds getting it's engne fixed with new EGR, new tyres all round, suspension replaced (off side bottom arm, stabiliser links and anti roll bar all replaced), new mass air flow sensor, fixed the problem stopping the electric rear roof to open and cured the front sun roof leak (for now at least), cam belt renewed and general servicing etc.

Oh he car was bought just six weeks ago!!

As I said a love hate relationship.

Mags
 
Welcome to that multi feeling!!!

Been there done all that and more ,,,, but it still makes me smile.
Its only money after all.
 
Just replaced the offside, lower suspension arm last night because one of the bushes had worked loose resulting in interesting steering and a pull to the left when accelerating. Car has done just under 50k miles. Took about 2.5 hours to replace the arm without any special tools. Getting the old one out was easy, but getting the new one in required loosening the anti roll bar mounting so the bar could be lifted a few mm to slide the new arm under it. New arm was £118 inc from Fiat. Could have got it cheaper from a motor factor (£90 inc) but needed it asap and dealer had one in stock (!) The rubber bush that worked loose did not have a shoulder to retain it whereas the bush on the other end of the arm does have shoulders. Almost as if it was designed to eventually work loose, a cynic might say ;)
 
Just replaced the offside, lower suspension arm last night because one of the bushes had worked loose resulting in interesting steering and a pull to the left when accelerating. Car has done just under 50k miles. Took about 2.5 hours to replace the arm without any special tools. Getting the old one out was easy, but getting the new one in required loosening the anti roll bar mounting so the bar could be lifted a few mm to slide the new arm under it. New arm was £118 inc from Fiat. Could have got it cheaper from a motor factor (£90 inc) but needed it asap and dealer had one in stock (!) The rubber bush that worked loose did not have a shoulder to retain it whereas the bush on the other end of the arm does have shoulders. Almost as if it was designed to eventually work loose, a cynic might say ;)

Hi,
My wife's Multipla has just started pulling to the offside upon acceleration .. did yours have a clonk as it did? it also pulls the other away when you let off the power. I was thinking drive shaft but it may be the same problem as you had
Tim
 
I have the same problem (pulling to the offside upon acceleration). The problem is worn [FONT=&quot]wishbone bushes.

[/FONT]
 
have a look at my thread about bushes. i used 18mm fiat mairea bushes. you can use superflex bushes but they are heavy duty poly bushes which you have to adjust slightly with a trimming knife. the fiat bushes look 99.9% the same with no mod need. ok their fiat bushes pro, their cheaper . cons , they might not last as long as the poly bushes. once you have replaced the bushes the first time round its very easy to do again, so i'm replacing mine on mot time if needed so far 3months all ok.

i changed both drop links, anti roll bar bushes and both springs as one went off with a bang. the only problem is the spring makes a noise when dry weather, so have bedded spring with white grease / wd40 and goes away for a while.
 
Back
Top