General anti-roll bar bushes

[Alpine26]

I'm looking to do something to make the handling a bit firmer but without incurring a load of cost.

Would new front anti-roll bar bushes help, or are they something you only need to change if they cause a knocking noise?

I think there are 4 bushes, is that right?

 

[blu73]

If you are going to bother you should just change all the chassis bushes, strongflex bushes are very reasonably priced. You can buy all the bushes separately but they do them all in a kit which has all 4 front arm bushes, all 4 anti roll bar and all 4 rear arm bushes. That will really tighten up the car, highly recommend it myself. They do softer red ones are harder yellow ones.

red kit
https://strongflexuk.com/product/066074b-full-suspension-bush-kit/

yellow 'sport' kit
https://strongflexuk.com/product/066074a-full-suspension-bush-kit-sport/

individual bushes
https://strongflexuk.com/product-category/fiat/cinquecento-91-98/

If you go ahead with the full kit its worth considering how old your front arms are as the ball joints are not replaceable it maybe worth replacing the arms at the same time so inspect the ball joints before you start the job

 

[Alpine26]

thanks very much Blu, that's a great help.

How easy is it to do myself? I have tools and some ramps, but never done this before. Is the risk of breaking a fixing high?

 

[blu73]

arb bushes are pretty simple, the brackets that clamp on the arms are hard to find i believe these days, not available new anyway i dont think.. so plenty of penetrating fluid, patience, heat if required.. but really simple job.

Arm bushes, hardest part is getting the old bushes out really - theres few approaches, alot of people swear by just burning the rubber out but i've never found it necessary. The drill trick works, then cut a slice in the metal outer with a hacksaw or reciprocating saw.. all that might have sounded like utter jibberish but stick replacing bushes in youtube, theres many many videos. Putting new poly bushes in is easy though

 

[dac69er]

Personally I have found that most lower arm balljoints last such a short amount of time that the benefit of replacing brand new rubber bushes with poly ones is not worth the effort. A new set of lower arms every couple of years means you have good balljoints and bushes.

 

[blu73]

what arms are you buying? never ever found them to be weak on a cento, quite the opposite in fact. I know as fact one of my old cinqs is runnning around on all the same stuff i put on it about 8 years ago and god knows how many owners.. And i dont think the ones that came off were in any danger of failing soon, just that i was doing a full refresh of the car so i changed literally everything from arms to engine, suspension and exhaust.

Not that i have a problem with just plain new oem bushes i hasten to add - just changing everything for new makes a car feel, well new again lol

 

[dac69er]

Admittedly, i never buy the expensive arms. But they don't last very long. It's always the balljoints that go.
Some have lasted a little longer, but I would say 2-3 years is about average. The bushes are perfect at that point.

I drive the car pretty hard and the roads around my way are like off-road tracks, so that probably has something to do with it!

 

[blu73]

i usually use lemforder arms, anything they make seems to be top quality.. the aftermarket parts market is a nightmare though, cause companies always changing owners and manufacturing locations change and as a random joe its hard to keep up lol..

An example a recent discovery i made while reading was SKF, I've always used SKF for things with bearings in as they are a huge global bearing producer, most bearings on a car seem to be SKF from factory in a lot of cases right through to top of the line skateboard wheel bearings. Its a swedish company originally and i believe the first big contract was with volvo. Historically most manufacturing was done in Europe but as with many things gradually over recent years more and more production has gone to India and China. Although I'd say the quality of the parts hasnt really been affected by this is seems way more common to get parts that should have failed QC..

So in many instances the cheap stuff is the same stuff as the expensive stuff, other times you get what you pay for, its a minefield!