Similar springs to mine then. I almost replaced my Avos with protechs but ended up having them rebuilt due to cost - I kind of wish i'd gone for the protechs.

I think the new set up is better as the ball joints on the old style were never meant to do that kind of work. The back end seems generally quieter in terms of mechanical noise. I think the only downside is not being able to fit certain wheels due to the binding problem - tho I of course got round this with my cut and weld mod.

It could be the cam bolts moving in the rectangular adjustment slots or the bush/bearings (that came with the arms) are worn or the mercedes ones I modded and used have play in my add on pieces. I did put paint spots on the eccentric boltheads/brackets as a reference to their position for setup purposes so i'll see if they have moved when I get round to checking.

Did you get your arms new from GTM/Westfield and did they have the bearings already in and are they the same size as mine? I still don't know their origins and it's really annoying me not knowing.

SAS

I ordered kit from rdm but company was sold to westfield it took over 2years to get all parts from them. The arms came with bearings in which i assume are same size as the ones you tried to find.I don't know if they came from rdm stock or westfield had them made .The new style arms were designed by Rovers x power chassis development team so they likely to be off some sort of rover .I agree wiith your 3 possible causes of noise . Could you remove rear clam and get someone to push and pull on ends of engine frame to try to reproduce cornering sideload while you feel for movement in bearings or listen to each on with a stethscope sp?I think it would be worth asking westfield again about supplying the bearings as they have supplied them in the past as part of the few kits they have sold it would be better if you could fit these as it cuts out the extra spacers you have had to to make which as yousay are an extra possible cause of movement

I've emailed Westfield (again) two different people, got one out of office reply and nothing from the other so far.

SAS

I've recently been speaking with Russ (parts dept) and he was exceptionally helpfull, might be worth giving him a shout.

Finally got a response from Westfield and it's no help at all:
"Hi, I am sorry we do not have any of the bushes you require, I have heard that the bush is from a rover 45 or 75, but I cannot confirm that the information is correct.
Kind regards
Russell lee"

I've found no compatible Rover 45 75 parts in all my searching.

SAS

The saga of the suspension bush continues:

Found these:


They are for an Australian Ford Falcon BA, similar to the Mondeo. I bought a set of four off Ebay for about £60 in total.

Bad points:
1, Still not the correct length, only 48mm, therefore needing a 4.5mm space either side.
2, Outside dia is actually 40.2mm, 0.2mm too big - I knew this before buying but figured it might be an erroneous measurement (so close!). I have managed to turn this down on one of the four to 40mm on my lathe.
3, Quality of components, not so much a bad point as a question mark - will they last?
4, outer sleeve is 23mm wide as opposed to the originals which are 24.5mm - not a major issue however IMO.

Good points:
1, Relatively cheap. (There are some more expensive ones of the same size/application available - better quality?)
2, Readily available.
3, Bolt hole is for a 12mm bolt so needs no internal spacer as with the Mercedes ones.

I intend to lathe a second one down to 40mm OD then try fitting these four on my 'clunky' side (bottom pair 1st) to see if it makes a difference initially. I might see if they will go in unmodified - ie. still with 40.2mm OD - but I doubt it.

SAS

What size do you need, as I have been looking at a simular joint and from memory it is very close to the sizes you have already stated, im sure mine are 40mm od.

Neil

They are 40mm OD, 57mm long & 12mm bolt hole.

SAS

Sounds very familiar to the bush I bought for an idea, will try to measure it up tonight, I know its 40 OD mm and 12mm bore

Neil

My memory was wrong the ones I found are 45.2 OD

Neil

Yup, it's probably one of the BMW/Peugot/Vauxhall ones -they are perfect size, except for the OD being 45mm.

SAS

I collected some antiroll bars last night I ordered from Alan Gow who used to make the metal parts for gtm while I was there I asked him about the rear arms. He said he used to make them and thought he would still be able to get the bushes but couldn't remember what they were off but thought he would have folder with all info in his workshop I suggested rwd rover 75 but he didn't think that was the one

If you could get the info off him that would cracking.

SAS

I rang Alan about bushes yesterday I spoke to him but he was not a work he said he would look for info today when he is back at work and let me know if he can find it

I rang Alan again to see if he found details of bush but he still had no idea were they were from he said gtm used to get them and give them to him to fit to the arms. I also had another search on google on found the modified arms were designed on computer for David Keene at GTM by a firm at Coventry called Simpact Engineering so I rang them to see if they could help Identify bush after I explained problem I was told they are no longer there and had moved to Leamington a few years ago so I found their new number a spoke to someone who could remember designing the arms but didn't know where the bushes came from so I have run out of ideas on how to trace them