destroyed Maximum Motorsports bushings with pics

[Eric94GTvert]

I found what was causing a "little" clunk in the rear when accelerating/ decelerating. On the way home from my second time at the track, I felt the rear end sliding around pretty badly. I found my Maximum Motorsports lower control arm and stock upper control arm (axle side) bushings annihilated.
Has this happened to anyone w/ MM parts?

 

[VIPERn94Five-0]

wow!...where do you drive that thing??!!??...i havnt seen a MM product do that or even heard of one...id contact them ASAP...ill bet they stand by their product , and hopefully will help you out

Anthony

 

[94Silverbullet]

Wow! Good thing it wasn't something too serious. Hopefully they'll stand behind their product. Let us know what the outcome is.

BTW, Do you race the Cannondale?

 

[baglock1]

MM has had a few bushing failures on drag cars. For the most part though, it has been operator error (too much power, not conducting periodic maintenance/inspection, etc.).

As far as standing by their part, I doubt they'll replace it for free, but I doubt any company would for that matter. If they don't give you the answer you want, don't hold it against them too much.

 

[Eric94GTvert]

I pretty much knew I wasn't going to get them replaced for free. It did cost me ~$20 for the MM bushings plus the $ for the rear UCA bushings. I also decided to get the press tool they sell to install the uppers easier. (hope it will be worth it) The good thing was the old ones were REAL easy to remove. (they fell out for me)

OK, what I was told.....
If you have steep gears, drag race, higher horsepower than stock, slicks or anything similar then these bushings will fail eventually. He also told me to buy the drag race lower control arms which have better bushings. I'm going to have to stick with these arms for now because of the $. The rest of the control arms are still like new so I don't want to get rid of them anyway. They did hold up to a lot of abuse before they failed so I'm not really too disappointed. I'll install these and beat on them again and see what happends....

 

[95GTeee]

WOW! That is some crazy damage! Not a very good advertisement for MM. It's kinda hard to destroy poly bushings like that, especially when you can see that they were greased well. Man ... I haven't seen bushings get so mutilated like that before (except rubber ones or some kinda catastrophic failure).

 

[Eric94GTvert]

BTW, Do you race the Cannondale?

Not organized racing but I ride 4-5 times a week. What sucks is my bike and stang are next to each other and they are both apart. I'm fixing it right now due to a little encounter with a tree. I hope to have them both back up this weekend.

 

[Eric94GTvert]

WOW! That is some crazy damage! Not a very good advertisement for MM. QUOTE]

I have to admitt I still love their stuff...

 

[zenboy99]

Not organized racing but I ride 4-5 times a week. What sucks is my bike and stang are next to each other and they are both apart. I'm fixing it right now due to a little encounter with a tree. I hope to have them both back up this weekend.

OT: Thats awesome, I never thought too put my bikes down in my sig. I have a Litespeed Road bike, Litespeed Mountain bike (both titanium) and a Free Agent cruiser. That probably won't impress anyone on this forum though.

 

[94Silverbullet]

Not organized racing but I ride 4-5 times a week. What sucks is my bike and stang are next to each other and they are both apart. I'm fixing it right now due to a little encounter with a tree. I hope to have them both back up this weekend.

That's interesting. I also ride my bike about 5-6 times a week. I race mine. I'll be racing in Altoona, PA the end of this month. I have a Klein Q-Pro and a Giant TCR Road, and a Pro-Flex Mountain.

OT: Thats awesome, I never thought too put my bikes down in my sig. I have a Litespeed Road bike, Litespeed Mountain bike (both titanium) and a Free Agent cruiser. That probably won't impress anyone on this forum though.

$ bikes! Do you do any racing? I have some friends racing out at SuperWeek in Wisconsin. People will never believe what those Litespeeds are worth.

 

[zenboy99]

$ bikes! Do you do any racing? I have some friends racing out at SuperWeek in Wisconsin. People will never believe what those Litespeeds are worth.

Yeah, I'm a cat 1 USCF racer, I use to be semi-pro. I was on a grass roots sponsorship with Litespeed so I got both the bikes for pretty cheap. The value of my bikes and wheels is worth just as much as the value of my car believe it or not. I've been doing Superweek races all week, Pro/1/2 division. I took the whole week off of work, bike racing all week, then NMRA racing all weekend.

 

[Eric94GTvert]

I 've heard a lot about litespeed bikes but never seen one in person. I'm sure it makes my Cannondale ride like a Huffy. I do need to purchase a new bike. This one is starting to get squeaks and rattles. Sucks, I just spent the $ on heads & cam.

Back on topic.....

How much do you think the bushings were hurting my 1/4 and 60ft times?
I have yet to get a launch where I don't spin or bog. I tried launching with heated Nittos at 1500rpms and would spin hardcore (hopefully because of the bushings) then tried 1000rpms and would bog badly. Also, I need to get some form of a tune because I'm getting a miss/ hesitation around 3000 rpms.

 

[94Silverbullet]

I 've heard a lot about litespeed bikes but never seen one in person. I'm sure it makes my Cannondale ride like a Huffy. I do need to purchase a new bike. This one is starting to get squeaks and rattles. Sucks, I just spent the $ on heads & cam.

Back on topic.....

How much do you think the bushings were hurting my 1/4 and 60ft times?
I have yet to get a launch where I don't spin or bog. I tried launching with heated Nittos at 1500rpms and would spin hardcore (hopefully because of the bushings) then tried 1000rpms and would bog badly. Also, I need to get some form of a tune because I'm getting a miss/ hesitation around 3000 rpms.

I would guess it hurt it a bit, but not sure how much. If you're getting a miss/ hesitation, that's definitely hurting your ET's. Is your 2.03 60ft with DR's?

 

[94Silverbullet]

Yeah, I'm a cat 1 USCF racer, I use to be semi-pro. I was on a grass roots sponsorship with Litespeed so I got both the bikes for pretty cheap. The value of my bikes and wheels is worth just as much as the value of my car believe it or not. I've been doing Superweek races all week, Pro/1/2 division. I took the whole week off of work, bike racing all week, then NMRA racing all weekend.

I'm a USCF Cat 2 racer. I'll be putting superweek on the calendar next year for sure!

I know and raced some of the guys you're racing with. Rashaan Bahatti, Erik Saunders(don't know if he's raced yet), Emille Abraham.

 

[Eric94GTvert]

I would guess it hurt it a bit, but not sure how much. If you're getting a miss/ hesitation, that's definitely hurting your ET's. Is your 2.03 60ft with DR's?

The 2.03 was with DR's and these bushings but I had a 2.04 on Mohawk Predator VRS cheapo tires the week before. All the parts will be here tomorrow so I'm trying to get done by Friday for another try at the track.
I just don't know if these RUCA bushings come with the outer steel piece or not. Either way it will be a PITA I guess.

As for the miss, I will get a custom dyno tuned chip as soon as I get a chance. I'm still researching/debating what to do there.