BEWARE: Pics of cheap bushings Granatelli

I bought a set of Granatelli LCA and the bushings are advertised as polyurethane. During the installation process one tore. It seemed to tear pretty easy. I called Granatelli and they wanted to charge me $20.00 for one bushing and $15.00 shipping. I thought this was pretty high. $35.00 for one bushing. I eventually got the parts supplier that I bought them from to get Granatelli to send me one. Well when I got it it looked different. It looks a little more shiny and has a different pattern on the bottom. (see pic 002,) I also noticed the original ones have a unique smell. If anybody has ever been to Harbor Freight tools knows the smell when you enter the store. It is a cheap rubber smell. The new one did not have any odor at all and looked similar to the Energy Suspension bushings I used in the past. I was curious if the original bushing was indeed cheap so I attempted to tear it with a pair of channel locks. It tore pretty easily. (see pic 005 ) I was able to stick a screwdriver in the bushing and get it to break apart. I can not imagine these cheap bushings lasting very long. I would not run these witout being concerned for they will not last.. The replacement one they sent me however, was very durable and would not tear with lots of effort (see pic 004). I am not sure why Granatelli sent me a good one and the arms were equipped with junk. Any matter I now have to replace all the cheap bushings with good ones. I am looking into replacing them with Energy Suspension Bushings. If I cannot find good replacements then I will buy some better LCAs like Steeda or MM. I paid $150.00 for the LCAs so I guess you get what you pay for.Live and learn. Becareful buying from Granatelli. They are unfriendly on the phone and tried to charge me $35.00 for one bushing. At this rate of $35.00 each it would cost me $280.00 to replace all eight bushings in these arms if I bought them through Granatelli. And the arms were only 150.00 complete. It just dosnt add up. Beware of this company.:nono:

https://home.comcast.net/~perkin50/002.jpg

https://home.comcast.net/~perkin50/003.jpg


https://home.comcast.net/~perkin50/005.jpg
 
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Here is more than you probably want to know about Granatelli arms. This is about weight jacker arms but you hear straight from the horses mouth.

http://www.corral.net/forums/showthread.php?t=679308&highlight=granatelli

It gets very interesting on page 3.

Yes its good. Long though, I'll have to read the rest later. Very similar to a problem I had with 2 BBK clutch cables a while back. They work great for about a week and thats it. So I bought a OEM one from Maximum, works like a dream. Now I only buy the good stuff, paying extra is easier than extra headaches and wasted time dealing with crappy parts.
 
Here is a few more pics of the bushings. I always thought polyurethane was polyurethane. Guess I was wrong.

https://home.comcast.net/~perkin50/006.jpg

https://home.comcast.net/~perkin50/007.jpg

https://home.comcast.net/~perkin50/008.jpg

Look at pic 006. It shows what the bushing looks like after it breaks apart. I cannot believe they would put such a cheap bushing in the control arm.

Look at pic 007. You can see a small divot were I attemped to tear the bushing with the channel locks but it would not tear and only left a small divot. I wish these bushings were in my control arms.
 
that is some real JUNK! too bad Granatelli sold out their quality program (if it ever existed. The name used to be respected). Hopefully they will see the light and help you out with new bushings.
 
I wish I could remember what brand my arms are. :bang: I got a cheap upper/lower set off ebay. The dude had bought them and never used them so they were new in box, with hardware. IIRC, the GMS arms are made with round tubing, and the ones I bought are made with square tubing. :shrug: Anyway, they actually did have poly bushings in, and work just fine. I ended up using the FRPP upper arms, with stiff rubber bushings instead of poly, since i wanted to keep my torque boxes. :rolleyes:
 
I was in the SAME dilemma. I got J.R.Granatelli on Corral.net to send me some new ones for free. They took care of my pretty good talking directly to Granatelli. told me they got a bad batch of bushings which I believe since they turned to crap so fast.

Weight Jacker Lower Control Arms

1.5 years of street usage

Pics of the carnage

Old Vs. New
146392.jpg
 
I was in the SAME dilemma. I got J.R.Granatelli on Corral.net to send me some new ones for free. They took care of my pretty good talking directly to Granatelli. told me they got a bad batch of bushings which I believe since they turned to crap so fast.

Weight Jacker Lower Control Arms

1.5 years of street usage

Pics of the carnage

Old Vs. New
146392.jpg

Thanks for the info. I will e-mail Granatelli and see if they will help me. I will update this thread on how it turns out.
 
I e-mailed JR through Corral.net and he responded and said he would send me six more bushings to replace the ones that seemed to be poor quality. I recieved all six yesterday and all is well. JR did said that the bushings in the picture were natural rubber.