Endlinks

Replacing your old endlink bushings is not only an upgrade, but a fix. Trust me, your endlink bushings were pretty much crap when they first put them on, and they certainly aren't better now. This is a quick and easy suspension modification I think everyone should do. Superior aftermarket polyurethane endlinks will give you an immediate difference in handling, even with stock ASB's (Anti-Sway Bars). Front bushings on an 87-89 are tougher to come by. I think you have to order special endlink kits sets or get bushings only available in "master" kits.

I personally prefer to change just the endlink bushings. The center mount ASB bushings I like stock. I replaced the mount bushings on my 84 and on my 91 TT (along with upgraded bars), but found they were more pain than gain. They made little to no difference in performance, they caused frequent squeaking, and they seemed to bind the bar from movement in turns. You constantly have to pull them to grease them up. In fact, I ended up with a broken rear sway bracket when I had the urethane center bushings installed (trying to find that picture). With stock center bushings, I've never had a problem.

The center-mount bushings do not appear to take near the stress that the endlink bushings take. It was argued with me once that they see a lot of stress, but here are some pictures of 210,000 mile bushings from my 86 Turbo.

New Poly Bushings vs. Stock Front Endlink Bushings (Above Left) || Full Rear Bushings Set (Above Right)

Rear Endlink Bushings (Above)

Old pics of my 84 bushings (taken with webcam in '98 when good cameras were EXPENSIVE)

The rear center mount bushings maintain their original shape just fine while the endlink bushings are like smashed Krispy Kremes -- you make the call. The same was true on my 84 and my 92 turbo. All the center mount bushings were in decent shape while all the endlink bushings were thrashed.

The front center bushings on the 86 did seem to take more of a beating than the rears, but you will see when installing new front bushings that the majority of the damage and compression is simply from how they are smashed down by the brackets. Other than that compression, they don't see too much wear. I'm sure a lot of this has to do with the brackets holding them in place. They are secured and the compression is confined in a space, where as the endlink bushings have only the washers to retain them.

A lot of the compression on the front center-mount bushings is simply the result of the pressure they see from the bracket, backing (on crossmember) and torque of the bolts right when installed

You can purchase complete replacement kits (includes bolts, washers, lock nut, and bushings) from a variety of manufacturers. On my 84 I used ADDCO, which seem to be harder to find these days.

On my 86, I purchased 16 NISMO replacement bushings (4 per endlink) thinking I would just have to swap out the bushings. On the front it worked out pretty well, but I did have to buy a longer set of bolts with new locknuts from a local hardware store. The poly bushings do not compress as much and are taller, so the stock bolt was about 1/2" shy of making them easy to reinstall. I bought a bolt 1/2" longer and it was a cinch. After tightening, there will be some excess bolt sticking out, but that's fine.

Turns out the stock rear link bolts are too thin to accept aftermarket poly bushings, and the rear washers are too small to contain them. So, I ordered a Prothane kit (PTP-19-408 [red] or -BK [black]) from SummitRacing. If I had known beforehand, I would've just bought the front and rear kit from Summit. Also, when I ordered red, it was backordered for three weeks -- I called up and switched to black when I found it and saw it was in stock.

Installation is very simple. Should only take you an hour for all of them if you are familiar with the car and jacking procedures.