355 Superformance OE Style Wishbone Bushes!! (Photos Inside)

Ok few days ago i did a test to make sure I machined down my pushing and receiving cups perfectly. I am not pressing these in on the face i am pressing them on the outer shoulder lip as intended using a 35mm cup on one end and a 38mm on the other all machined to spec. My equipment uses a 12mm long rod for the smaller ones with thrust bearings and plates so this ensures the bushing and cups are in perfect alignment with the holes, for the rears same thing except its a 14mm rod and larger plates.

the bushes went in super easy but I notice on the 2 smaller ones i tested out on the front upper wishbone that they did not stick out on one receiving side. I thought for a moment maybe i messed up aligning the receiver cup so I ordered 2 more bushings that showed up today, cost me another $100. Pressed them in and the same thing is occurring. I continued on and got all the fronts done with no issues except those 2 which seem to still be an issue.

Now I moved onto the rear upper arms, those use the same bushes as the fronts the smaller style and all went well except 1, same deal the rubber by the shoulder looks fat and the casing will not stick out on one side.

I put those to the side and then worked on the lower rear wishbones which take the large bushing. out of 8 of these bushings only 3 went in properly. I then flipped out in frustration and realized I saved the original bushings. Put them in my hand and there is a HUGE tolerance difference with the large ones for the rear as shown in the photos on my bench.

No idea whats going on here because I have done bushings without a hitch for 30 years and this is driving me mad with all the equipment i have on hand. its also a ***** to do this without scratching the paint so every time i push one out its nerve wracking.

Have anyone experienced this with these replacement bushings from any vendor? It seems these are not manufactured right or they sent me the the wrong ones.

I also went to test fit some of the wishbones and now the OEM hardware appears not long enough to mount, it seems these Superformance bushings rubber has fattened and ballooned in manufacturing compared to the originals (see side by side pics) or they picked and sent me the wrong ones. I never and do not have the intentions to use non OEM hardware as I spent a fortune restoring all the nuts and bolts off the car.

For anyone who has tackled this please share your feedback here. this cost me a pretty penny for these bushings and I spent a good amount with Superformance in the last number of months hoping they will honor and make this right. If i could do it all over again I would have just done the Powerflex, save the headaches pressing in and out etc. but I can not eat the $850 i spent on these plus DHL to start over. I will phone them on Monday and see what they are willing to do, I want this right not botched up.

I have attached a bunch of photos so you can see whats going on. Any feedback or advice is appreciated. the photo of the two bushes on my table are the original after being pressed out and the Superformance after being pressed out. Either they sent the wrong ones or the outer shell is so cheaply made its collapsing in size as shown.
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Hi guys head over to my Instagram @autofanatic_cars I posted a live video earlier today showing the rear lower control arms and the bushing issues, only 5 of them are bad the 3 others went in perfectly fine.

When i took the new bushings out of the box the new ones visually looked similar but I did not measure with my caliper or micrometer. I did however measure today and the new bushings have a much fatter outer casing by almost 25-30 thousandths than the originals and i think whats happening is the oversized casing is causing the internal carcass to collapse ballooning the rubber on the face flange causing the back end of the bushing to not go any further, this is just my mechanical thoughts. Either way the few large bushings for the rear lower arms are defective by manufacturing or they sent bushings for another car. I have done bushings on many older Ferraris and never once ran into this problem but note in all of those scenarios I used OEM parts not aftermarket replacements. I just got thee entire front suspension fitted and adjusted back on the car, mounted the upper rear arms and now paused until I speak with Superformance on Monday.

 

it appears the superformance one collapsed due to the thicker outer shell read my reply above and head over to my IG to see the video and close ups

 

Problem is now found. here is the issue, the rear lower larger bushings are indeed different for the inner and outer lower wishbones which I was not aware of because the shop who powder coated the wishbone arms removed my originals for me and i never had the chance to see the differences. The new bushings for the rear of the car were all packed inside the same bag which led me and my helper to believe they were the same for all 8 lower large bushings when they are not. He was handing me one at a time as i obsessively was preparing each one not to scratch the fresh finish and I honestly never cross checked it with the originals until days later when the powder coat shop gave the box of originals and the extra powder i ordered back to me with the rest of my parts. Whats odd by the original design by Ferrari is why the outers are shorter primarily for the length of the long 14mm bolt going through if the outers stuck out like the inners the original bolt would never work as I realized in my original post. Superformance sent me out 4 more bushings today no charge the bushings were not the problem it was an internal mixup with us doing them. There service and support is spectacular and I do enjoy ordering from them and give them strong recommendations for anyone needing parts for these cars. So the lesson to be learned here is to double check parts always, take photos and document as much as possible otherwise a silly mistake as mentioned can easily occur for anyone. Next time I ever do bushings I will make sure I am the one removing and installing them this all could have been avoided but this lesson will stick with me for life. thanks for everyone who chimed in here.