its a mouthful to say i know i was window shopping on WMW's site and came across the Powerflex Supercharger Belt Damper Polyurethane Bushing. is anyone using this? feedback? i only have the tensioner stop (which i haven't installed yet)

 

I have them. I bought a brand new tensioner assembly and thought why not? WMW/Powerflex claims that the stock bushings will wear out, which I'm not saying they done. Mine were fine. My problem was the "shock absorber" was leaking and making a hell of a mess. My atla tensioner stop was also chattering against the shock and digging into it.

New tensioner, new bushings, tensioner stop wrapped in electiral tape
no problems!!

 

Yes we see these bushings cracked and falling apart on cars all the time. The good thing is we just replace them with the powerflex tensioner bushings. Otherwise you have to replace the tensioner, so it saves our customers alot cause the tensioner is almost $200.

Wrapping the Alta tensioner stop in electrical tape was a cheap fix for the rattle, interesting.

 

Hmm.... Another item to add to the wish list. (At least there's one advantage in having procrastinated the pulley swap! )

 

Well.......
Here are mine after 12,000 miles.
The bushings were installed on a brand new tensioner assembly.
We figured the bushings are actually too stiff, causing early failure of the damper. Then when the damper goes, it pounds at the bushings until they fall apart. Just a theory.........


Jim

bush-1.jpg?t=1277606644

 

Those are the Powerflex bushings?

 

installed about 10K ago. stock bushings were toast. so far so good

 

Yep.


Jim


BTW...I've had nothing but good luck with the Powerflex suspension and engine mount bushings.

 

You should send this to Powerflexusa, they would be interested in seeing this. Either it's a failure in the bushing, or the shock is bad and ruined the bushing.

 

Just under my car today and happened to see that my bushings are in the same shape as yours were in this pic, installed less than a year ago.

 

I went ahead and pulled the damper tonight and took some pics, almost like the provided lube turned to glue. Damper seems to be functioning fine, I'll compare to the new damper when I get it next week:

 

Damn! Looks like I may have wasted $40 on the Powerflex bushings for my '04S. Thought this would be a wise upgrade (haven't installed the bushings yet) but based on these experiences I'm now thinking otherwise. Will be interested to follow this thread....

Eric

 

Take a look here.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...orary-fix.html

Powerflex had a bad batch of the raw material, causing the part to "set up" incorrectly.

Jim

 

The response I received from PowerFlex USA indicates these bushings have a lifetime warranty that needs to be addressed at/with the place of purchase. I am going to give that a try and see if the new ones last longer than these.

 

Yes Bill you got those right about the time they had the bad batch, I've got replacements for you no problem. It's more than likely they came from that batch.

 

While it's still on the near future wish list, have you gotten rid of all the bad batches? Assuming any left in stock have all been replaced by Powerflex or was there a certain ID tag to know of the bad production date(s)?

 

I picked up and installed the new set from Way today. Before installing I could tell the bushings felt different from what I remember of the original ones, I believe I definitely had some of the bad batch.

Thanks Way

 

for those that installed these Powerflex belt tensioner bushings, how are they holding up?

 

^ for your car its sort of pointless and mini worx wont do it.
besides you dont have enough miles on your car to worry about it.

 

Huh? ColinGreen, do I know you somehow?

 

When mine goes, I'll be trying Alta's adjustable tensioner. No need for that wimpy damper, poly bushes & a separate stop anymore. & much cheaper. Works like a turnbuckle. From tests & user reviews.....No more belt slip, tensioner & crank pulley failure from snapped belts....Simple+worry-free + reliable.

http://www.altaperformance.com/alta/...3-tension-stop

 

Never been a huge Alta fan but this looks interesting.

 

FYI we have a new set of tensioner bushings made of delrin
http://www.waymotorworks.com/wmw-sup...shing-set.html

The alta rod is just a fixed bar. It doesn't have give or change tension like the original design so I would not recommend it as the belt will be over tensioned at certain loads and under tensioned at other loads.

 

[QUOTE=WayMotorWorks;3638448]FYI we have a new set of tensioner bushings made of delrin[/url]

Are you no longer carrying or is PowerFlex no longer making the other bushings? I liked the idea that PowerFlex stood behind their products.

Rich

 

Are you no longer carrying or is PowerFlex no longer making the other bushings? I liked the idea that PowerFlex stood behind their products.

Rich