Auris Hybrid Hard Suspension when cold and how to solve it.

[TonyHSD]

I don’t know if anyone else has noticed that in certain temperatures and humidity of the air like around 3-4C° dry cold , no rain, no snow, no moisture the suspension of the car becomes very hard, almost like there are no operational shock and springs and rubber bushes but all suspension arms and beams are bolted directly to the chassis and all shocks and vibrations are transmitted straight to the car body and felt inside cabin as uncomfortable , hard drive.

 I have done this what I did again two days ago and I remember I watched before a scotty video and you know what, it works. So here it is the video. I have no the Scotty’s stuff but instead I used a wd-40 silicone spray. I only sprayed on the front suspension arms rear bushes and rear suspension beam bushes, left the car for a few hours. Did also checked the tyres and they needed a bit of psi, set them all correct pressure and in the evening the same cold weather as the night before but there were no more uncomfortable drive and hard bumps and thumps when going over cracks and potholes. One more thing, the same thing happened even on very new Toyota Priuses but I never knew that trick to try. 

 

[Mooly]

Interesting. Years ago I actually used to use Armor All (the interior protectant) on such rubber parts and they always looked in great condition and dirt and grime never seemed to stick to them.

There could be something in doing this kind of thing. 

 

[davidif]

I wonder if Scotty's re-seal stuff is available in the UK?

 

[Gerg]

15 hours ago, Mooly said:

Interesting. Years ago I actually used to use Armor All (the interior protectant) on such rubber parts and they always looked in great condition and dirt and grime never seemed to stick to them.

There could be something in doing this kind of thing. 

I have a couple of bottles of this in the garage, I should start experimenting with them - I've had them for over 25 years and hardly used them (were in a sale!)

From when I have used it on black bumpers etc.; it did seem to wash off with rain sooner than I'd hoped.

On the Auris Mk. 2 there is an accepted problem with 'graunchy' front suspension bushes - there have been plenty of posts on here. Silicone aerosol oil spray is recommended to fix this, as you probably know.

But, I am trying silicone grease (RS brand in a tube,in this case, but plenty of others on eBay, Amazon, boat chandlers).  It's been on the car for 4 months or so, we'll see how durable it is in comparison to the spray...

I suspect there are silicones in the Armor All - just in a much thinner mix.

[TonyHSD]

1 hour ago, davidif said:

I wonder if Scotty's re-seal stuff is available in the UK?

 

Amazon perhaps, I had looked once but it was something like £25 a bottle, way too expensive. Wd-40 silicone spray works great for me. I also use the same spray on my door seals, boot and bonnet. Here how it looks my bushings after 11 years and 204k miles., so far so good, there is some deterioration on some of them but nothing major and no clunky noises or anything. I spray twice or three times a year. 

[jcps001]

Thanks for this tip, I already had seen Scotty's video, but was horrified by the prices of that AT205 reseal he uses...

I will use WD40 silicone spray on the bushings as part of normal maintenance.

Running the risk of going offtopic, trying to ride the wave (sort of speak) of the talk about rubber bushings, I am replacing those on my Mk1 Auris.

Control arms and rear bushings... Their final tightening/torquing of the rubber bushings has to be with the wheels of the car on the ground, right?

[Rav4ster]

Followed Tony's  advice a while ago and spayed the rubber bushes with this WD-40 Silicone Lubricant 400ml
https://www.screwfix.com/p/wd-40-silicone-lubricant-400ml/86394#product_additional_details_container
It has eliminated suspension creaks, reapplied it again a few days ago.
On other rubber suspension bits, I used 'autoglym rubber and vinyl care', just to give it a bit more protection and stop them from drying out (as per above video).

[TonyHSD]

3 hours ago, jcps001 said:

Thanks for this tip, I already had seen Scotty's video, but was horrified by the prices of that AT205 reseal he uses...

I will use WD40 silicone spray on the bushings as part of normal maintenance.

Running the risk of going offtopic, trying to ride the wave (sort of speak) of the talk about rubber bushings, I am replacing those on my Mk1 Auris.

Control arms and rear bushings... Their final tightening/torquing of the rubber bushings has to be with the wheels of the car on the ground, right?

Hi,

yes when you are replacing control arms you can install them into place and tighten the bolts just to the point they stop rotating and you can place a hydraulic jack under the arm safely and lift up just to make the car weights seats on the arm not on the car body , doing so sets correct pre tension of the rubber bushes and then tighten up the bolts to the torque specs. You can work one side first then the other.
When changing stabiliser bar bushes it is very important too to have the wheels on a ramp not in the air for the same reason, here the difference is that you need both front wheels on the ground or ramp levelled together, not side by side. Stabiliser bar links on this car can be done with car placed on jack stands and wheels off, they doesn’t need pre tension set., they adjust themselves since are connected both sides via bolt joints. 👍

Here a video about arms. 

07:42 for setting pre tension. You may not need to do the engine mounts, this is for hybrids only. 👍 

Here for non hybrids. 

 

[jcps001]

Thank you so much for the videos and help!

[Wooster]

On 3/28/2022 at 2:29 PM, TonyHSD said:

I will use WD40 silicone spray

Tony, do you mean:  screwfix.com/p/wd-40-silicone-lubricant-400ml/86394 ?

[TonyHSD]

9 minutes ago, Wooster said:

Tony, do you mean:  screwfix.com/p/wd-40-silicone-lubricant-400ml/86394 ?

Yes, exactly that one. Only silicone spray is safe to use on rubber, this particular spray I do on all door seals and they look like new and never stick when freezing cold, just spray some onto a cloth and apply all over them, best to do after a car wash and when  they are clean and dry. 👌

[Wooster]

But, doesn't it get washed off with the blast of water that must engulf the suspension & steering parts when you drive in the rain?

Not that it would be any better in the rain, would this be any good (or better?): toolstation.com/wd-40-specialist-dry-ptfe ?

[Gerg]

58 minutes ago, Wooster said:

But, doesn't it get washed off with the blast of water that must engulf the suspension & steering parts when you drive in the rain?

Silicone oils and greases are highly water-repellant.  It will eventually need doing again, but it doesn't come off that easily! 

As an example, In the car bodyshop, any silicone oil residue on paint needs careful removing with organic solvent before paint is applied, else paint problems are almost guaranteed!  So I understand it, anyway.

It is basically safe and stable, but don't get it in your eyes, as its water repellancy will likely cause much stinging.  And I think the 'carrier solvent' in an aerosol is best not inhaled - the fine spray mist is easily caught in a breeze, note.

But rubber loves it! 

Some hard plastics don't though, and it can age them very quickly indeed, causing brittleness and cracking!

Silicone grease in a (toothpaste size) tube is as effective, it's just not so easy to get it into where you want it. 

I'm trying some finger-applied silicone grease to cure the usual Auris-suspension-graunch problem, I think I mentioned above, and it's looking good so far for durablity. A bit of a stretch to get to the rubber when the car is on it's wheels, but very easy with a trolley jack under the central, front (under the engine) jacking point, and the wheels up in the air. (Usual axle stand warnings apply here.)

[Brain currently virus-addled, so repetition and rambling are quite likely.]

 

[TonyHSD]

1 hour ago, Wooster said:

But, doesn't it get washed off with the blast of water that must engulf the suspension & steering parts when you drive in the rain?

Not that it would be any better in the rain, would this be any good (or better?): toolstation.com/wd-40-specialist-dry-ptfe ?

No, only silicone spray and spray on the rubber bushes directly, leave the car for few hours before driving off. The silicone rejuvenates the rubber, the rubber is pores material and the silicone molecule goes in and make it elastic again, drive out any moisture, prevent faster ageing and help extend the life of the rubber parts. For the suspension issues on Auris here on the pic below, spray there and you won’t have any problems for a long time, can do once a year or twice . Rubber seals once a year too, I have all of them covered including boot and bonnet. If you apply silicone spray on stabiliser bat bushes only spray outer part where the bush is in contact with the vehicle cradle, do not spray any lubricant on the bar where seats in the bush and never apply any lube on that place when changing bar bushes as these are first steps to destroy them. They are dry fit only. 👌