Steering/Suspension Rubber Components Cracking/Splitting | 356 Speedster, 550 Spyder, Replica, Automotive Community

Michael B (aka bluespeedster SoCal) Supporting Member

Looking around under the car to reroute my speedometer cable I noticed the poor conditions of the rubber parts covering steering joints and connections. With my VS only 2 years old and purchased directly from Kirk and living in SoCal, I'm surprised the Chinese/Tiwain/Mexican rubber is not lasting long. Notice the same on the VDO rubber ring as well as on the lights trim.

Has everyone with a VS from Kirk experiencing the same issue?

6/28/158:50 PM

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Steven J Spinner

Originally Posted by Michael B (aka bluespeedster SoCal):

Looking around under the car to reroute my speedometer cable I noticed the poor conditions of the rubber parts covering steering joints and connections. With my VS only 2 years old and purchased directly from Kirk and living in SoCal, I'm surprised the Chinese/Tiwain/Mexican rubber is not lasting long. Notice the same on the VDO rubber ring as well as on the lights trim.

Has everyone with a VS from Kirk experiencing the same issue?

I have a VS Speedster under 4 years old, under 800 miles, and I really like it. That said, It ain't GM or Ford which can be taken either way I guess. Please post a picture of your Speedster.

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DannyP

Replacement boots for the ball joints and tie rods are available. I'd recommend aircooled.net as a source because the rubber quality can vary greatly depending on where you get them. Cheesier is not better here. The ones I got appear to be holding up well and were reasonably priced.

I'm not surprised they are falling apart though, the quality of parts has really fallen off.

DannyP

Funny, cheaper came out as cheesier!

Michael B (aka bluespeedster SoCal) Supporting Member

Danny,

Thanks for the lead, I like AirCooled.net stuff. That's what I thought, really bad rubber compound used for critical parts.

6/30/1512:33 PM

James Supporting Member

I have used a lot of VW parts from Wolfsburg West and been very pleased with the quality. Rubber items in particular are as good as OEM.

https://www.wolfsburgwest.com/

7/1/153:08 PM

majorkahuna

I bought mine from Kirk in 2010 and the ball joints were shot by 2012.

7/1/154:28 PM

ArtCMC, 1641cc

Michael:

If you're close to the beach, the salt air and marine layer can effect rubber products.

Art

7/1/155:20 PM

Michael B (aka bluespeedster SoCal) Supporting Member

Art, I'm living 20 miles inland as the crow flies. Thanx James for the link was not sure of the quality of Wolfsburgwest.

7/2/151:06 PM

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