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MG MGA - Prothane Endorsement

Not that another one is needed.

At the rip old age of 43 I've developed a bad disk in my lower back.....very uncomfortable.

As I looked out into the future I was wondering how I could continue to drive the MG with its jolting ride.

As part of my ongoing updates I changed out the old rubber bushings in the rear suspension and replaced with prothane parts.

Its a whole new world. What had been outright jolts tranferred through the whole car have been completely dampened.

I can't say enough what a worthwhile update this is.

Tysen
T McCarthy

Where did you buy them? Directly from Prothane.com?

What kit did you purchase?
AJ Mail

AJ,

I got them from Moss Motors, their MGA catalog has it enumerated.
T McCarthy

TM that's an interesting result. I would have thought that the old rubber bushes would have given you a more bouncy but softer ride and with the poly bushes giving you a harder ride but with reduced 'bounce'. The jolting would still be present but of reduced amplitude. Aren't these bushes used in racing? I have many times thought of fitting poly bushes because like you when I go over pot holes in my coupe, even small ones, the whole car shakes including my spine. I wonder whether the coupe body being a little more rigid suffers more than the roadster in this respect. The wife always grumbles when I say 'lets take the country route along the old roads'. There's potentially a lot of theory here about spring mass damping etc and I don't quite see how you've managed the improvement(in terms of softer ride) but its been a long time since I did the theory stuff. Do you make any distinction between prothane and polyurethane?
J H Cole

Interesting - I too thought that they would give a firmer ride.
Cam Cunningham

My old bushings had quite lost their flexibility. They were well worn and almost rigid.

Another point worth mentioning is that I suspect that my DPO over tightened the U-bolts running over the axle through the spring pad. He effectively mashed all the "give" out of the rubber pads in the system.

If you replace those they don't give a spec on how much to tighen them but I would recommend not overdoing it.

T McCarthy

Tysen

32 years ago I badly fractured my lower spine after ejecting from my Phantom FG1 on take-off and hitting the concrete runway only very shortly after the parachute deployed. 4 months later I was able to fly bang seats again because the harness held me in a good posture. However, at the same time I found it very painful to sit in a car seat, or any other seat, for a prolonged period.

I found that I was able to lessen the discomfort by sitting on a partially inflated 'Mini' inner tube. This kept my lower spine (coxis/sacrum/first disc) out of contact with the surface. May be worth a try if you can get the clearance under the steering wheel. You could always remove the seat squab and sit on the inner tube!!!

Longer term, the problem may go away after surgery. My bottom disc twice burst into the spinal chord/canal. I have had 2 operations. Instant pain relief, although some nerve damage I suffered could not be repaired and I have a semi numb lower left leg and foot.

Bottom line for looking after your spine is posture. The basic rule for lifting is don't. But if you have to lift, plan it. Do it by bending your knees, not the spine.

Keep driving!! I do. It's the getting in and out I find the most difficult.

Cheers

Steve
Steve Gyles

Steve,

Thanks very much for the input. Its becoming a larger and larger issue in my life. I've been going to a chiropractor (sp)and I've seen some modest improvements but boy howdy certain seats are just agony.

Tysen
T McCarthy

This thread was discussed between 06/07/2009 and 22/07/2009

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