Disintegrating Rubber Mounts

[Fast Jan]

Apart from the age of the rubber, what else would cause the damage to the suspension top mounts as the pics below show?

I'm ready to complain to the council about the speed bumps in the car parks I use as I wonder if they are causing it somehow (I crawl over them as slow as it's possible to go, a snail moves quicker) but they are the really narrow bumps that feel really hard

[Jerry & Di]

Are they OEM bushes? They look as if they are very old, oil/uv light damaged rubber items. probably nothing to do with speed bumps at all as the weight of the car is taken on the big rubber pads the other side of the metal body skin.
They are purely damper bushes, perhaps you have hard settings?

[Fast Jan]

Yep OEM bushes as I couldn't get the polybushes to fit Probably quite old OEMs, at a guess I'd say they're as old as the car so 10 years. Perhaps time to invest in some new ones!

I still might complain to the council anyway as I hate the speed bumps they've put in, by all means add speed bumps, but I wish they'd make them a little bit easier on the cars.

[Dave]

Go for it Jan,bloody speed bumps jar my bad neck and would like to see somebody take these on and win,i would like to see them all gone and replaced if anything bollard type chicanes perhaps.

[g4wam]

hello there , my question would be are you running with the correct height adjustments
not enogh clearance between wheel and arch although sexy is not good the the suspnsions health.
There was a good article in tha last MGOC mag by Roger Parker on this very subject
Mike

[Fast Jan]

Hi Mike, I did have lowering springs on for a couple of years but have been running on standard height springs for quite a while now. But I have fitted and refitted the same top mounts each time so think it's time for replacements