FGXR6TUTE

Yes, my (Vic) dealer kindly disabled mine for me at the first inspection. Similar situation, I would drive from the carpark at the rear of work, to the front gate, stop, get out and lock the gate, etc. What amazed me was that even once the vehicle had stopped, I put it in Park and opened the door to get out to lock the gate it would continue to keep dinging away until the belt was fastened. The belt warning light still comes on but no audible alarm.

Mine wasn't there from new otherwise it would have been reported at the first service / inspection (3k km?). I'd guess it has shown up since ~10k km, now on 22k km. Mine is definitely related to engine rpm and load, I.e. it only does it once engines at normal operating temp, stationary in drive when the a/c cuts in.

I jacked mine up on some ramps last week, and had someone sit in the ute, in drive, a/c on and foot on the brake. As I expected, the noise was coming from the handbrake cables as per Nolz pic above. Nothing had come unclipped, however the 2 cables had rotated in the clip (which can be seen in the picture) and the 2 cables were touching each other. I twisted each cable within the clip so they would stay aprat and that stopped it briefly. Unfortunately the vibration has come back although not as bad as it was. I think the vibration is induced by the resonance of the exhaust (all stock).

I installed the SuperPro upper bushes Thursday night as the vibration problem seemed to get worse and more common in the hotter weather. The OE bushes had been doing a fair bit of back and forth movement as witnessed by the shiny marks on the inside edges of the brackets. So far a touch more vibration noticed on coarse roads, steering feels a little more direct particularly just off centre, and no vibration while braking. The OE bushes can be pressed out of the arm, and in fact are a rubber bush with alloy centre sleeve moulded in a plastic outer sleeve, yes plastic.

What location would we have to show you? Probably need a hoist handy to see what's going on.

Did you only fit the SuperPro upper bushes, or have you fitted the lower ones too? Have you noticed any additional NVH caused by the stiffer bushes, as well as the increased feel? And yes, the upper brackets fitted to the body do look rather weak.

Stopped at the local dealer while out today. Both 6 pot FPV's in the showroom had the washers as discussed. Spoke to spare parts, nothing mentioned in the parts catalogue at all. Incidentally, you can't buy the upper control arm bushes seperately, you can only buy a complete upper arm assy. She went and spoke to the service guys and was told that they had only ever installed the washers to 2 offending vehicles, and that only the workshop can order the parts via the FPV rep who has to inspect the offending vehicle first. The SuperPro bush set is looking good I think.

A better picture to show location of where the washer is installed.

Thanks again Bunna for your explanation, I can see now the washer idea is/was a patch job. The new "FPV unique" replacement upper arm... It will be interesting to have a look at one, however I can only assume the bush end will be different to accomodate a different size or style of bush, any other change will alter the geometry. I see SuperPro have a replacement upper inner control arm bush set for the FG (part no. SPF3226F) which possibly may be worth a try. XR09 makes a valid point re. different pad / rotor combos, however I would assume that Prodrive would have looked at that rather than casting a new arm(s).

Bunna, thanks for your response, much appreciated. However could you advise more precisely where this 100mm dia. washer goes? You say it's longevity is rather short, I assume it's not made of steel but from a poly material, perhaps it slips in between the arm and the brackets which bolt to the inner guard, I assume to effectively stiffen the apper bushes?

Zap, you said the dealer replaced the upper control arm bushes, however that was not the final fix. Have you had any further experience, did you get the sqeak fixed?