Wishbone bushing dish washer direction

[mosearch]

This is probably a very naive question; re-treading old ground; but since I did not find it in a search, I'm going to ask anyway.

Which direction is the proper dish for the huge washer (31 12 1 108 294) at the front connection of the wishbone tension strut? Concave facing big rubber bushing...or Convex facing bushing? See photos below...

The blue binder manual clearly dictates the concept of dishing away from the rubber; both in the wishbone assembly ans in the anti-sway bar bolt stack. So that I understand. But as for the front huge washer, it just seems logical to me to have it's curve follow and protect the big bushing crown...

Hard to know, since the previous owner had slammed so many wheel stops and curbs it was reshaped past the point of a meaningful guess.

The dish on the bushing plates at the sway bar ends is clearly shown as convex-to-rubber...and I'll take that as gospel since it appears that way in all the literature and photos of other folks cars...but I will admit it's a little counter-intuitive; since the bushings themselves appear molded to accept the concave face.

 

[MatthewCervi]

Mine is concave over the bushing (like the blue arc in picture 2)...so hopefully that is the right answer.

 

[HB Chris]

They should point away from the bushing, concave side outwards.

 

[lloyd]

They should point away from the bushing, concave side outwards.

Chris is correct. The manual's explanation is less that a model of clarity. There is quite a bit of "give" in the bushes. Facing the convex washer/limiter away from each bush permits that movement. Cupping the bush would limit it. In fairness, unless the nut is overtorqued to the point of distorting the bush, placing the washer concave side against the bush still permits some movement and the differences are not that critical. I have heard it argued that the disfavored configuration may also provide a stiffer more controllable tracking during hard braking. This seems contrary to the factory's generally good thinking; however, I know of one owner that searched for flat washers to mimic the illustrations and literally split the difference. In some regard this is analogous to using urethane bushes rather than rubber. By and large even the softest urethane bush will be firmer and have less "give" then its rubber equivalent.

To the best of knowledge, the setup is the same with the '02. Illustration 9.9 below, could be clearer too. Saying the convex outer faces the bush is somewhat ambiguous. Arguably, saying the concave inner faces away from the bush, is slightly more understandable.

Pictures of similar configuration on E10