Suspension bushes?????????
09-08-2010, 02:42 AM
#1
TECH Addict
Thread Starter
Suspension bushes????????? Hi, and please bear with me on this.
In the UK (as in England). When uprating the suspension on a car it is very common to start with or at least include uprating all the bushes too.
As a rule we swap out the stock rubber items for a polyurethane or "poly" bush. These are stiffer and usually wear better. They help to tighten up the car and take out some of the slack that exists due to using rubber items.
Do any of you guys in the USA do anything similar?
Looking at some parts places (Stano Performance and others) you all seem to sell lots of chassis upgrades in terms of LCA's and the like and different shocks/springs. But there is no mention of bushes?
I ask, as my 99 z28 as developed a clonk, which I suspect is a bush on the rear somewhere. If uprated bushes are available, I'd much rather replace it with such an item.
Thanks for your help.
In the UK (as in England). When uprating the suspension on a car it is very common to start with or at least include uprating all the bushes too.
As a rule we swap out the stock rubber items for a polyurethane or "poly" bush. These are stiffer and usually wear better. They help to tighten up the car and take out some of the slack that exists due to using rubber items.
Do any of you guys in the USA do anything similar?
Looking at some parts places (Stano Performance and others) you all seem to sell lots of chassis upgrades in terms of LCA's and the like and different shocks/springs. But there is no mention of bushes?
I ask, as my 99 z28 as developed a clonk, which I suspect is a bush on the rear somewhere. If uprated bushes are available, I'd much rather replace it with such an item.
Thanks for your help.
09-08-2010, 10:43 AM
#3
Most suspension pieces like LCAs, panhard rod, front control arm, etc all come with the bushings installed (if you opt for the poly bushings instead of the rod end or roto-joint setup), hence the reason they're not really shown by themselves.
Not sure what shipping is like to you guys from Rock Auto, but I know Amazon has their UK site...if you can find the part number off a site like Rock Auto then cross-reference it to a UK site like Amazon, there's a surprising amount of stuff available. There are replacement bushings for about every OEM one on the car, but as a warning, I've seen poly bushings in the front control arms warned against due to binding.
I know shipping is a factor, but for some parts, once you factor in the cost of new bushings and having them pressed in (if required), sometimes just buying the aftermarket piece (like a panhard rod) is a better idea, since you'd only be paying $20-40 more to replace the entire assembly, rather than just the bushings.
Not sure what shipping is like to you guys from Rock Auto, but I know Amazon has their UK site...if you can find the part number off a site like Rock Auto then cross-reference it to a UK site like Amazon, there's a surprising amount of stuff available. There are replacement bushings for about every OEM one on the car, but as a warning, I've seen poly bushings in the front control arms warned against due to binding.
I know shipping is a factor, but for some parts, once you factor in the cost of new bushings and having them pressed in (if required), sometimes just buying the aftermarket piece (like a panhard rod) is a better idea, since you'd only be paying $20-40 more to replace the entire assembly, rather than just the bushings.
09-08-2010, 01:07 PM
#4
Once again I find myself agreeing with Element. By the time you spend the money on bushings, for slightly more you get the whole control arm (or PHR) already equipped with high quality polyurethane bushings. On top of that, our arms are designed around the bushing so we are able to do things that you just can't do with an OE replacement polyurethane bushing.
For example - all of our bushings are internally fluted with grease channels that can be accessed by an external grease fitting. This insures that all rotational surfaces as well as thrust surfaces of the bushing are greased. It can be done by simply injecting grease through the fitting vs. removing the entire part to grease it and still not having the ability to grease the internal sleeve.
For example - all of our bushings are internally fluted with grease channels that can be accessed by an external grease fitting. This insures that all rotational surfaces as well as thrust surfaces of the bushing are greased. It can be done by simply injecting grease through the fitting vs. removing the entire part to grease it and still not having the ability to grease the internal sleeve.
09-08-2010, 01:50 PM
#5
09-08-2010, 01:57 PM
#6
Like element said, poly bushings are not always recommended. If you get into road racing, or just general street driving, rubber/rod/roto ends are more recommended as poly can bind and hinder suspension articulation.
I know you said rubber causes the car to be looser, but the reason I mention rubber here is that in some cases (such as keeping street friendliness and suspension articulation) it can be the right choice, especially if you use the 1LE rubber bushings that flex less than the other stock bushings.
Rod ends and roto-joints (sold by UMI) deflect less than rubber but keep good suspension articulation. These can't really be purchased to use on stock parts, but rather come with aftermarket parts in some cases. The rod-ends are basically metal on metal and flex very little but can be less friendly on the street. Roto-joints seem to be the best of both worlds, allowing very little deflection like rod-ends but keeping many street friendly qualities of poly/rubber, such as some vibration dampening and low noise. Some aftermarket parts are even available as a poly/roto setup, with poly on the car side to keep vibrations and noise to a minimum and roto on the rear to allow the suspension to articulate properly.
I know you said rubber causes the car to be looser, but the reason I mention rubber here is that in some cases (such as keeping street friendliness and suspension articulation) it can be the right choice, especially if you use the 1LE rubber bushings that flex less than the other stock bushings.
Rod ends and roto-joints (sold by UMI) deflect less than rubber but keep good suspension articulation. These can't really be purchased to use on stock parts, but rather come with aftermarket parts in some cases. The rod-ends are basically metal on metal and flex very little but can be less friendly on the street. Roto-joints seem to be the best of both worlds, allowing very little deflection like rod-ends but keeping many street friendly qualities of poly/rubber, such as some vibration dampening and low noise. Some aftermarket parts are even available as a poly/roto setup, with poly on the car side to keep vibrations and noise to a minimum and roto on the rear to allow the suspension to articulate properly.
09-08-2010, 01:58 PM
#7
EDIT: Sorry for the double post. However, I wanted to add that using poly in place of the stock sway bar bushings and endlinks (which I believe are poly stock for just the ends) can give you a tighter car without drawbacks (except for squeaking for some people, lol). I forgot about those bushings. However, it might be worth replacing the sway bars and hardware as a kit as the bushings aren't necessarily that cheap. As far as bushings in the front suspension, I don't know a lot about them, so I can't really comment! Most of what I commented about in my first post was just the rear suspension pieces (LCA's, PHB).
