blackdogz

I replaced all the ball joints, tie rod ends and front end bushings with Polygraphite ones. Man, this thing rides like a truck. My old front lower control bushings were shot, so I redid the whole thing.

He's the thing, when I go over bumps the sound it makes is horrible. It sounds like the whole front end is loose. It bangs and rattles like something is loose. I think it might have done this before the change, but now it sounds worse.

I doubled checked and tightened everything as best I could. Nothing seems loose. A Friend of mine who works at a Chevy dealer did the alignment. He agrees everything is tight. But man the noise it makes.

The car is a 94z with sub frames.

Any ideas????????

z_speedfreak

iTrader: (3)

thats polly bushing for you, my ride is harsh as hell. I was driving around one day with another 4th gen owner one day and he thought my suspension was clapped out cause of the noises it makes from bumps and imperfections in the road. I would like to swap a few back to rubber bushing but im not sure which ones to replace that would cut back on the noises but not on handleing.

blackdogz

So that seems to be the nature of having hard bushings huh?

Ducati749

Well i went all polygraphite recently. My initial impression was love and hate. They were great in performance just when going to park i experienced the same noise your having. After tearing through my suspension i noticed a shock bushings failed which caused the shock to come in contact with the car. Also one of the upper arm bushings binded up pretty good rdue to fitment. I am now adding zirk fittings, and checking all bushings for proper fitment....

blertawho

iTrader: (14)

i just changed all of my bushings over and i really like them. i dont have any noises or rattles comming from the suspension, or anything for that matter. i did put on some cheap KYB struts which are really soft. perhaps that is what is keeping my ride from being really rough. everything just feels real tight. my car has 75k miles on it. i live in oklahoma too. all of the roads are completely torn up here and i dont have any problems. everyone seems to hate their poly busings. i like mine they really stiffeend up everything, but nothing is too harsh

leadfoot4

iTrader: (1)

I had the polygraphite bushings on my '96 Z-28 for one summer. My feelings, like Ducati said, were love and hate. I loved the sharpness in handling that the bushings provided. I hated the increased harshness over bumps, expansion strips, and other crap, the roads around here have. I thought I was pounding the car to death, so I took them out after only one summer.

I've used poly bushings in MANY cars, over the years, and I've usually been satisfied with them. However, on my Z-28, the combination of short, stiff sidewalled tires, and crappy roads made for a bad combination for a daily driver.

jimmyblue

iTrader: (11)

Poly wants more care with the lubrication, to keep
the noise down. Polygraphite I think is a hype deal,
the only way it can lube itself is to wear itself. So
help it out and give it some extra. I like the moly/
graphite engine assembly lube used for cam installs.
I have poly bushings on all of the sway bars and TA
but rubber elsewhere (LCA, PHR, shocks) and the ride
seems not to have suffered. The control arms are
where the worst harshness from stiff rubber would
show. That, and having loose mounts that let the
bushing sleeves slop and bang metal-metal.

Poly does have a range of hardness and maybe some
is too stiff. The poly I have is what came with the
Strano sway bars, the UMI TA and the AutoZone
endlink kits (Energy Suspension?). Pieces that come
with the hard gear, maybe are selected for your
benefit. But something sold ala carte for "maximum
handling performance" might not compromise for
your comfort.

JGA

Hi

I have polyurethane in my entire rear. Control arms, panhard, swaybars and torque arm. I lube every 1000 miles or the ride gets realy harsh. It helps quite abit. I use Superlube.

JA