sothpaw2

Hi Everyone,

I noticed after my 3rd DE of the year that the rubber bushings in the upper control arm (where it bolts to the frame at the engine bay...highest point in the fronts suspension) are extruding out. It's only 1 bushing on front driver's side, 1 bushing on front pass side. I think they are ok for maybe 1 more event but I don't want to get metal-on-metal.

So what are my options to replace these bushings if I want NO noise & total reliability (as with the stock bushings)? I've heard folks go to poly and I would too in a race car but this thing spends most of its time on the street. I have a really low tolerance now for squeeks and rattles, I just don't want that in a nice high end car.

Is there anyone sells these rubber bushings separately? Or should I try to find a junkyard control arm and just bolt it on?

Thanks,

Andy

froggy47

I have 2 new uppers that are T1 rubber bushings. The harder (rubber) T1 bushings stay put better than the non T1.

PM if interested.

sothpaw2

Interested in that...are they new? Do you know if they will be quiet as the stockers were? Again, I really don't want a symphony unless it's on the radio (in which case I can turn it off!)

drivinhard

I've never heard any noise from any of the Pfadt poly kits I've installed/maintained. With the locking snap rings/washer set up, the bushings can't pull themselves out of the arms.

I'm pretty **** about keeping a street car a street car but I'd put the Pfadt poly kit on any street C5 I had in a heartbeat.

C5ZEE06

anyone have an opinion on installing poly bushings in the upper control arms...while keeping the oe bushes in the lowers ??

drivinhard

I have raced with Pfadt rears, Pfadt on the lower front driver's arm and OEM everywhere else. sometimes you run out of thrash time

sothpaw2

Yeah that's a good point too...I'd want to do make this fix and not do the rest of suspension. I'm fine with the OE bushings and would rather buy a DeWitts rad with the $$.

argonaut

I have the Pfadt bushings and haven't had any noise either. But I lube them once a year too. I don't believe you could replace the OE rubber with rubber...you will need new A-arms. But the trouble with new A-arms is they are going to fail the same way. Kinda blows.

froggy47

Yes "new" as in never been put on a car. They are quiet as the softer originals. 100% same except the rubber is a higher durometer rating.

They do not "push" out as easy as the stock ones

They are GM Performance T1 upper arms.

stevensa

So thats how the bushings are supposed to be positioned!!!

drivinhard

bingo

sothpaw2

What do you do to lube the Pfadt polys? How would you get lub in there?

I realize if I went with new OE A-arms it would fail the same way, but in my case it took 3 years to get here so it might not be so bad.

longdaddy

i can attest to the fact that T1s will stay generally where they should for longer. they will still do the same over time, but the advantages are 0 maintenance, simple install, and 0 chance of noise issues

argonaut

I put zerk fittings in all around, makes it very easy.

Caddy2006

Another option for the front upper control arm bushings is laid out near the bottom of page 1 in this thread ....http://forums.corvetteforum.com/auto...s-options.html

I gave it a shot on mine since it was free. I did have to back the front bushing out to bolt the control arm back in place. Not sure how quickly the front arm will move (bend) back into position.

sothpaw2

Argonaut,

Did you or AlwaysinBoost ever try Solofast's solution in the above post? It's interesting.

I guess I should go the T1 way since I don't want too much maintenance and I'm not doing the work myself. Unless Solo's method could be done by a machine shop...

C5ZEE06

my latest T1s backed out quite a bit after just two track days...they seem to have stabilized but...

argonaut

Nope - I didn't ever try Solofast's solution. That thread is from quite a while ago so I can't say as I remember my thinking at the time. In the end I bought the Pfadt bushings, installed them along with zerks and now have two seasons without a complaint. Works for me.

sothpaw2

Sounds like you have the best solution certainly for the DIY driver.

Do you have any pics of the control arm finished with zerk&polys ? Part # of the zerk fitting? If it(bushings & zerk) was something I could take to a machine shop and say "here...do this" then that'd be no problem for me. I have no problem squirting in some lub periodically as long as I can reach it without any dissassembly. I'd have a tech swap the control arm in & out for installation.

Thanks for all the advice!

Andy

Pfadt Racing

The front uppers and especially the forward pick up point really do take a lot of the braking forces under hard track use. It's not that uncommon for this to happen after a hard track day. Our poly control arm kits are designed to reduce the tendency for the bushings to press out while retaining the ability to daily drive the car. Ultimately the best solution are spherical bearings, but they aren't great for a high mileage street use application.

While we don't recommend installing zerks into the control arms because of stress risers that may appear in your control arm, we haven't seen evidence of a failed arm because of a zerk installation. In our view the best way to properly maintain poly is to disassemble periodically and relubricate with proper grease, but that being said argonaut's solution seems to be working for him.

We really did design our poly kits for street use and with proper maintenance with high quality marine grade grease such as the supplied Energy Suspension Forumula #5, our poly kit should provide thousands of miles before needing to be serviced.