R Mackow

At Spooktacular Sunday PM, I noticed the rubber bushing on my right front lower A arm to extruding out of its proper position, allowing metal to metal contact, between the arm knuckle and the aluminum housing.
Replace with poly bushings? Will they stay put? Source...VBP? Do they squeek? Does a poly bushing need to be lubed continually? With what?
How difficult to do in the home garage? My skill level is that I've done rotors, pads, shocks, sway bars, and both front wheel bearings on my C5.

froggy47

Usually it's the upper that goes first, but lowers also (apparently). You may go to the trouble of doing the poly replacement only to find that they shift out of position also. There is a vendor that has race type bushings, but maybe too harsh for you.

If it's primarily street with a little sport driving thrown in, I'd replace with stock & be good for another 20-30k miles. You should be able to diy.

96CollectorSport

Bushings are not an easy job to do yourself, I use a press to do them, but most people don't have access to a press so they use a torch. Personally I like to VB&P bushings they have washers at the ends of there bushings and seem like they would stay in place the best. However the Pfadt and DRM bushings have slots in them to hold more lube in place. Also if you are doing the whole car the Pfadt kit comes with a bushing for the rear lower shock mount. Of all of the bushings I have installed (about 7 sets) I haven't had one person complain about squeeking, no matter which bushings they have gone with. I would definatly recommend bushings not only will they not move on you they will also keep your alignment settings where you set them (less arm movement) they will also give you extended life of your race rubber. Besides the cost I don't really see a downside, except maybe a little stiffer ride, but that's not always a bad thing.

meldog21

I have an extra set of lower a-arms with new VBP bushings installed. $400 if you want them. If you're interested you can email me at meldog21@yahoo.com

Dog

vette6aut0x

Just installed the Pfadt kit in my brother Toms car. We are getting the car ready for PBOC at the 24hr course at Daytona next week. I drove the car today after installing and there are no squeaks. The car is an 08 with LG coilovers and Phadt sways. We had the stock bushings in the car and pushed the upper control arm bushing out about .5" at Road Atlanta when we ran it in TT with NASA in August. The car ran well turning a 1:34 wich is respectable. We cant wait to see what it will do at Daytona next week and will give an update about the bushings. David

PS, Part of the problem for the stock bushing might be the ST60 brakes and the 315 front and 345 rears. And If wondering how the hell did you put those sizes on a C6, the car has the Z06 body panels installed to accomodate those sizes.

R Mackow

Thanks for your input.

beerkat

I put the VBP bushing in my car and they squeak every time the car hits a bump. I had other poly bushing put on a Lightning I use to own and they squeaked also.

talon95

GM replaced those bushings in 2003 with a slightly harder bushing which lasts quite a bit better. This was a very common problem with '01 and '02 Z06's. I've got 3 years on my 2003 Z and still haven't killed the bushings running 295 A6's. The bad news is you can only buy them with the control arms, so they're not cheap. The parts were superseded, so if you buy new control arms, you should get the newer bushings.

Dave G.

R Mackow

A friend of mine replaced his rubber w/Phadt poly/graphite impregnated....no squeaks.

mustclime

You need to lube poly bushings about once a year depending on use.

1stZ

I have the pfadt poly urethane bushing now for about 2 years and it didn't squeak at first, but now does squeak! Might be stupid question, but how do you lube them? BTW, I have an '06 C6Z. TIA

R Mackow

If I have to lube a poly bushing after its been in a while, do i have to remove them, lube them, and reinstall? Sounds like a PITA.

yikes!

gkmccready

You don't need to remove them from the control arm if that's what you mean...

96CollectorSport

I've used silicone spray on the car before but it only works for a couple of weeks, you would almost want to put zerk fittings onto the arms so that you can lube the arms, although it would get messy it would keep them quiet, or you could just deal with the noise and enjoy the benefits.

froggy47

I never had them, but, I think the answer is yes to completely and thoroughly lube them you need to R&R them (unless you have a zerk fitting installed - which no one does)

You can ,of course, squirt/rub/smear lube all over (the outside of) it, but I think that is probably a temporary deal if it helps at all.



This why I previously suggest stock replacement, unless you have a competition need for poly. I hear the graphite impreg. are better at not squeeking.

C66 Racing

I can't run poly in SCCA T1, but will say that over the years, even with the stiffer bushings in the T1 a-arms, I've found it very common that the lower front a-arms tend to move aft. As a caution, this changes the geometry of the front suspension. Most notably, front toe goes in a lot as the lower front a-arms slide aft. Fairly easy to adjust toe and if you track the car and don't have a set of toe plates, they are fairly cheap (like under $100) from places like Longacre.

Fastguy

I just bought the Pfadt kit for my car and I don't have a torch. I do have a drill press. My plan is to drill a few 3/8 holes around the perimiter of the old bushing to make it easier to push out with a vice.

ajg1915

The trick is to use a ball joint press and press them out. It works great.

jaybar

Ditto, rented a ball joint removal kit from an auto parts store, to pull the ball joint, but after I tried to burn one out and saw what a PITA it was I looked for a better way. In the kit there was a large puller that fit over the end of the control arm and allowed me to push out the bushing. Very easy.