This is the report on the poly bushings that I installed in my 94 six speed coupe, standard suspension. I just finished a complete front and rear suspension rebuild. The car has 110K on it and I thought it would be time to do the bushings. I used the energy suspension master kit and the kits for the front and rear sway bars. I ordered the black bushings. I used Moog ball joints and tie rod ends. I was amazed at how well the original suspension had held up. The only items that were really worn were the tie rod ends, front and rear, and the sway bar end links. The lower ball joints were a little loose but not too bad. All the bushings were in pretty good shape. The whole job took me about a week to complete and I needed help replacing the bushings. I have a Harbor Freight 12 ton press that I used to replace the bushings. I have to send out a special thanks to "BlackHarleyman" for his post about his "LT4 suspension rebuild". I had my laptop in the garage which I referenced many times. Also, a special thanks to my buddy Jerry for all his help. The hardest part was replacing the bushings in the control arms. That took a lot of time. Installing that one piece bushing in the upper control arm was a chess game which I finally won.

My first test ride was a disaster and this is what I wrote in a previous post.

"The rear suspension is now so stiff that I don't even want to drive the car. What the hell, all that work and it sucks. We have speed bumps in our neighborhood and on the way out I went over the first one and if I hadn't had my seat belt on I would have hit my head on the roof. I can't believe that just replacing the bushings in the rear would cause this result. It's unbelievable!

Has anyone experienced this? Could I have done something wrong? I don't know where to go from here. The front seems fine and very tight. That must be those new tie rod ends. It reminds me of my utility trailer which doesn't have shocks. It just bounces, very stiff when empty."

Upon inspection the next day I discovered I did do something wrong. I installed the rear sway bar upside down and it was hitting a bracket on the body. I fixed that and now to the road test report.

The car's steering is now very tight. (I'm having a 4 wheel alignment done this week). Here's what I can tell you about the poly bushing upgrade. It's great! I read many posts on the forum which said, "harder ride", "noisier", and "stiff". I have to admit that I didn't want the ride to be stiffer, just tighter. The ride might be slightly stiffer but certainly not objectionable. I don't notice any more noise. It is much tighter. I would do this again, in a heartbeat. I can't wait to get the alignment done and have the tires roadforce balanced. Anyone in the CT area that needs help with this look me up. I'm glad to share my experience. Oh yeah, I spent about $900 on the parts.

 

cool

 

I changed my springs, bearings, shocks, steering rack, all tie rods, and every bushing all at once. I best put it like this. It's like driving a 20 year old corvette vs driving a brand new m5. It was that dramatic. Quite honestly I want to puke when I drive a stock c4. My best friend was speechless after he drove my car coming from a stock 96 lt4. glad you liked the upgrade