Hello Everyone,

I'm curious about the benefits of installing polyurethane bushings on my car. I've searched both the C5 Tech and Gen Discussion forums, but haven't found much info.

For those that have installed the poly suspension bushings, what are your observations? How does the ride differ from the stock bushings? Are they noisy? Would you make the same choice if you had it to do over?

I'm asking because my car just turned 106,000 miles, and since I don't know the history of the car I have no way of knowing if the suspension bushings / ball joints have ever been changed. What I DO know is that I expected a more "confident" feeling from the suspension than what I'm currently experiencing.

My other car is a 2002 BMW 330Ci....it had 304,000 miles on it when I changed every bushing, control arm, control arm bushing, tie rods and ends, ball joint, shock, strut, strut mounts, etc....the difference in ride and handling is amazing. The car handles like it's on rails, doesn't "wallow" in curves, is very confidence inspiring. It feels like what (I think) it must have felt like when new.

My car is an A4 with a 3:15 diff. In the very near future I'm going to install a new torque converter, C6 Z51 sway bars, and new shocks. While I've got it apart, I plan to replace the wear items in the suspension....I'm just debating whether to go with rubber or poly.

Thanks in advance for the replies!

 

I was considering poly bushings myself when changing to C6 Z51 sways.

I've read on CF they can be very noisy and need to be kept greased. I've also read that some have solved the noise by using plumbers teflon tape.

The person who sold me the bars said there's not much difference, so I went with the stock GM bushings.

Unless you track or autocross frequently enough to justify the maintenance, I wouldn't bother.


.

 

I've used poly bushings since the late 70s, since they first became commercially available. They're a good news/bad news deal, depending on several variables.

If the roads where you live are glass smooth, using them on the a-arm pivots might be OK. They take a lot of the compliance out of the suspension, which tightens the handling, but having less compliance, they transmit impacts from potholes, expansion strips, etc, more directly to the car. So, as I said, they're a trade off.

On sway bars, I think they're a positive addition, since the bushing is more of a bearing for the sway bars, and doesn't see any deflection from the road.

 

they have a limited life anytime they move under pressure. rather than a twisting one gets with rubber bushings poly rotates on itself and any road grime that wedges between the sleeve and bushing will sandpaper it

i did a long mileage test in a daily driver honda a few years ago. was a 100k mile test with energy suspension bushings.

what i found was

the front lower control arms were completely shot in 30k miles with enough slop that you could move the front wheel in and out and watch the inner sleeve slide in the bushing

the rear control arms lasted much longer not getting all too bad until the 100k mark. at 60k they were not sloppy but did rotate lose.

the sway bars were great and could have continued on longer

the front lower control arms take the majority of cornering forces and as such are put under more stress than other components

 

Poly bushings are great for track use, not so much for street driving. They tighten up the suspension compliance and can be rough for an every day driver. Properly installed and lubed they will provide a quiet firm ride.

 

I've been daily driving my 04 Z06 with the PFADT poly bushings for two months. I drive maybe 40 miles per day with about 35-40 stoplights, and STL roads aren't the smoothest. My car has 140k on it so the stockers were very worn out. I don't notice any more harsh of a ride, probably because the factory stuff was so worn out. I don't have a single squeak or bad thing to say about them so far. I lubed the crap out of them when I installed them.

 

Thanks for the replies. I did find an amazing series of posts from a CF member on how to set up your car for the track, which included a fantastic amount of info on his experiences with poly bushings, as well as links to some other discussions on the topic.

Unfortunately, there were as many "for" comments as there were "against" comments.

I am NOT happy with how my C5 is handling....it just doesn't seem "tight" enough. To be fair though, I haven't spent enough time under the car while it's on a lift to look over the suspension carefully, so I don't yet know what the culprit(s) is.
If the bushings do look / feel to be worn, based on what I've read thus far, my inclination is to replace the bushings with poly I've searched high and low for replacement rubber bushings, but haven't found any....I've found LOTS of upper and lower A arms w/ the rubber bushings already installed, but not the replacement bushings themselves. Anyone know from where they can be had?


Thanks again,
Jon

 

You mentioned that you were going to get new C6 Z51 bars - well because those bars have a bigger diameter - you will need different bushings anyway - but the correct ones come with the bars unless you want poly ones. But even the poly ones are different for the stock bars and any different diameter bars.

From the GM Parts House

2012 C6 Z51 Sway Bars! - We have the Z51 sway bars kit with the Genuine GM bushings for $208.17.

 

I don't believe anyone makes replacement rubber bushings. You must buy the complete arms.

There is a rubber bushing on the passenger end of the rack and pinion and someone makes an aluminum bushing to replace it. It has been reported that this helps a lot. I might try it over the winter.

I would also try an alignment and new heavier sway bars and new shocks before I worried about bushings unless they actually are going bad.

 

springs and shocks are the #1 thing you can do to tighten up the car

sway bar sizes can be used to fine tune under/oversteer to your preference.

if you could grab the springs, sways and shocks from one of these wrecked z06s you would have an inexpensive upgrade