I don't thinks so...rubber will last you longer than 5 years...my rubbler is 5 years old now and no sign of cracking or deterioration..... :thumbs:

I have poly. My bird cage is pretty much rusted so my car sucks.

Here's some links:

Let's Settle This Poly vs. Rubber Bushings Debate

Rubber or Urethane?

Poly here everywhere. I'm doing my second body-off and going all poly again. Young enough to take the little bit of a harsher ride for the fact that I won't be under there when I'm older replacing rubber. I have no complaints. No squeaks either.

Here is where the rubber meets the road:

350 starter motors= rubber,hands down...everywhere...
502 BB motors...poly engine mounts and rubber every where else..
Tell me why not ?:toetap:

I put poly in my 77 and am about to go all poly in my 81. What it does that I like is to make all the suspension components rotate in ONLY the plane they are supposed to work in, What that does is glue the car to the ground a lot better that rubber and gives the car a lot more crisp handling. Now with that sais, everything has a price, in this case, its $$ and less vibration isolation from the road. Worth it?


Every friggin penny



IMHO of course

All poly in mine (over 10 yrs ago) & very happy with it. No squeaks either. The original rubber was toast so I can't really compare. Personally, I don't think the ride is harsh at all, but the roads around here are pretty decent & I don't drive it every day. If I had to do it again I'd stick with poly.

Ok, maybe I was exaggerating the time frame a little bit, but you get my point...

My '77's original rubber was crumbling with less than 75k miles in 1991. Poly all the way - anyone who complains about squeaks didn't grease them properly. Factory uses rubber because it's cheap. Every car I've driven with poly has had great suspension feel.

Did you use the "advanced search" and select both current and archived threads? This has been :beatdeadhorse:

Beat the horse; it's good to get current information. I've searched many threads....especially on rims and I still want to get fresh opinions because this stuff really does change.

I would think the technology of poly continues to evolve while not much is invested in "updating" rubber IMO.

I vote with the Poly, and polygraphite if you want to splurge. the primary reason in my mind is deflection and lifespan. The rubber busings while doing the job as intended, deflect something likw 20% more under cornering conditions. Ihave doen the poly graphite upgrade and was thourouly impressed withthe post install performance. Ihave sen a number of threads about getting the right sizes and harder to install and such, but i had absolutely no trouble with mine which included upper and lower control arms, sway bars etc. from my 2 cents go with polygraphite :thumbs:

Tim

I have poly on my control arms but I did them approx. 20 years ago. The suspension has good feel but they do squeak. I think the poly has come a long way in 15-20 years. The poly I installed on my car 15-20 years ago was more like hard plastic but it is my understanding that the new poly is more flexible (not quite like rubber but not hard plastic like mine either). I plan on re-doing my suspension and I will probably use the graphite impregnated polyurethane but I am still a little bit on the fence.

this is great stuff you guys! exactly what i was looking for. :thumbs:

again, speaking from experience...
i had my '71 240Z since '74, and personally, i could definitely feel the diff in ride comfort from the original rubber to poly that i installed later.

aslo as i said, i drive this car daily about 2000 miles a month, so i think i'm leaning toward rubber. plus, i live in the great NW where even you garage vatte folk wouldn't have to worry much about rubber drying out.. :(

?is poly really that much easier to install though?

So who sells the rubber bushings???

I've heard more often than not the same argument made here, that replacing worn out rubber with new rubber will make a huge difference and that poly wasn't worth the extra hassle. I have no real world experience to base this on, I just have read a lot on this exact topic.

Rubber, it lasts much longer than the rubber that was used 30 years ago. Mine are 8 years old with zero signs of deterioration. Most materials used to manufacture cars now days are not made from the same compounds that were available 3 decades ago.

Does anyone know of an OEM that builds high performance autos that use poly bushings in their products designed for the street (Porsche, Ferrari, etc.)?

I'm in the process of changing my motor mounts from poly to rubber. Hopefully it will cut down on some motor vibration.

Another vote for poly. As I rebuild the suspension, I'm replacing with Energy Suspension poly bushings. I decided to go this route due to the longevity of poly.

Ecklers, Summit, CA, they all sell the rubber. No doubt the compounds have both improved greatly over the last 15 yrs or so, I would be surprised if it did not. But for calibration of suspension and making it more accurite, you can't beat Poly because of the inherent deflection in the rubber stuff. I read the threads about some folks having size issues but mine always went very well. IMHO the Poly is just as easy to install as rubber, cost more but works better. They are also impervious to tranny fluid, PS fluid, gas, brake juise, etc. Rubber swells almost immediately upon contact with tranny juice (ask how I know, left a new set of front tires spread on the road from OKC to dallas, one trip)
The Poly motor/tranny mounts might be a bit of an overkill, if the motor wiggles around just a bit it will not change the steering geometry and in a bumpy cam motor the rubber mounts may work better. The motor can't move much because of the interlocks on the normal mounts anyway.
my .02

my motor; 500hp/500tq... rubber mounts, broken.. poly mounts, not broken. nuff said.. :thumbs: