Opinions on polyurethane bushings?

SadbutTrue · Mar 11, 2008

Jon @ Opentracker recommended I only get poly for the coil spring insulators, sway bar bushings, and rear leaf spring shackles. Obviously he knows his stuff but I figured I'd ask around to see what the consensus was.

Should I go pretty much full poly on the front (outside the strut rod bushing) or just limit it to those that Jon mentioned? Or some combo thereof? Thanks

rbohm · Mar 11, 2008

john knows his stuff so i would go with his recommendations. the problem with most poly bushings is that they are too stiff. i would stay away from using poly on the strut rods, and the lower control arm. sway bar end links, sway bar bushings, leaf springs, use the poly there.

Rusty67 · Mar 11, 2008

What about the dust boots for the ball joints/tie rods ?

rbohm · Mar 11, 2008

Rusty67 said:
What about the dust boots for the ball joints/tie rods ?

they would be good for that also.

Fast63 · Mar 12, 2008

I have only used poly bushings in my 5.0, but if I had to do it again I would not use them on the front control arms only, and that's because there is too much vibration. But it really helps handling. If you don't mind chattering your teeth out, go poly all the way.

valley82 · Mar 12, 2008

John know's these cars, if he says not to use poly in certain places I wouldn't.

bnickel · Mar 12, 2008

poly on the LCA will cause binding as well as on the strut rods. for the LCA use either regular rubber bushings or sperical bearings, john sells complete LCA's with sperical bearings already installed and he also a DIY kit for them as well. same thing for the strut rods, either regular rubber or a heim jointed adjustable unit. i prefer the TCP strut rods myself because of the design and it keeps the pivot point exactly in line with the LCA where it should be most of the other kits relocate the pivot point slightly askew of where it should be, but not bad, so running those won't cause any major problems, i just prefer to keep the pivots where they should be.

you could also run Delrin in the leaf springs but that's mucho dinero

Opentracker · Mar 12, 2008

Rusty67 said:
What about the dust boots for the ball joints/tie rods ?

Good point - Dust boots are a good place to use poly.

mikethebike · Mar 12, 2008

SadbutTrue said:
Jon @ Opentracker recommended I only get poly for the coil spring insulators, sway bar bushings, and rear leaf spring shackles. Obviously he knows his stuff but I figured I'd ask around to see what the consensus was.

Should I go pretty much full poly on the front (outside the strut rod bushing) or just limit it to those that Jon mentioned? Or some combo thereof? Thanks

Don't forget to wrap the sway bar with teflon tape under the bushings..absolutely NO squeeks!!

rbohm · Mar 12, 2008

mikethebike said:
Don't forget to wrap the sway bar with teflon tape under the bushings..absolutely NO squeeks!!

either that or get energy suspensions poly bushings with grease fittings and lube them at every oil change.

Hack · Mar 13, 2008

I'm not a fan of poly. I would not get it in any place that Opentracker doesn't recommend. Now roller bearings - I'm a big fan.

Rusty67 · Mar 13, 2008

Hack said:
I'm not a fan of poly. I would not get it in any place that Opentracker doesn't recommend. Now roller bearings - I'm a big fan.

Poly is GREAT stuff when you put it in the right places. The front control arms on the SN95 Mustangs really need poly on the smaller bushing. The rubber just can't handle the abuse. The larger rubber bushing is just fine, I don't know why Ford didn't just put 2 of the larger bushings, everything would have been fine.

Anyways, my point is that poly is great stuff when used in the right places.

mikethebike · Mar 13, 2008

rbohm said:
either that or get energy suspensions poly bushings with grease fittings and lube them at every oil change.

Those work but I wrapped mine 22 years ago and have not had to touch them since. Plus you don't get the dirt and grime that the grease attracts that sooner or later gets between the bushing and bar.

Plus #3....it only adds the cost of 1-2 feet of teflon tape instead of having to buy al that extra stuff.

Curse me but I hate to spend more than I have to. (It's that SBC gene I inherited from my mothers side of the family)

Edbert · Mar 13, 2008

I ran full polly on the street for many years without any issues. But that was with 205/65R14 tires. Went to 235/45R17s and lost a lot of the give, either that or I am just getting too old for the jarring ride

On my car now I have them on all springs and shocks (front and rear), plus the sway-bar...the rest is stock.

On the track it might all be different, I never ran lap-times with different bushings to see.

Opinions on polyurethane bushings?

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