Thread: Suspension bushes - rubber or poly for better ride?

Rubber for comfort, polybushes for longevity.

I doubt there is a measurable difference. (FWIW, my dad's 88" had rubber, my 109" has poly).

You have a thin layer of rubber vs a thicker layer of polyurethane.

I am sure though that the really hard poly bushes transmit more vibration, but I would avoid them.

The colour of poly bushes has no relationship to the hardness. You can make them any colour you want. My 109 has yellow bushes bought from a small spring works in Brisbane. I have no idea who made them, but they are quite soft compared to most.

IME Super-Pro poly bushes are the best option if you are buying them.

As far as I am aware - after market bushes like the yellow or red poly (Nolathane) variety you mention are more for longivety and durability.....not necessarily actual performance.

The compromise of standard rubber buishes that; when the rubber wears, it allows more movement of the shock absorber mounts or in your case, the springs will move about in the hangars.
This movement translates to poor suspension dampening, excessive movement and accelerates wear on the springs, struts and shockies.

An alternative can be had by fitting harder wearing and longer life bushes (The red or yellow types) that last a hell of a lot longer and....give you a perceived better suspension performance by keeping your numerous suspension mounts in better condition.

I was going to junk a pair of shocks not that long ago that I thought were U/S when it was suggested I replace the original rubber bushes with Nolathane - I did and the shocks are now back on the car performing well!

Originally Posted by Catmatt

...when the rubber wears,


...

...
An alternative can be had by fitting harder wearing and longer life bushes (The red or yellow types) ...

In metal-shelled bushes the rubber does not "wear". It is bonded to the inner and outer shells. Wear only happens after the bond has failed (at which point the bush has already passed its service life / failed).

This applies to all suspension bushes on both series and coilers except for shockie rubbers and the bushes on the chassis end of the trailing and radius arms of a coiler.

Good quality metal-shelled bushes usually have an extremely long service life on a series (even up to 30 years!), as long as they don't become oil contaminated. The problem though is that quality rubber bushes are hard to find these days.

So, IME, poly bushes don't last longer than rubber, however they are easier to fit and much more oil resistant.

As I mentioned above, the colour is not a reliable indication of hardness.

Also - beware of hard bushes on a coiler - plenty of coilers have broken suspension conponents after fitting poly bushes that were too hard.

For me, original rubber everytime - must admit my experiences are limited to coilers.

If you look at the original polybush bushes, the colour was an easy means to determine hardness of the bushes on the vehicle (blue soft, orange comfort, red HARD). Nowadays there are all sorts of colours and i suspect they all mean different things to different manufacturers.

Notwithstanding above, rubber bushes allow the various suspension components to flex and move in a controlled way. If you "lock this movement up" in the bush, it has to be transmitted elsewhere in the vehicle.

Better to replace a few bushes that place undue stress elsewhere.

Now if only someone could invent a rubber bush that could simply be slotted in like a polybush!

R
Jon

Yep OEM all the way, poly bushes are easy to fit, but that's about it.

Replaced my panhard with poly ones, only lasted 9 months, replaced with OEM, still going strong two years on.

I used a slide hammer to remove them, and had the use of a press, otherwise leave them in the freezer overnight, and gently warm the part where they have to go in, found it made a difference.

These days I'd only use them on the man locating arms (Panhard/Watts Link/A-Frame) Where their motion is rotating around a point, the others need the compliance that rubber affords.

As listed blue/orange/red used to be an indication. Now it's brands, red Nolathane, yellow Superpro, blue Lovells etc.

Originally Posted by clubagreenie

As listed blue/orange/red used to be an indication. Now it's brands, red Nolathane, yellow Superpro, blue Lovells etc.

No it isn't. (well maybe with some dodgy manufactrers).

Does the colour of your bushes indicate how hard the ride will be when fitted?
No. Colour coding by material hardness would result in us either specifying multi-coloured car kits of varying hardness of material, or kits of one colour of the same material hardness that would offer a compromised result to our customers. SuperPro believes that it is important to supply a bush that is designed to achieve the optimum performance for its location on the car. This means that a single car may need bushes of three or four different hardness's of material to deliver the best improvement in suspension performance without creating excessive levels of NVH.

See above - according to SuperPro, they use a range of hardnesses in their bushes, (even for a single vehicle application) however the colour is the same for all (which FWIW, is blue/purple).

Originally Posted by jimbob292

Yep OEM all the way, poly bushes are easy to fit, but that's about it.

Replaced my panhard with poly ones, only lasted 9 months, replaced with OEM, still going strong two years on.

My experience has been the opposite. I fitted poly bushes to my IIA after the rubber bushes died after ~12 months. The poly bushes were fitted in 1998 and I have only needed to replace 2 bushes in that time (out of 12 on the car), despite many km on and off road.

With coilers I used to agree. I found bushes from a reputable supplier who claimed they were "OEM quality, from the same supplier as OEM". Those bushes failed at ~1500 km ~5000 km x2 and 10000 km. They have all been replaced with SuperPro. (Note that super pro are the only poly bushes I would consider fitting to a coiler).