Thread: nolathane or rubber

Actually in my view there is little to choose in this location, although my general preference is for the original type.

The discussion as to which is preferred runs something like this.

The original bushes were rubber. These have several differences compared to polyurethane bushes, but they come down to two factors -

1. The rubber ones have two steel tubes (generalising here) with rubber vulcanised onto both tubes. The outer tube is a press fit into the link or arm etc. The polyurethane bushes are usually two part fitting directly into the hole and with a steel tube pushed through the centre. This makes the polyurethane bush easier to fit and to remove.

2. Traditionally, the polyurethane bushes are less elastic than rubber, giving more precise handling at the expense of a harsher ride and more strain on the bits they attach to than the original bushes. But there are now softer polyurethane bushes, so this is not always the case now.

Durability appears to vary widely, probably because there are several brands of each type of bush, and also opportunities for screwing up when fitting, and the life also depends on the use.

A serious drawback of polyurethane bushes compared to the rubber ones is that particularly if they start to fail, and particularly in dusty conditions, the bush moving relative to the eye it is in can enlarge the eye so that the arm must be replaced - which will get expensive. With rubber bushes, even when the bush fails completely, wear is taken by the steel sleeve, not the arm.

Hope this helps.

John

Matey, as the Medical Orderly told me at the RAP one day.......always use rubbers ......I didn't know that he knew I was into Landys

go the new style polys - as flexible as rubber but tougher materials.

big plus is they are much easier to replace - anywhere / bush etc when needed as most are made in 2 pieces, so the hardest part is removing the old knackered rubber ones.

just my 10c

LRH

Depending on if you mean swaybar link, the Nolathane bushes can be a little soft, but it depends on what brand you buy. Nolathane is a brand name but there are plenty of others on the market, just drop into any suspension place and see what they have on offer.
For control arm bushes etc, these will tend to be a lot harder as they need to resist more wear.
A urethane bush will give you a lot more ease of movement in the bush as it is greased and not bonded between the inner crush tube and outer housing like a rubber bush and will also resist lateral twist, ie side to side movement. They can, if good quality and have the correct shure rating, increase stability at speed and make the vehicle feel a little more tight plus in an offroad situation, make axle articulation better and with less clunking.
The clunks with rubber bushes are commonly caused by the crush tube reaching its twist limit being bonded to the rubber and the crush tube actually rotating against the strain causing everything in your suspension to essentially relocate itself!
But in any suspension setup, the swaybars are always the biggest limitation for suspension travel.
It really comes down to personal preference, but a full urethane kit can set you back some bucks.
And as I always stress, dont skimp when it comes to price. There is some real rubbish out there and if it looks cheap, it is cheap. Nolathane is a good guide to quality products.
Go to a well reputed suspension outlet and have a chat with someone that likes to tell rather than likes to sell!!

Stick with rubber, they dont wear that quickly and from personal experience i will only ever use poly bush's in the panhard rod - had bad experience with poly's before.

Originally Posted by LOVEMYRANGIE

..............
1. A urethane bush will give you a lot more ease of movement in the bush as it is greased and not bonded between the inner crush tube and outer housing like a rubber bush and will also resist lateral twist, ie side to side movement. ........
2. The clunks with rubber bushes are commonly caused by the crush tube reaching its twist limit being bonded to the rubber and the crush tube actually rotating against the strain causing everything in your suspension to essentially relocate itself!.......

1. The silentbloc bushes as originally installed are designed to prevent any sliding action - sliding means wear and the addition of grease attracts dust, to act as grinding paste. Going from a flexible bush to a sliding action is stepping back fifty years. The silentbloc bushes do not allow any sideways movement.

2. Rubber bushes only clunk when the bonding of the rubber has broken away from the tubes or when the inner tube, having been allowed to move relative to the pin, has worn its end and cheek pieces. The rubber never reaches its limit of movement unless it is incorrectly installed or perhaps where the suspension travel has been increased beyond the design limit.

I have all rubber bushes in my suspension - and no clunks; the nearest thing to a clunk is when the shockers reach their limits or the axles hit the stops on some of the rough spots getting in here, so the suspension gets a good workout.

John

I once worked for Toyota as a service advisor and noted that with Poly bushes it wasnt uncommon for diff housings to crack as they allowed less flex.
In fact the engineers claimed that the reason for some housing cracks was because of these bushes??

Go with the poly ones ..... so much easier to replace . even if you have to replace them more often ( so some say ) they are the better option. maybe a couple of hours to replace compared to a full days work getting the rubber ones out .