Are poly bushes good or bad

[obi_waynne]

I got a warning from my MOT test today that the main rear bushing is shot. Straight away I thought of getting poly bush replacements but the more I read and think about it the less certain I am.

It would appear that the flexing and bending of the rubber actually helps the suspension twist and a harder poly bush in certain locations can actually cause undesirable characteristics.

Perhaps this is a peculiarity of Torsion beam suspension and the way it works.

What are your thoughts? Are they good in some places, no places or all points? Have you had any downsides with polyurethane bushes?

 

[coupe]

i have found that they stiffen up the ride.

 

[MasterAuron]

i have found that they stiffen up the ride.

If you can notice, you're a more perceptive man than I. Only REAL difference they make is if the bushes you replaced were old and screwed anyways imo.

I have a big budget, but I'm not stupid enough to waste it on Polybushes, I'd rather put the money towards better coilovers, ARB's, braces etc etc. Granted I have polybushes on my front wishbones, but that's because they were practically free.

 

[coupe]

i must be, cos i have noticed it. lol

 

[MasterAuron]

Let's just hope it's not the placebo effect and you're comparing them to brand new standard bushes :amuse:

 

[Country Bumpkin]

I have them in a couple of places, mainly the front and rear A.R.B.'s and rear drop links but i also have coilover struts etc. I fitted them because they are no more expensive than the stock replacements.
I don't have strut braces, well i do but they are upstairs somewhere and i doubt if they'll be refitted.

 

[herb]

in all honesty i have never replaced any of my rubber bushes for poly ones in any car i have ever owned but on my leon i am very tempted cause like posted above they are the same price/or cheaper as oem ones
but a couple of things put me off like cause the poly bushes are so rigid they can actually wear there way through the metal holding them in and acording to scn using ome bushes from different models are better than the poly ones

 

[HDi fun]

I've never substituted suspension components to be honest. If the rubber is designed to have a given amount of compliance then hardening it may, and only may, be detrimental.

Poly bushes, should, however, have a much better resilience to general wear and tear (hot/cold etc.) than organic rubbr ones. Maybe it's just the fact that they're new which gives a different driving feel.

One of the best things anyone can do with a car over 50,000 miles is replace the std dampers with gas ones. They are lighter, meaning less unsprung mass, and are also virtually immune to degradation with age compared to the more common oil dampers.

My Primera has gas dampers all round from new and the ride/handling setup was disturbingly good even at 160,000 miles without any components being replaced at all.

I think the 406 had gas dampers,too, apparently the 2.2HDi and 3.0 V6 had different suspension geometry to the lower down models.

 

[prevtec]

ive got a full set for the prelude about 8 months ago

they do stiffen up the car a lot, but after awhile they soften out, not much but you do get a bit of comfort back

their really only for performance cars, if you like your comfort too much, dont get them
if your under 40 years old, do get them

another reason i bought them was that the oem bushes cost way too much for my car
if you can get the oem bushes cheap, get them, but you can get a full set of polys for under 200 euro, youd pay that alone for 2 trailing arm bushes, so i think their worth getting

another plus side is the cornering limits with polys, they really work good