front bushings

[Tom Walker]

what's the general opinion on which poly bushings to use where to tighten up the front without ruining the ride? i wish to corner well but not sacrifice ride or 60 ft. times too much. any ideas???

 

[chopped39]

Poly Bushings

I Had Energy Suspension Bushings And They Squeaked Alot . The Ride Didnt Feel That Much Different . It Did Handle Better Not As Much Deflection. I Just Purchased A Set Of Global West Upper Control Arms . They Have Some Pretty Wild Bushings. They Call Them Del-a-lum. Its 5 Peices For 1 Bushing And They Are Greaseable.the Only Thing Is The Right Upper Has Brass Bushings In It. Dont Know How That Is Gonna Ride You Can Get Just The Del-a-lum Bushings From Them Also .check The Site Out. Global West .net Good Luck

 

[Tom Walker]

more bushings

was told today that poly graphite doesn't squeek like polyeurothane. are there any for g-bods and who sells them? can anyone help with this?

 

[turbodave231]

My advice: Stay AWAY from Energy Suspension bushings. They are noisey squeeky and overpriced. I took their crappy bushings out and put GM bushings back in. I wished I'd put stockers in the car in the first place. I called Energy Suspension and complained.....they basically told me to pound sand.

I have used polygraphite bushings from Just Suspension in a 1969 Olds 442 I had. They were firm and quiet.

 

[sailbrd]

Unlsess you are heavy into drag racing use poly bushings selectively. Also wherever you have them keep them greased. Poly bushing are to stiff in most instances to work as control arm bushings. Especially in the rear. For straight ahead work they are fine. In the corners they will cause binding. The four link suspension in the rear needs more than one plane of compliance at the frame to work properly. GM used the rubber bushings to meet this need. Poly does not deflect as much and corning loads will cause bind. As soon as bind takes place you will start to loose traction at that end.

Feel free to use poly bushings for the sway bar, shock ends. The front control arms move in a single plane and poly bushings will be OK but they will not give you any measurable performance advantage over new rubber bushings. Car will ride worse.

Rear end I would not use poly unless I had spherical bushings at the frame. The spherical bushing at the frame will give the compliance needed for the suspension to articulate properly. The only companies that use spherical bushings at the frame that are streetable are Currie and Edelbrock.

A few people have tried a mixed combo at the rear with good results. Use a rubber bushing at the frame and poly at the axle.

All of this comes from years of oval track racing with factory stock cars that are not allowed special suspension pieces. We tried all sorts of bushing combinations and rubber was always faster. The best was using a sneaky spherical bushing on the upper rear control arm that we could hide and rubber everywhere else. Everytime we tried poly on the rear car would go full loose and drop a full second!

 

[Tom Walker]

HD vs PG

so for a mostly street driven car, w/no autocross, maybe HD replacement parts would be best? PG for front swaybar only?

 

[sailbrd]

My opinion, poly for the sway bar, MOOG stock for everything else. ? How does your ATR bar feel on the street? We are just starting to plan for a few mods on our GN. I have never been able to try a thicker bar on the rear than the front. I always thought that combo would work well with a bigger tire on the back.

 

[Tom Walker]

bigger is better

big bar and 275/60-15 BFGDR holds well. want a IROC hollow bar up front. got new springs for front and am ordering front kit soon. Let you know how it goes. big bar plants both tires pretty equally. anybody else with an opinion on the front end bushings?