The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Tech → suspension bushings - leave or tweak or kill?
Is it worth playing with the bushings? the simplest option would be to leave the 20 y.o. rubbers alone. we can also replace them with new ones - should be cheap, but is it worth the effort?
After-market polyurethane are available, some even caster altering... But what if we get rid of all rubber & simply weld some junk tube and go with pure metal 'bushing'?
Please make fun of me & predict the outcome.
Metal on metal will tear itself apart. You should totally do that, your competition will appreciate it.
Poly bushings (or hell, ANY new bushings) are asking for some attention at BS, but not too bad if that's all you do to the suspension.
bushings help transmit the forces going through your suspension. the loose rubber stuff is great for ride and feel but ultimately absorbs the forces being transmitted. you could probably get away with having straight metal in SOME places, but i don't think I'd recommend doing it everywhere.
Metal on metal will tear itself apart. You should totally do that, your competition will appreciate it.
front control arm bushings like http://images2.carpartsdiscount.com/aut … _outer.jpg for
http://z.about.com/d/autorepair/1/0/Q/4/78274294.gif - is not it metal on metal? between the internal bushing metal tube & the arm?
Poly bushings (or hell, ANY new bushings) are asking for some attention at BS, but not too bad if that's all you do to the suspension.
Not necessarily. You can DIY bushings from either solid polyurethane rod or tube that you buy from McMaster-Carr. Or you can make a mold and pour them out of liquid poly and then drill them after they set up. We DIY'd ours from solid poly rod and it hasn't been any big deal. But in an e30 or Miata or something "fast," then it might get a second look. For most Lemons cars, no big deal.
We DIY'd ours from solid poly rod and it hasn't been any big deal.
did you go with extra hard poly from mcmaster? did you drill in the center or played with offsets? any pics? 
We didn't get around to replacing the rear subframe bushings on our e30 until our 4th race. Once we did, I was amazed at how much more solid and predictable the rear end handling became. The handling was really sketchy at one corner of Thunderhill (4? The off camber right hander before the hill) before replacing the bushings with urethane (2 spins there) but was rock solid after.
The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Tech → suspension bushings - leave or tweak or kill?
