suspension busshe

[carmadmike]

Hi all thinking of changing my suspension bushes on my vitesse and dolomite sprint for superflex or polly bush are these the same and if not what is the differance

[Richard B]

Differant makes;

Superflex, Polybush, SuperPro....  

[carmadmike]

Hi Richard sorry to sound dim but are they just differant makes or is one better than the other

[Richard B]

They're differant makes; all polyurathane.

There are different grades (hardness) from some of the suppliers and some supply only stainless steel sleeves.

[Nick Moore]

Starting at the beginning, polyurethane (aka urethane) lasts longer than modern rubber bushes, and probably longer than original rubber bushes (they don't make rubber trees like they used to). Some people fit urethane for this reason alone.

Then there's the fact that urethane comes in various grades of hardness, referred to as 'Shore Hardness'. Some urethane bushes are as soft as rubber, but it can also be much firmer. The advantage to hard bushes (settle down at the back) is more precise handling, as there's less flex in the suspension joints. The disadvantage is that more vibrations get transmitted into the car.

I may have this backwards, but I think Polybush bushes are available in several grades of hardness, while Superflex aren't. Blue Polybushes are softer than red. The Polybush bushes I've seen are one-piece, like the original rubber, but at least some Superflex bushes are two-piece.

As with rubber bushes, it's worthwhile putting some grease on the suspension bolts when reassembling. Graphite or copper greases are also used by some people, but recently I've started wondering if they mightn't also act as fine grinding pastes. Probably a topic or another thread!

Cheers, Nick

[andy thompson]

Nick_Moore wrote:

I may have this backwards, but I think Polybush bushes are available in several grades of hardness, while Superflex aren't. Blue Polybushes are softer than red. The Polybush bushes I've seen are one-piece, like the original rubber, but at least some Superflex bushes are two-piece.



Cheers, Nick

I think that is backwards...

[Slimboyfat]

Nick_Moore wrote:

S
I may have this backwards, but I think Polybush bushes are available in several grades of hardness, while Superflex aren't. Blue Polybushes are softer than red. The Polybush bushes I've seen are one-piece, like the original rubber, but at least some Superflex bushes are two-piece.

Cheers, Nick

Spot on. The commonly available Polybush grades available for 'our' cars are Blue (soft ish) and Red (Harder). There was potential for a Green (Very Hard!) when we set this whole thing up with Polybush 10 years ago. Back then when we developed the range with Polybush I was concerned that there were potentially to many options to stock, catalogue, promote, and Polybush were concerned that sales would be minimal. The only obvious market back then for 'Very Hard' bushes were the racers, and that was never going to make anyone a good return on development. Maybe it might be different if we were starting from scratch today.