Polybushes to replace rubber ones.

[Peter G]

What's the collective view and experience on Polybushes or similar and their effect on ride and handling, in place of the standard rubber ones?

My 7 is solely for road use if that makes a difference.

[SLR No.77]

Poly bushes will tighten up unwanted suspension movement but will also need replacement far sooner than o/e spec bushes. For road use (and even occasional track) stick to standard bushes.

[PlastererPete]

How will they need replacing so much faster than the OE spec rubber ones? 

[Wrightpayne]

They effectively become bearings. 

[SLR No.77]

After time they deform and need replacement, much sooner than o/e rubber bushes.

[PlastererPete]

Good to know. I was think of changing over to poly bushes aswell but don’t think I’ll worry now. 

[SamC]

I fitted powerflex bushes to my CSR last winter and it was night and day better. Eliminated my bump steering sensation and was less crashy. The old bushes were worn but had no play.

Powerflex ones have a lifetime warranty for the road. 

[Simon.Rogers]

Powerflex bushes have a lifetime warranty.

[SLR No.77]

Lifetime warranty covering what? Failure or deformation?  And yes I understand there are different polybushes!

[SamC]

Either. Both result in excessive joint movement which would fall into their definition of ‘We will replace any Powerflex product that any customer in the world is unhappy with for any reason.’.

 

Not wanting an argument, just sharing my experience.

[SLR No.77]

That sounds like a decent warranty.

[Gridgway]

9 hours ago, SamC said:

I fitted powerflex bushes to my CSR last winter and it was night and day better. Eliminated my bump steering sensation and was less crashy. The old bushes were worn but had no play.

Powerflex ones have a lifetime warranty for the road. 

Interesting to hear a real world experience.  How were the old bushes worn by the way?  Also a bit of an acquired taste getting the old bushes out.  Not for the feint hearted even with a proper press.

[SamC]

The rear bushes on the CSR effectively had nylon cups round them and they were scraped and tatty, and the rubber was cracking on the exposed areas. It all looked very much surface damage, and I couldn’t feel any noticeable play by hand.

They were 40k miles & 15yrs old.

The front lower wishbone bush was blooming’ hard to get out. Like you say, lots of heat, custom turned up blocks to push it out with and a 6” vice! I didn’t have the tooling required for the front upper, so that stayed in the chassis but felt and looked fine - presumably as it is better protected.

Rears were fairly straight forward to push out with a thread and socket.

Install of all the new bushes was a breeze!

[Gridgway]

interestingly I seem to have pushed out a few Caterham bushes in my time (not CSR though), but I've not got one out yet and though that looks knackered!

[SamC]

Yeah, agreed, mine definitely weren’t knackered.
 

It did drive better after for sure. Particularly on bumpy back roads. How much of that was the powerflex bushes or whether it would have been a similar step with new standard bushes I can’t comment.

[Keeny]

A good video on YouTube showing how to install poly bushes with PTF tape to stope squeaks over time, never tried this method before 

[Keeny]

 

[aerobod - near CYYC]

In the video, he doesn’t seem to understand how the PowerFlex bushes work, the type with the stainless steel insert should be dry fitted or at most have washing-up liquid used to fit to the suspension arm housing, as they are not meant to move in the housing. The stainless insert is meant to rotate easily in the bush, using the grease to allow this, together with grease and nylon washers on the faces of the bush. The PTFE may work if just applied on the insert, but it shouldn’t stop it moving easily. A vice shouldn’t be necessary to fit the insert, hand pressure and the silicone grease should be sufficient.

[Peter G]

Thansk for all the comments. Very useful and helpful. Not going with it at this stage. Other upgrades are on their way right now.