Global West mentions that Polyurethane bushings are not good for street use because they put the suspension into a bind condition during cornering and hard bumps. Is this true and if so wouldn't the same go for the stock rubber pieces? I have noticed that my car does ride a little harsher now, they say that this is due to the binding condition. I have an idea of what bind is but what exactly is it?

Mark

 

While I don't have a technical explanation for the type of bind they're referring to,I would like to mention that I'm using the Global West Del-A-Lum bushings in my A-arms and they work better than any rubber or poly bushings I've tried.The suspension seems to react very quickly with the
Aluminum/Delrin bushings.They have zerk fittings on them as well,and I usually grease them every time the car's up off the ground.
They're a lttle more difficult to install, though.
-Rich-

 

What Global West said is true to an extent in that LCA's with poly bushings will bind. However, look at how many people here and elsewhere have aftermarket LCAs with poly bushings. Also, many people replace their stock bushings with poly on their stock LCAs. There is a reason for this. What Global West isn't telling you is what kind of forces you have to subject your LCA's to to bind them. If you are not autocrossing (maybe road racing) your car, poly bushings will be a great improvement over stock with a slight increase in road noise being the only real downside.

Edit: We are talking about rear control arms, right? I am pretty sure that Global West means the above statements for rear control arm bushings.

 

they mention that the only thing poly bushings are good for is drag racing and not a daily driven car, for a daily driven car they say that the bearings are the superior choice.

Hey Rich after installing the Del-a-lum bushings did you notice any increase in interior noise over the poly? I plan on installing these sometime in the future. How hard were they to install?

 

I don't think they're really any noisier than the poly.They're a real snug fit (they have to be) in the A-arm.I used a ball-joint press, but you need to fab a couple spacers to keep the arms from collapsing under the pressure (between holes).
They came with a small piece of angle iron, sized for the smaller side, but it wasn't enough,by itself.
If you've installed your own poly bushings, you'll be able to install these.Just be patient and don't resort to pounding them in.
-Rich-

 

Poly is good everywhere except the rear LCAs. This is why: When you are cornering your rear axle will lift on one side and lower on the other. For this to happen one control arm must go down and the other up. When this happens something must rotate in the LCAs because they are bolted horisontal in the axle and in the chassis and in the best case senario will always stay horizontal to there respective components. GM uses rubber bushings for this. They are relatively inexpensive, isolate road noise, and for the most part keep the axle located in the eyes of a typical driver. For the performance models the use a stiffer rubber bushing that allowed better axle location while not overloading the chassis and axle mounts, like poly bushing have a tendancy to do. Body roll should be countered with springs, be it a swaybar or a coil. Spring rates should not be detrmined by the material in your pinned joints. The best performance will be achieved if you pinned joints allow the components to move freely through there range of motion. This would bring a person to believe that spherical bearings would be the best bushing for the LCAs. This would be true if all the car was used for was racing, but in the real world harsh bumps, road grime and noise, will ruin the spherical bearings and make your car cabin sound like the world is comming to the end. The best two options I have found so far ar the 1LE LCAs or a poly spherical combo. Hope this helps sorry for the long post.

 

Hey Dave,
Is that really the best way to describe the sound levels of the double sperical LCA's, as the world coming to an end? LOL!! I was considering putting sound deadener all over the interior to quiet the noise but if they are really that loud I don't think it would do any good. Maybe I will start considering the combo LCA's.

Are you familiar with both types, and if so is there much of a difference in performance between the combo type and double sperical LCA's?

 

Looking at it from a logical standpoint.... (yeah, scary huh?) The poly/spherical would be best for a daily driven car. I think the double sphereical would be incredibly noisey. It would transmit ALL the road noise to the body, and all the sound deadener in the world would not help. Having a poly bushing on the body end would dramatically reduce noise. (as compared to the combo LCA)

 

I think it would be better to have the spherical end on the body side, where most of the motion will be. If placed on the axle side, it is only there to allow the diff to twist according to accel/deccel. When placed in this format, the road noise will be isolated by the flexible bushing at the axle end. In my opinion, Polyurethane is so popular because it is really cheap to pruduce, and the layman aftermarket world pushes them. Just look at the back of just about every Hot Car type magazines. Some of the 3rd gen cars came with nylon end links on the sway bars. Unless I'm wrong, you won't find these from the Energy Suspension manufacturers. Polybushings though with grease nipple attachments etc. would probably not be too bad. How many people out there know that the front end of the 3rd gens are polyurethane?

 

The stock bushings of a 3rd gen are not polyurethane.

 

I beg to differ.My 92 RS w/F41 Suspension option came with blue Nylon or Poly end link bushings in the front sway bar.They're actually still in good shape after 220,000 miles.(I bought the car new in 1/92)
-Rich-

 

See "1LE front bushings" thread in this section.

 

I think poly end links have been in use for some time. Currently on my 85 IROC, I'm using 1LE GM poly end links; however, before I swapped out the original front sway bar, the end links were stock red poly. There was a discussion about this in the History/Resto section some months ago.

JamesC

 

I believe they are not poly but just a higher durometer rubber. I have replaced al my links with 1LE bushings, which are red like stated, but they were made of rubber. The rubber was just stiffer. OK now you can laugh cause I used the word stiffer.

 

He said stiffer......HeHeHeHe.....

 

My 1LE end links are white. Strange. For more info you might check the archives (the discussion was fairly lengthy as I recall).

Jamesc

 

I wonder If the part number for the GTA were different than the ones for the the Camaro. I know when I went to the dealer we looked a bunch of sets over. I ended up using the one that came stock in my GTA, but we compared them to the stock rubber from a Camaro and they were stiffer. I have heard that there may be a number of different durometer bushings out there. So I suppose its possible that maybe I do not have the 1LE bushings, I have GTA bushings. I find odd that GM would go to the expense of multiple sets, but they have done stranger things. It is possible in order to ease assembly shipments that they possibly colored pontiac bushings red and Chevy bushings white. I believe you have white and I know I have red, so we do know that both colors exist.

 

Again,I bought my 92 RS new in 92 and it came with blue poly end link bushings.
-Rich-