Hey guys, does anyone knoe where I can get some new bushes at a decent price? going to get the ks ridind nice and sweet before it goes over regencey, and I gater the lower control arm bushes are still orginal, and well I replace the RHS front lower control arm when I smashed it so I'm thinking of replacing all the bushes.... and struts cause shes starting to ride ruff as guts (was lowerd around 130,000kms ago)

So anyone know where I can get a decent price, and a decent brand?

Ringwood auto (ebay store)parts has a poly suspenion kit(i put it in my magna).
Fulcrum suspenion can get u any bush u need through Super pro bushes.
my tp has no more rubber bushes, there all poly. And it has made a huge difference to handling. the car feels more stiff and u feel more of the road(ie. bumps) but u have more control\feel when i take a corner.

Ringwood auto (ebay store)parts has a poly suspenion kit(i put it in my magna).
Fulcrum suspenion can get u any bush u need through Super pro bushes.
my tp has no more rubber bushes, there all poly. And it has made a huge difference to handling. the car feels more stiff and u feel more of the road(ie. bumps) but u have more control\feel when i take a corner.

What's the differnace bewteen polly and well rubber i spouse? I want a nice smooth ride, but also want it to handle like its on rails for when I take it out 'crusing' lol.... so I spouse I sorta want the best of both worlds and pratical cause do a bit of country travling too...

poly will last 2-3 times longer than rubber. it can flex past 360 degrees unlike rubber . so it stronger than rubber and more durable.
u sacrafie a little comfort for better handling. put it this way corners i used to take at 60 i can now take at 85 comfortably:D and ive found them in some cases to be cheaper than rubber. but yea if u want it to handle on rails this is the way to go. all my engine mounts are poly as well as the control arm bushes and sway bar bushes pus the rear panhard rod and trailing arms. feels like it drives new oh and no more squeaking.

poly will last 2-3 times longer than rubber. it can flex past 360 degrees unlike rubber . so it stronger than rubber and more durable.
u sacrafie a little comfort for better handling. put it this way corners i used to take at 60 i can now take at 85 comfortably:D and ive found them in some cases to be cheaper than rubber. but yea if u want it to handle on rails this is the way to go. all my engine mounts are poly as well as the control arm bushes and sway bar bushes pus the rear panhard rod and trailing arms. feels like it drives new oh and no more squeaking.
All up how much did it coast you, and did you install it yaself?
I couldn't find them on ebay... I need em for TR/TS KR/KS

I would be looking at installing em myself as I still need to get the car wheel aligned from the accident hahaha

i did it all myself except for the little bush on the front control arm (needed a press for that, so i got fucrum to do it for me).

now the kit off ebay was $60 + postage. (front control bushes)
front sway bar bushes i ordered through fulcrum(Super pro bushes)
that was about $30 plus my time.

rear bushes (trailing arms and panhard rod) was about $130 .
but it was well worth it. thats only a esimate on price, might be a little more.
i just checked ebay and he has sold all his poly bushes kits:rant:

but fulcrum can order it all in for u and there aussie wide. best ppl i have ever delt with and they don't treat u any differnt just cause u drive a magna. and they do alot of custom work so there's nothing they can't do for ur suspenion . and they always give u a write up on what they have done to ur car. very proffestional(bad spelling)

and you will need to do a wheel alignment when u swap the bushes.
and the kits off ebay were for tm-ts

yeh, I might just do the front ones for now, then do the rear ones when I have the extra cash... but will also get some prices from some local work shops (should be able to get it done at trade price thru the workshop we use at work)

yea thats what i did. i did the front and about 2 months down the track i did the rear. but even the front made a huge difference. good luck and keep us posted if u run into problems:D

Sorry to say this but Poly is rubbish. I have been in the trade for 20 years and have seen so many poly and nolothane bushes scrub out as they go hard, the grease needed to lubricate the surfaces attracts dust and they are too hard.

Any wonder why car makers use rubber at over twice the cost?

One example was a race car with poly bushes all around, took them out and put in rubber, gained near 2 seconds around baskerville race track in tassie.

The Rear bushes are not designed to move, they are designed to flex, in the poly units thay have a sleeve which rubs on the bush.

Mitsu have the genuine rear bushes, had them in my Verada, they are about $165 each but will last you years.

Make sure you have full weight on the suspension when you tighten the bolts, the reason these fail early is they are set in the wrong place after lowering or removal

The other thing is the TM-TS 4 cyl have a totally different set up for the bushes, in the 4cyl yo can get away with poly for the rear bush on the front control arm as they work in the same way as the rubber, in the v6 you can not

ok then. so madmagna if thats the case. then how come the genuine rubber engine mounts only last me 6-8 months where as the poly ones have been there for over a year and a half with no signs of cracking?
not having a dig just curious.

I'm curious too as everyone I know with poly bushes has had them last far longer than standard rubber. Plus they can flex over 360 degrees which is far beyond where rubber begins to tear.

I do know that there are certain brands that are really crap and others which are really good. I guess it's the way it's made that makes the difference?

Edit: I also should say I know you don't replace ALL your bushes with poly because poly is generally harder and if you change all of them you increase the chances of train tracking and stuff like that.

Not trying to start an argument here but those who know me know I have been in the trade for 20 odd years.

Why do they make urethane bushes? because the cost of manufacture is so cheap compared to that of rubber.


ok then. so madmagna if thats the case. then how come the genuine rubber engine mounts only last me 6-8 months where as the poly ones have been there for over a year and a half with no signs of cracking?
not having a dig just curious.

"my engine mounts last 6 - 8 months" We were not talking about engine mounts, Scotty was talking about suspension bushes. I also challenge you that the mounts you started with lasted far more than 6 – 8 months new and under normal driving conditions will last far more than urethane. Under the conditions we pit our cars urethane is better for an engine mount as it does not twist like a suspension bush. In most situations if you replaced all the mounts at the same time you would not have a repeat of this for sometime.

“Bushes twist 360 deg” I am yet to see one that can do that without tearing. The sleeve inside will spin to your hearts content and there lies the problem in the case of suspension as your geometry will not hold under these conditions.

Has anyone, and I have said this before, wondered why most race cars do not use urethane? Most bushes are the rubber ones. There are a few exceptions of course, sway bar bushes for instance are a good place to use harder bushes, as are load bearing joints such as in older jap cars where the sway bar acts as a radius rod. In my Falcon the rear bush on the front bush set for the radius rod is urethane to keep my camber constant under heavy braking.

Back to the SUSPENSION bushes as asked in Stotty’s post, he has a V6, the centre pin on both front and rear lower control arm bushes are fixed centre bushes, this controls the amount of movement the arm can travel and also keeps the front and rear pivots constant. In the situation you have urethane the entire arm can move back and forward, I do not need to say how bad that is.

Same in the rear end, the bushes are fixed centre sleeve for a very similar reason. Have had Magna’s and other cars come to me with rear tyres intermittently scrubbing rear guards a year or so after fitment of these bushes, replaced with fixed centre sleeve rubber, guess what, no more scrubbing.

KB, you have seen how my old Verada handled, MM04 was good testament to that when I had to go back to a previous meet point and still caught most of the pack, there lies proof.

True true, I was just asking out of curiosity, not arguing.

You've pretty much explained to me what I've been told anyway, I always think of anything under the car barre exhaust = suspension whereas you don't lol.

I've been told that the load bearing spots are perfect for urethane as you've said, and the places like steering to NOT have urethane as they are TOO hard and can cause worse handling than before as they make the car too responsive to the road, ie: train tracking etc.

Basically, you've told me what I've been told before in a different way. Thanks dude :) It's not that urethane is bad...it just has to be used in the right spot, otherwise it's then bad.

Absolutely agree with Madmagna. Poly bushes ride hard, accurate steering and very responsive BUT HARSH ride. I put a set in my TS, worst thing I ever did.

If I still had the car and my time over I would use rubber all the way.

Another thing that poly bushes do, is it magnifies every little sound in the suspension.

Rubber absorbes sounds, impacts and noise.

For the smooth ride ... use rubber IMO.

I have used poly on stabilizer bars and found them awesome, because you can keep the special grease up to them.

Hope this helps

I know I"m digging up a REALLY OlD thread here but i found this interesting...

So basically, For sway bars (Front and rear?) Use the poly bushes, But for everything else, Use the rubber ones I'm guessing?

Car is going to go off the road for a few weeks so in that time i want to overhaul all the bushes and brakes....

Also Curious to know what bushes need to be "Pressed"?
I'm hoping to DIY most of this.

the advantage of going poly's is most are available in offsets that allow for a range of adjustment to change suspension geometry. Ive had 2 complete cars tricked out in them, one my track car and comfort was the last thing on my mind and the other my Verada, where comfort is the reason i brought it.

It might just be me and my definetion of comfort, i know the verada has a lot more road noise and sounds harsher over bumps but very little vibration is transmitted to me. Even my missus commented on how much better the car felt after it was all done (roughly 2weeks after comeplete suspension replacement)

ALthough it might just be the suiting geometry of my track car (180sx) but changing just hte bushes and getting the same wheel allignment settings put back on it, made the car so much more tighter, wheels didnt flap around under hard cornering over rough patches. All the kinda good things for a track car. Hence i was a little apprehensive about the Rada but im glad i did.

Each to there own. I dont have the experience of MadMagna and you have to respect that kind of experience and input

Thanks for the Input Lynel.
I'm after mostly handling, Don't really care about comfort that much..
But, Still a tad confused as to what road to take, I think i will get a few more opinions, I guess no matter what bushes i get some people are always going to say "should of got x over x" but having so many conflicting stories is worrying as i don't want to spend $300 on bushes and not get the best for my money

Also what bushes need to be "pressed" in

Anyone else have input on this?

I'll throw in my two cents. :cool:

Magnas have fairly good handling charatcteristics from factory (as you all no doubt are aware - thats why you're here! :nuts: ), so a complete renewal of all the rubber bush suspension components with standard factory items can make a marked difference to what you're used to (provided your driveshafts are in good working order, you have reasonable and correctly inflated tyres, and you're not as low as Britney Spear's self image). What alot of people do for a mild street car, including RWD cars (Commodores in particular), is renew all bushes with factory components EXCEPT the swar bar link bushes. These cop alot of stress, and the factory rubber ones compress a little too much. So, aftermarket choices!

-Nolathane (red)
-Urathane (blue)

Nolathane is notoriously hard, and will crack in time without proper lubrication upon installation (and during preventative maintainence). Urathane is closer to the factory items, but a thicker and stronger rubber. I personally run factory bushes in my VL Commodore everywhere except for the sway bar links (Urathane), and my adjustable panhard bushes (Nolathane - it was all Repco had :cry: ). One way to really see the benefits of aftermarket bushes (especially the sway bar link bushes) is to upgrade your sway bars to thicker or non-hollow items - bushes alone make minimal difference in a mild street car. But now I'm getting off topic...

If you want more handling, I'd suggest going all around Urathane (well, as much as you can - not sure if you can get full Urathane kits for Magnas), and consider upgrading your front swar bar. Being FWD, with those mods it'll make you think its sticking to corners like a WRX (but its not, its only handling alot better than before ;)).

As for bushes that require pressing...let me think. I'm considering a TS here, as thats what I've got - I'd say they're going to be almost identical TUFFTR (check when I get home). The complete rear won't require anything to be press fitted. I can't think of anything off the toip of my head that requires pressing on the front (aside from hard items like ball joints), but I will check the manual when I get home from work.

Oh, something I should mention in relation to press fitting bushes - Nolathane bushes that require press fitting actually come in two halves with a steel cylinder that passes between them. This removes the need for press fitting, and allows suspension components to reduce wear on bushes by rubbing on the steel cylinder. That is a plus for Nolathane.

Hope I made sense! :bowrofl:

I was looking at getting the bushes replaced when I did suspension, but I know the stock rubber ones are ridiculously expensive. Like hundreds and hundreds to replace them all. I think get the aftermarket nothalene ones or whatever though and they are a bit cheaper, but you get more noise and probably ride which I didnt really want, since the suspension guy said my bushes should be fine at that age/km's.

Ollie

Thanks man.
Some good info there.
Well my mate DOES have a WRX and although my car does handle good it will ever ever come close to WRX like handling lol!!
Thank you again, some good views there and I'll be getting a few more in the coming week and making a decision