Poly bushes

[Oldromola]

At the excellent as ever Newby Hall show on Sunday one of the Stag owners on the SOC stand told me proudly he had had poly bushes fitted. He advised me, should I decide to have poly bushes fitted to my car, to buy a kit instead of buying them separately. So..........always wondering what financial commitment I canthrow awayon my beloved that will theoretically improve its handling but improve its value by not one iota I am seeking advice.

1) Why fit poly bushes? I have owned 6 Stags over the past 23 years and only once remember experiencing a back end twitch. I think I normally drive it as fast as conditions allow, but having been an ADI at one point in my life I stillhave great respect for roundabouts.

2) Does one fit poly bushes to the back only or is it sensible to fit them on the front too?

3) Who sells the best buy kits?

Will look forward to reading what you guys have to say!

[Giles]

imported post

I have fitted Superflex poly to mine. They were already on the back when I got it. When I did the front suspension I ordered a set of rubber bushes but I was so disappointed with the quality of themthat I ended up getting poly instead. The rubber ones I did fit started to perish within 6 months and the whole lot is now poly.

In my opinion it does tighten up the handling a bit but not that much. The ride is no worse. If your bushes are fine I would say wait until they are worn out but if you are replacing any I would always fit poly.

[StagnJag]

imported post

I have a mix of bushes on mine. On the back I poly bushed the trailing arms but used rubber elsewhere. Some of the rubber bushes need replacing already, after two years. I would use poly purely for longevity.

Rgds

Dave

[Moraystag]

imported post

I changed out my completre back end bush set in the winter. Noticed yesterday that some of them are perishing already. Will deffinately put poly bushes next time round, putting back inoriginal rubber type has been a bit of a false economy in my opinion, they were also supplied by a well know reputable supplier, which is not so good



Mike

[Dellsmp]

imported post

My experiences with polybushes is LandRover based, but still worth passing on I feel, On my 110 Station wagon I fitted a polybush kit all round about 8years ago and have done approx 75000 miles since, The bushes come in various types of hardness for Landrovers and you choose between a harder ride, the same ride or softer, most landrover owners go for a softer ride with more flexibility in the suspension. The various grades of bush tend to be colour coded.
They are a lot easier to fit than standard bushes, many coming in two parts which fit into a housing one from each side and is so so much easier than pressing in rubber bushes.
They last a heck of a lot longer than standard bushes, as proved in my 110, and look better as a bonus.
The polybushes I have seen available for Stags are vastly more expensive than ones for landrovers, assuming they are produced by the same manufacturers it can only be economy of scale accounting for this.
For an idea of costs have a look at rimmers, complete set for a landrover 110 £140ish and for the Stag that will be £240ish, The Stag kit is no more complex, what the landrover kit lacks in quantity ( 8 less i think) it makes up for in size!
So to sum up: longer lasting, easier to fit, softer or harder ride - your preference, looks good, but expensive for a Stag.

Hope this helps

Phil

[flying farmer]

imported post

In my experience most repro rubber parts are of pretty awful quality so I normally fit poly just so I dont end up doing it again. Some years ago I needed a pair of the front subframe bushes for a PI saloon and contacted Chris Witor who listed two different sorts, original or repro, with the original being more than twice the price.

At the time the car was about 25 years old, and I asked "what is the life expectancy of the repro bushes?" His reply was "Sometimes as little as weeks" Needless to say I stumped up the extra cash for originals!

Since I have fitted the efi and manual box to the stag I have noticed a distinct tendency for a rear end steer as I go on and come off the throttle, so I think I need to indulge in a bit of back end rebushing before too long , starting with the trailing arms, but I will look at the condition of the other bushes before I start changing them

Neil

[Gresley]

imported post

I cannot comment on rubber bushes as my Stag had Superflex fitted throughout when I bought it, but handling and roadholding is superb. The only place I have re fitted rubber is the rear diff mountings as they were drumming, but I have voided poly on my PI and this has cured the drumming completely.

Brian

[V Mad]

imported post

I have poly bushes all round. Ride is not harsh at all and handling is quite precise. No problems with poly.

[DJT]

imported post

I fitted poly to my last Stag a looong time ago. This Stag had them all round when I bought it, so it is years since I travelled in a Stag with rubber bushes. Until recently when I did 120 miles as passenger in one. Felt like a '70's yank tank :shock:. Much more wallow. Mind you, I think his shock absorbers need doing as well which didn't help.

Dave

[Andy Rundell]

imported post

Robert 2 Stags wrote:

1) Why fit poly bushes? I have owned 6 Stags over the past 23 years and only once remember experiencing a back end twitch. I think I normally drive it as fast as conditions allow, but having been an ADI at one point in my life I stillhave great respect for roundabouts.

You probably have the idea already, however, in plain terms, replacement rubber bushes are pretty useless these days and the job of replacing them often has to be done after 1 or 2 years......

Poly bushes last much much longer (in fact i don't know anyone who has needed to replace their polys) and are resistant to oil/petrol ...... so i would recommend fitting them purely on this basis.

The fact that it may tighten handling is a bonus - but, i think, much of that could be subjective - if you old bushes were shot, pretty-much any replacement will bring an improvement.

..........Andy

[Chris810]

imported post

I changed all the bushes on my car for poly and at the same time fitted spax adjustable shocks front and rear. On driving the car I found the ride unacceptably firm and started taking things off untill I was happy with it, I removed the front shocks and the diff mounting bushes replacing them with rubber and standard gas shocks, together with turning the rears right down I now have a car which rides close to my memory of it when I first acquired it 26 years ago!



The poly bushes do give a firmer ride than standard but we have become used to a much firmer ride in new cars than we used to get. I can see no downside in using the poly ones if you can put up with the firmer ride

[martin]

imported post

Hiya Old, dark blue poly bushes are about the same hardness (?) as rubber, but last much longer, they also have stainless steel centre bushes which won't corrode and seize, they usually come with the correct lubricant to help with fitting. They are also more expensive, HOWEVER, the modern rubber bushes are inferior to the originals, so as I need them, I'm replacing with dark blue poly. If you don't need them, don't waste your money. Martin.

[Guest]

imported post

I guess it's a bit of personal choice really as some people like a soft, wallowy ride. Personally I like stiff cars and had all the bushes in my current M3 replaced with Powerflex poly ones - massive difference in handling

For anyone going from the original worn, rubber bushes in a Stag, to Poly ones will feel a massive difference I would think.

[marshman]

imported post

I agree with most of the comments here. I too have a 110 Land rover which I fitted with poly bushes about 10 years ago and they are still linke new. I also know through bitter experience that must repro rubber stuff for classics lasts no time at all.

However one word of caution - I thought therewere some areas where the original type rubber is better as it allows more flexibility and puts less stress on the chassis. I am sure I read a Kingpin article in the mag a couple of years back which mentioned the draglink bushes as one particular area where he didn't advise poly bushes. the extra stiffness of the poly bushes could put undue stress on the chassis and actually cause cracking due to metal fatigue. I stand to be corrected but i am sure this is whatI read and it does make some sense to me.

Roger

[martin]

imported post

marshman wrote:

I agree with most of the comments here. I too have a 110 Land rover which I fitted with poly bushes about 10 years ago and they are still linke new. I also know through bitter experience that must repro rubber stuff for classics lasts no time at all.

However one word of caution - I thought there were some areas where the original type rubber is better as it allows more flexibility and puts less stress on the chassis. I am sure I read a Kingpin article in the mag a couple of years back which mentioned the draglink bushes as one particular area where he didn't advise poly bushes. the extra stiffness of the poly bushes could put undue stress on the chassis and actually cause cracking due to metal fatigue. I stand to be corrected but i am sure this is what I read and it does make some sense to me.

Roger

Hi Roger, I remember that article as well, I'm sure you're right about the drag link bushes, there was also something about subframe or diff mountings.

Piscean, what's a mark 3 ? There are at least 4 grades of polybush, which one would you recommend ?
To be fair, if the Stag's too wallowy, why do you want one ? It's a fast grand tourer, not a sports car, perhaps you'd prefer an MGB ? Martin.