The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Hi everyone and thanks for the replys. Need to change all the bushes on my sprint, can anyone recommend which pollybushes to use. Very confusing with the different colours and want the best for normal road driving. Thanks in advance Nick.

These.. Fit the purple set and forget, forever and ever and ev..

http://www.superflex.co.uk/products.php?cat=374

£350 gets you a full set

Costly but worth every penny. The entire front end form my 1850 bar the ARB is in Super Flex and I went to the TDCIR and back without any issues. Chris Witor gives TDC members a discount on these bushes.

These need to be fitted carefully and only in certain places.
All subframe bushes are fine in OE or poly. If your old ones arent soggy just leave them. Inner track control arm bush is for me a no-no. Stick with the OE rose joint.

Top wishbone bushes are also unnecessary. Ive never need to change these on any dolly Ive owned. Drag strut to subframe are a massive improvement in poly and one of the best bang for buck handling improvements known to man.

Rack mount bushes are also a big plus but a PITA to fit with engine in place. Column lower bush is also good in poly and lasts longer.

At the back - well its basically leave it all well alone. You dont want poly in either end of the radius arms or the arms may well crack as the poly bushes are too stiff and over stress them.
The top links at the axle end could be worth poly-ing but I got a bunch of OE donuts cheap so keep using them up. At the body end
again I have hardly ever needed to change them but OE are fine.

Shock absorber buses I would also stick with OE. They get changed with the shocks which usually are knackered at 50 k intervals.

My 2 cents...and will save you a lot of dosh just buying what you need and when. I can think of sooo many better ways of spending 350 quid than a bunch of coloured plastic bobbins.

Jonners

ha ha,,i went cheap skate,and got the ones(orange)off ebay for 100 kit all in,fitted the subframe and rear end in polys.front top arms,lower arms and shock bushes are rubber type,not noticed any cracking in the rear but will keep looking,handles very will,more responsive and stable but some of that down is down to front and rear anti roll bars

Jonners, you've made some valid points. Let's not open that particular can of worms with the lower suspension arm. I've had Super Flex on there since 2009 and it is still going strong. The car hasn't been used all that much since then. The upper wishbone bushes I changed at the same time needed replacing so I fitted Super Flex (I should've done this back then) during all the recent work. They were looking a bit worse for wear and they were brand new rubber ones from ANG Triumph back then so they've lasted quite well for modern rubber.

I've not touched the rear bushes so I'm going to leave well alone. They pass the MoT each time. If it ain't broke...

I'd like to point out that not all poly bushes are created equal. Some of the harder ones are unsuitable and you do get noise and vibration. The front of my car bar the steering coupling and front ARB has Super Flex bushes and there were no issues when I was drivng to and from the TDCIR on different types of road.

Interestingly I have examined a 'Polybush' branded trailing arm bush, a comfort spec one in Blue. It's made in 2 halves so would be easy to fit. If you compare the material to an OE rubber one then actually there's very little discernible difference. The original spec voided bush is NLA so the one to use now seems to be the same both ends, actually these are pretty rigid, actually more so than the voided type bush. Uprated hard rubber ones would have less give of course.

I can see how in demanding conditions that a very rigid bush might cause stress fatigue but I think the same could be applied to a rubber bush if used incorrectly.

Its not a can of worms. The rose joint is the correct solution as it has the correct compliance in both axes.

It may be okay on a hardly used 1850 auto or the odd ohv but I wouldnt put one on a Sprint, especially not one
for track use.

Jonners

The OE voided bush can still be found but half the time I've seen them fitted the wrong way up anyway....
I think the voided ones were replaced in production but I could be wrong on that.

Certainly BL and unipart dealers stopped selling them early on. I've had non voided unipart ones on my Sprint for donkeys
years now....no issues.

Jonners