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Poly bushes
Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 7:47 pm
by new to this
Im change the bushes on my sprint to poly,when i took the lower wishbone bushes out,the were two cup washer either side of the bush,when i fit the poly bushes do i still need the two cup washers ?
thanks Dave
Re: Poly bushes
Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 9:38 pm
by Carledo
There's quite a lot of controversy over whether to replace this inner TCA bush with poly in the first place. On all the Dolomite range AFTER the Toledo (which has a "normal" bush and tube which wears) there is a sort of rubberized rose joint which wears much more slowly, if at all. My personal inclination is to leave this well alone unless it IS badly worn - and if it IS to replace it with a standard one that ISN'T, new (still available) or good used, rather than polybushing willy nilly.
To answer the question you asked, if you do wish to go ahead with poly, the dust sheild washers may be discarded as they only apply to the rose joint, but don't bin them, they are in short supply, if they are intact, someone will want them!
On Toledos, I polybush their weaker TCA bush and tube regularly (Chris Witor does one specifically for Toledos) but I am quite sparing with poly otherwise, at the front I am content to poly only the subframe and tiebar front bushes (plus solid rack mounts and the inevitable lower column bush in poly) and at the rear, just the upper arm axle end bushes and the rearmost trailing arm bushes. All the rest, I leave in rubber replacing worn bushes with NOS rubber as needed. This is a result of mine and others experience and you will find quite a few others here who agree with me!
Steve
Re: Poly bushes
Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 9:59 pm
by new to this
Carledo wrote: ↑Mon Sep 24, 2018 9:38 pm
There's quite a lot of controversy over whether to replace this inner TCA bush with poly in the first place. On all the Dolomite range AFTER the Toledo (which has a "normal" bush and tube which wears) there is a sort of rubberized rose joint which wears much more slowly, if at all. My personal inclination is to leave this well alone unless it IS badly worn - and if it IS to replace it with a standard one that ISN'T, new (still available) or good used, rather than polybushing willy nilly.
To answer the question you asked, if you do wish to go ahead with poly, the dust sheild washers may be discarded as they only apply to the rose joint, but don't bin them, they are in short supply, if they are intact, someone will want them!
On Toledos, I polybush their weaker TCA bush and tube regularly (Chris Witor does one specifically for Toledos) but I am quite sparing with poly otherwise, at the front I am content to poly only the subframe and tiebar front bushes (plus solid rack mounts and the inevitable lower column bush in poly) and at the rear, just the upper arm axle end bushes and the rearmost trailing arm bushes. All the rest, I leave in rubber replacing worn bushes with NOS rubber as needed. This is a result of mine and others experience and you will find quite a few others here who agree with me!
Steve
Steve
thanks for the reply,whats the reasoning for not poly bushing the whole lot,does it make the ride to hard,or does it pull the mounting out the car ?
Dave
Re: Poly bushes
Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 10:03 pm
by Carledo
new to this wrote: ↑Mon Sep 24, 2018 9:59 pm
Carledo wrote: ↑Mon Sep 24, 2018 9:38 pm
There's quite a lot of controversy over whether to replace this inner TCA bush with poly in the first place. On all the Dolomite range AFTER the Toledo (which has a "normal" bush and tube which wears) there is a sort of rubberized rose joint which wears much more slowly, if at all. My personal inclination is to leave this well alone unless it IS badly worn - and if it IS to replace it with a standard one that ISN'T, new (still available) or good used, rather than polybushing willy nilly.
To answer the question you asked, if you do wish to go ahead with poly, the dust sheild washers may be discarded as they only apply to the rose joint, but don't bin them, they are in short supply, if they are intact, someone will want them!
On Toledos, I polybush their weaker TCA bush and tube regularly (Chris Witor does one specifically for Toledos) but I am quite sparing with poly otherwise, at the front I am content to poly only the subframe and tiebar front bushes (plus solid rack mounts and the inevitable lower column bush in poly) and at the rear, just the upper arm axle end bushes and the rearmost trailing arm bushes. All the rest, I leave in rubber replacing worn bushes with NOS rubber as needed. This is a result of mine and others experience and you will find quite a few others here who agree with me!
Steve
Steve
thanks for the reply,whats the reasoning for not poly bushing the whole lot,does it make the ride to hard,or does it pull the mounting out the car ?
Dave
Yes and yes!!!

Plus you can get extra unwanted vibration transmission and noise too!
Steve
Re: Poly bushes
Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 10:12 pm
by new to this
Carledo wrote: ↑Mon Sep 24, 2018 10:03 pm
new to this wrote: ↑Mon Sep 24, 2018 9:59 pm
Carledo wrote: ↑Mon Sep 24, 2018 9:38 pm
There's quite a lot of controversy over whether to replace this inner TCA bush with poly in the first place. On all the Dolomite range AFTER the Toledo (which has a "normal" bush and tube which wears) there is a sort of rubberized rose joint which wears much more slowly, if at all. My personal inclination is to leave this well alone unless it IS badly worn - and if it IS to replace it with a standard one that ISN'T, new (still available) or good used, rather than polybushing willy nilly.
To answer the question you asked, if you do wish to go ahead with poly, the dust sheild washers may be discarded as they only apply to the rose joint, but don't bin them, they are in short supply, if they are intact, someone will want them!
On Toledos, I polybush their weaker TCA bush and tube regularly (Chris Witor does one specifically for Toledos) but I am quite sparing with poly otherwise, at the front I am content to poly only the subframe and tiebar front bushes (plus solid rack mounts and the inevitable lower column bush in poly) and at the rear, just the upper arm axle end bushes and the rearmost trailing arm bushes. All the rest, I leave in rubber replacing worn bushes with NOS rubber as needed. This is a result of mine and others experience and you will find quite a few others here who agree with me!
Steve
Steve
thanks for the reply,whats the reasoning for not poly bushing the whole lot,does it make the ride to hard,or does it pull the mounting out the car ?
Dave
Yes and yes!!!

Plus you can get extra unwanted vibration transmission and noise too!
Steve
Steve
is it a good idea to do the anti role bar ? i bought a kit and was going to change the lot,but may not now
Dave
Re: Poly bushes
Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 10:26 pm
by dollyman
I will vouch for what Steve say's about vibration..... My Dolly was fully polybushed when i bought it and it does have an annoying vibration, only slight but can feel it through the car.
Tony.
Re: Poly bushes
Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 10:27 pm
by Carledo
I've not felt the need, even with the rather extreme use my car gets! And the polybushed end links seem to break rather easily, mainly due to lack of compliance I think.
An ARB doesn't NEED to be massively taut, so long as it doesn't rattle over bumps, it's OK!
Steve
Re: Poly bushes
Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 10:34 pm
by new to this
Carledo wrote: ↑Mon Sep 24, 2018 10:27 pm
I've not felt the need, even with the rather extreme use my car gets! And the polybushed end links seem to break rather easily, mainly due to lack of compliance I think.
An ARB doesn't NEED to be massively taut, so long as it doesn't rattle over bumps, it's OK!
Steve
Steve
looks like ive done some thing right
was just about to buy the ploy link ends,youve saved me a bit more work and money
:
Dave
Re: Poly bushes
Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 10:39 pm
by new to this
dollyman wrote: ↑Mon Sep 24, 2018 10:26 pm
I will vouch for what Steve say's about vibration..... My Dolly was fully polybushed when i bought it and it does have an annoying vibration, only slight but can feel it through the car.
Tony.
I should have asked on here before jummping in with both feet
Re: Poly bushes
Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 11:04 pm
by shaunroche
Cheers Steve and Dave, I'll be having a look at the bushes on my ARB tomorrow!

Okay........
Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2018 9:40 am
by sprint95m
I keep on having to state this,
there are different hardnesses of polyurethane bush available.
It is unfair to dismiss them all out of hand given said differences.
Ian.
Re: Okay........
Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2018 9:56 am
by Carledo
sprint95m wrote: ↑Tue Sep 25, 2018 9:40 am
I keep on having to state this,
there are different hardnesses of polyurethane bush available.
It is unfair to dismiss them all out of hand given said differences.
Ian.
I'm fully aware of this Ian and i'm sure most of the rest of us are too.
Better manufacturers supply different shore (hardness) rated bushes in different colours to distinguish one rating from another.
But the cheaper ones don't and in most cases are not too fussy about matching the shore rating of OE bushes either.
The moral of this is, of course, buy the good stuff, even if it costs a bit more!
Regardless of this, experience in this field (by direct experimentation) has taught many of us that, even WITH shore matched poly bushes, you can run into problems. I'm not dismissing them all "out of hand" as you suggest, I'm merely saying that practising a little restraint is a good idea, both in terms of ride comfort and the continued longevity of some related suspension components. I use quite a lot of poly bushing myself and regularly fit it to customer vehicles as well. I just don't go mad with it!
Steve
To be fair....
Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2018 9:17 am
by sprint95m
Carledo wrote: ↑Tue Sep 25, 2018 9:56 amI'm not dismissing them all "out of hand" as you suggest,
My point was a general one Steve.
If I had felt there was the need to single out a specific comment then I would have quoted it.
thanks,
Ian.
Re: To be fair....
Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2018 10:45 pm
by Carledo
sprint95m wrote: ↑Wed Sep 26, 2018 9:17 am
Carledo wrote: ↑Tue Sep 25, 2018 9:56 amI'm not dismissing them all "out of hand" as you suggest,
My point was a general one Steve.
If I had felt there was the need to single out a specific comment then I would have quoted it.
thanks,
Ian.
No worries mate!
Steve