Poly vs oem bushings

[Crowz]

Originally Posted by oldskewel

Hovercraft?

Yeah that probably would work.

[itsbrokeagain]

I replaced all the wearable items with poly on my truck.

Rear subframe bushings, both rear lower control arm bushings, and the front thrust arm ones.

Did new upper arms in the back along with new ball joints all around.

Absolutely phenomenal, and I live in Long Island and commute to Queens everyday. Still running the stock 17s.

With now 135k on the truck, this breathed some new life into it. Next up are the shocks, rears we're replaced with some autozone crap by the PO and are already leaking, the fronts are original.

Was well worth the money, can't wait to hit the 200k mark.

[Crowz]

Originally Posted by itsbrokeagain

I replaced all the wearable items with poly on my truck.

Rear subframe bushings, both rear lower control arm bushings, and the front thrust arm ones.

Did new upper arms in the back along with new ball joints all around.

Absolutely phenomenal, and I live in Long Island and commute to Queens everyday. Still running the stock 17s.

With now 135k on the truck, this breathed some new life into it. Next up are the shocks, rears we're replaced with some autozone crap by the PO and are already leaking, the fronts are original.

Was well worth the money, can't wait to hit the 200k mark.

How does it ride when dealing with bumps and stuff?

[TiminIndy]

Originally Posted by StephenVA

You can do a hybrid version by using the Meyle HD thrust arm w/the wedge bushing. A longer lasting solution especially for daily commuting with no downstream NVH.

I am interested in these. I just replaced mine with Lemforders in summer of 2016, and it appears they are already shot. I still have my old thrust arms, so I was thinking about doing the Powerflex poly bushes. Looks like it will be a pain to get the metal rings of the old bushes out, plus I would have to get the old ball joints off the other end of the old control arms.

I'm skeptical that the Meyle HD will last longer, because it looks like the design of the bush is about the same, but do we have folks here who have seen that they last longer? Are you talking about these ones?:

https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-3...SABEgLZkvD_BwE

[wpoll]

I have the Meyle HD bushings but I fitted them to the old control arms (with a press). Can't comment on total life span as I've only had them in for about 17,000kms but at the moment they still look and work like new.



https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-3...g-priced-each/

[LVP]

I have about 30,000km on my powerflex bushings. No signs of cracking or fatigue. They completely removed the slop that BMW designed into the bushings. I wish I did this the first time I replaced the bushings. I wouldn't go back.

[crystalworks]

I also have Meyle HD. But only have about 15,000 miles and 2+ years on them. Still functioning well though. They were pressed into my original arms.

[80stech]

There is a fair bit of engineering in the original thrust bushing design and they are part of a pretty well engineered suspension. It would be nice to know exactly what a person is giving up when going to a solid bushing. I would say there is definitely some tuning of the flex going on under braking and acceleration in the original.

[bcredliner]

Best practice is to rebuild the entire suspension rather than part by part. Worn parts put more stress on new parts as do new parts on worn parts. If the entire suspension is rebuilt with OE or OEM life should be 75 to 100,00 miles or more.

I have done a lot of work improving the handling. I have not seen the need to use poly bushings in other than the subframe. Suspensions are designed so that it all works together to result in particular handling characteristics. I stayed with parts that were designed to work together. Primary reason was that the X5 understeers more than I like already. I didn't want to risk increasing understeer. I don't think the increased cost of poly bushings pass the value equation.

[Lamby]

Originally Posted by bcredliner

Best practice is to rebuild the entire suspension rather than part by part. Worn parts put more stress on new parts as do new parts on worn parts. If the entire suspension is rebuilt with OE or OEM life should be 75 to 100,00 miles or more.

I have done a lot of work improving the handling. I have not seen the need to use poly bushings in other than the subframe. Suspensions are designed so that it all works together to result in particular handling characteristics. I stayed with parts that were designed to work together. Primary reason was that the X5 understeers more than I like already. I didn't want to risk increasing understeer. I don't think the increased cost of poly bushings pass the value equation.

I would just like to back this statement up. I do have Poly and, well it is putting load on the other parts on the car, less movement due to strength of Poly, might be causing other OEM parts to have worn faster. I still like the fact my front bushing will not need replacing. But... the ride is firmer. You have to take it as a trade off.