Poly bushings - ride quality???

ncsucarjock · #1 02-25-2010, 10:51 AM

For those of you that have upgraded to poly bushings, what was the difference in ride quality?

I'm definitely putting poly in the rear subframe, I just dont' care to do that job but once. I'm considering putting poly in all of the front end bushings as well, as well as the roll bars.

Thoughts?

jst2878 · #2 02-25-2010, 10:53 AM

if your looking to do nothing more than the average driver i would go*oem.

ncsucarjock · #3 02-25-2010, 11:03 AM

Thanks for the reply, but that doesn't answer my question. I'm a hard driver. I'd appreciate the firmness and control offered. I do not wish to suffer too much on ride quality for that though. I have one playtoy. This one gets driven 36k/year. So for the sake of not having to replace all rubber bits every two years, poly would be nice, in addition to the increased firmness, assuming there isn't a *huge* ride penalty.

J.Belknap · #4 02-25-2010, 11:05 AM

Google search: poly bushings, stiction, cold flow

ncsucarjock · #5 02-25-2010, 11:14 AM

Okay folks...

GM F-bodies...great. Not relevant.

I have had poly bushings on 6 other previous cars...and one currently. I know about poly bushings.

I'm interested in hearing from folks who drive an X53 and have changed from rubber to poly. X5girl I've spoken with, and she's says there's very little change. I'd just like to have that confirmed.

So...unless you've switched your X5 from rubber to poly...I don't see much point in you commenting in this thread....

<endrant>

J.Belknap · #6 02-25-2010, 11:44 AM

Apparently you either:

a: don't know about poly bushings, (especially their properties to bind under high load cornering)
or
b: are not a "hard driver" as you say, and have obviously never experienced the above.

They are not neccessary, and although they may come in pretty colors, they are not an upgrade. This is a public forum, and sometimes you'll get posts from people trying to help you (or other readers) along in saving time and money, whether you like the post or not.

- a shadetree mechanic that tracks his car on rubber bushings.

ncsucarjock · #7 02-25-2010, 01:49 PM

1) hard driver. Regularly play hard on the road with all of my cars. Been using poly bushings for over 10 years in the Volvos, and been to the track. Current Volvo is all poly, all braced, and have never had a bushing bind. Maybe different suspension designs exhibit that trait more. Nonetheless...X5 is driven hard, but, it's never been on the track...yet.

2) Upgrade is debateable. I wouldn't consider poly if the damned BMW bushings didn't wear out every 60k miles, which for me, is less than two years of routine driving. The hassle of taking things apart and buying new every two years or so is frustrating. The front end isn't bad. The rear subframe bushings are.

Nonetheless...my personal experience is that well lubed poly bushings have never bound on me. And I'm still curious how much affect there is on ride quality.

so...if anyone has poly bushings, other than X5girl, if you could chime in on ride quality - that would be most excellent.

m5james · #8 02-25-2010, 02:26 PM

I know you've already spoken w/ x5girl, but she made some good points in her thread. For sake of longevity, I wouldn't rule them out and have considered them myself since I've also used them in the past. There must be more than one X5 user though who can throw in their .02 on this.

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...destroyed.html