Poly vs oem bushings
 

I have seen several threads on here where members have gone with the poly bushings in place of the oem ones. How is the ride quality for those that swapped?

I have no interest in changing to the poly from a performance angle and I know that on different things I had done this on in the past the ride suffered pretty bad when changed out from the soft oem bushings.

The reason I'm interested in maybe using them on my X5 is the longevity since basically my X5 is offroaded every day with the condition of my driveway and I figured the poly bushings would last longer.

My wife's 528i for instance which has the same front end linkage wise as my X5 has to have the parts pretty regular from the flexing of the driveway so I figure the X5 will be the same way.

So will my X5 ride harsh if I use them?

I did power flex poly bushings on the front thrust arms. When you stiffen things up be prepared to feel everything. If my tires aren't perfectly balanced, I feel it. But that annoying play under sharp braking and replacing them frequently is now gone. :)

Stock bushings last 75-100,000 or more miles. IMO unless it is for handling, there won't be a return on the higher cost investment.

Actually I have to change the stock bushings on the wife's 528i once a year with our driveway. They did make it 2 years once. That's why I was wondering about changing to poly. The vehicles that we drive long range with less driveway trips last 100k miles on average but the commuter ones not so much.

If its going to make the X5 ride harsh I will just keep using oem even if I have to replace them all the time. At my age I just want a smooth normal driving experience.

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'll check that out thank out thanks !

Pave your driveway? :dunno:

Pave your off road course

I have poly bushings on my Thrust Link. Don't know the long-term effect but they don't ride any harsher than the stock bushing. I'm expecting them to last longer since they are not fluid filled and don't have the air gap like the old bushing. I have a Youtube video on removing the thrust arm from the ball joint.