Opinions on polurethane bushes

Post by **Thebusofwoe** » Wed Dec 25, 2013 1:30 pm

And i am doing the whole kit inc fitting on my 4th for £160

Post by **lewd lude lover** » Thu Dec 26, 2013 11:26 pm

that is cheap. it is a shiiiiiit load of hours. if someone wants to charge less than 500 labor then they are mad mad mad. then add on the full kit (inc arb bushes etc) and if its not costing that to get a professinal to do it then they are not professional.

:wurly: this is why you spend the money. so the parts actually get fit to the car

Post by **Thebusofwoe** » Thu Dec 26, 2013 11:34 pm

Lol

the benifits of A) This forum and B) working in a garage

Post by **RattyMcClelland** » Fri Dec 27, 2013 12:09 am

lewd lude lover wrote:that is cheap. it is a shiiiiiit load of hours. if someone wants to charge less than 500 labor then they are mad mad mad. then add on the full kit (inc arb bushes etc) and if its not costing that to get a professinal to do it then they are not professional.

:wurly: this is why you spend the money. so the parts actually get fit to the car

Ill be shooting you with a PM later sometime next year so i know exactly what kit you bought for the S.
Some of my bushes were adviseries on my MOT and now my brother in law has his own garage so i think my 2014 project will be a polybush after supercharger tunage has commenced.

CARRisma · Post by **CARRisma** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 4:04 pm

I dropped The Lude off on Wednesday at Performance Autoworks and picked it up on Friday. A full set of ES poly bushes were fitted in addition to ARB bushes which aren't included in the set. So, here's my opinion ES poly bushes so far: The difference was noticeable instantly. It's not a massive difference and I didn't expect it to be, but it was noticeable immediately. For want of a better word, the ride is more "bumpy". You can feel the road more, there's more communication between the road and you. My dad, who came along for the ride, said it felt more "sporty", which I agree with. It is in no way uncomfortable, I would not describe it as too harsh. It feels more solid. It was previously suggested that cabin noise would increase slightly due to more vibrations being transmitted but I have not noticed this at all.

I really wanted to chuck the car around some corners on the way home, but the roads were damp and quite cold so not a good idea. It was also during Friday evening rush hour so very busy on the roads. I didn't get much of an opportunity yesterday either so can't comment on handling improvements, but I didn't buy these specifically for increased handling performance. If the cornering is better, and I'm sure it will be, then great. However, I can't say that all the improvements are due to the bushes being made of polyurethane as I would need to drive my car with a full set of brand new OEM Honda rubber bushes for comparison. I'm sure some of the ride difference is down to my original bushes being 14 years old, covering 129,8?? miles.

I am EXTREMELY relieved that it has fixed my car's chronic rear clunk issue. I've had the car for over 8.5 years and money, blood and sweat have all previously been wasted trying to fix it. Rich commented that some of the bushes were particularly in quite a bad way, I think he mentioned wishbone and something else, I'm gonna email him to query it just for my records / web site. Also, the car is silent when going over speed bumps! Before polybushing, it sounded quite unhealthy / creaky when going over them, but now there's no noises at all.

So, do I recommend them? Yes. In my opinion, the ride is not uncomfortable / harsh, it could now be described as more bumpy or sporty but not in a bad way. If you want to have your car's bushes replaced, bear this very important point in mind: a FULL set of ES polybushes (including the ARB bushes) will set you back £276 *. A PARTIAL set of genuine Honda rubber bushes will set you back £505.08 *, this does not include ALL the bushes as some are not supplied individually and are only available fitted to the suspension components. So if you did want to replace every single bush with original Honda rubber items, you will be spending a hell of a lot of money on parts alone! I would imagine it would easily be a 4 figure sum just for the parts. For reference, these are the bushes which aren't available separately:

- Front upper wishbone inner bush - replacement arm only
- Rear upper wishbone knuckle bushes – replacement arm/knuckle assembly only
- Rear trailing arm main bush – replacement arm only
- Rear LCA inner bush (not officially available for 5th gen but can use 4th gen bush no problem)

This info is courtesy of Rich at Performance Autoworks, he knows his stuff.

* Prices as of December 2013!

K30DPC · Post by **K30DPC** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 7:25 pm

Heh we told you that you will be happy.
Well done

Post by **lewd lude lover** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 11:52 pm

K30DPC wrote:Heh we told you that you will be happy.
Well done

ditto. glad you took the plunge. most of the bimmer is poly and it feels great.

89 UKDM BA4 4WS (resto job!) · Post by **wurlycorner** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 11:16 am

Good feedback carrisma, thanks.

I'm interested in this because the intention is to polbush Lisa's lude, but my UKDM needs rebushing also (age) and I wanted to keep that as OEM. If it doesn't make that much difference, then perhaps I would go polybush - just on the cost front.

Post by **Vtecmec** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 11:25 am

wurlycorner wrote:but my UKDM needs rebushing also (age) and I wanted to keep that as OEM.

There is also the option of Hard Race bushes, uprated but OEM style and significantly cheaper. @H10ndr recently aquired some of their engine mounts.

Post by **lewd lude lover** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 1:19 pm

@wurly: imho greasing up a poly and squeezing it in the arm is a bloody sight easier than pressing a new iron sleeve into an old arm.

not only are you saving loads and loads of cash but you are giving the car the ability to be repaired in the shortest possible time in future. They are a much better option full stop imho. once done you never look back.