Bushes: Rubber or Urethane

spope · 17-10-2005, 09:25 AM

I am wondering what peoples preferences are for suspension bushes - rubber or urethane (Nolathane).
My current thoughts are along the lines of whatever helps with cornering (sway bars, watts linkage) should be urethane.
Anything the helps smooth out the bumps should be rubber.
My reasoning for this is that I am about to do all my rear bushes when I change my diff. The car is currently riding on king lows with new munroe shocks, and the ride is a tad harsh for my liking, ie, I can feel just about every bump. I'd like it to be a lot smoother.
What are peoples thoughts on this?
If there is a strong reason for either choice, please post with info.

ilsautomotive · 17-10-2005, 11:40 AM

The main advantage of rubber is ride quality, whereas urethane gives not only stiffer handling but they last longer too. I honestly don't know if the difference is that substantial - if you're unhappy with your ride (as I am with my Kings/Monroe GTs) the chances are the shocks are the weak point. I'm looking forward to the day I have to pay to redo my EA suspension for the 4th time since '01.

InitialD · 17-10-2005, 11:50 AM

From what I have been informed by Pedders and a good friend who is a mechanic that the Rubber bushes are a better choice. Urethane will make it alot stiffer but will slog/wear out quicker. I have personally noticed this with my rear trailing arms.

They were replaced with urethane bush's about 5mths ago, and are slogged out now. I was told to replace with rubber as a friend has done this to his EA aswell. After the same amount of time and his are not nearly as bad.

IMO Rubber for everything except urethane for swaybar bush's

pepsimax · 17-10-2005, 01:02 PM

in all honesty what the hell do you people do with your cars,,i had urethane bushes put in the trailing arms on my ea 2 years ago and they are still as good today as they were when they were put in,,,fair dinkum rebuilding the front end 3 times in 4 years,,that means you are doing something wrong or misstreating the car,,in which case put up with the expense as i have no simpathy for ya..or anyone that thinks these cars were built for burnouts and drag strips,,if ya wanna do like that then build a proper car for that purpose or stop ya winging because something breaks or doesn't last as long as you think it should,,,if it's designed to only go to 100 then don't expect it to do 150 and last a long time...these cars are meant for carrying the family around not for drag raceing or doing doughnuts,,,

twr7cx · 17-10-2005, 01:06 PM

I work as a kicker at Repco part time/casual while at Uni, and i must say that the Nolathane bushes out sell the rubber Kelpro ones 3 to 1 by the mechanics and suspension places we deal with!

gozza · 17-10-2005, 01:07 PM

hahaha
thats a point that speeds past my thoughts alot of the time...
gozza its a family car..drive it like u got a family in it
and i do now 95% of the time
when i 1st got my license i had a different definition of thrashing my car then i do now...

neb · 17-10-2005, 04:21 PM

pepsimax since your car is just a family car... then why did you bother putting in urethane at all they aren't meant to last as long as rubber

pepsimax · 17-10-2005, 04:24 PM

ford put them in, and as i said before they the same now as they were when they were put in,,no noises or squeaks either,,

Fairlane · 17-10-2005, 04:25 PM

Urethane = Good
mmkay

Harder wearing, less likely to deterioate. Why not?

falconkid · 17-10-2005, 04:50 PM

i had Nolathane bushes in my mini, and on my sway bar bushes on my falcon now, i reakon their great. no regrets in buying them.

JIM

bindi · 17-10-2005, 05:12 PM

Rubber wears out faster but doesn't squeak like urethane - which lasts longer.

neb · 17-10-2005, 05:26 PM

i've heard that urethane wears out quicker, and can wear on the inside so it actually doesn't look like its worn from the outside

spope · 17-10-2005, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pepsimax

in all honesty what the hell do you people do with your cars,,i had urethane bushes put in the trailing arms on my ea 2 years ago and they are still as good today as they were when they were put in,,,fair dinkum rebuilding the front end 3 times in 4 years,,that means you are doing something wrong or misstreating the car,,in which case put up with the expense as i have no simpathy for ya..or anyone that thinks these cars were built for burnouts and drag strips,,if ya wanna do like that then build a proper car for that purpose or stop ya winging because something breaks or doesn't last as long as you think it should,,,if it's designed to only go to 100 then don't expect it to do 150 and last a long time...these cars are meant for carrying the family around not for drag raceing or doing doughnuts,,,

Did you think at all about what you typed or did you just hit the keyboard a few times?

My question is not about the lifetime of urethane or the "performance" aspect of it.
I am far more interested at this point in time in ride comfort.
Troutys response was exactly along those lines - I too only recently upgraded the suspension and am not happy with it. I may end up replacing shockers again, I may not.
This has nothing to do with track racing or burnouts or any of that other crap that you spouted.
I would like my car to be more compliant, and to receive less kickback from minor surface imperfections in the road. That was the question. If you don't have a sensible, relevant answer, please post in another thread.

Racecraft · 17-10-2005, 06:10 PM

nah.. rubber perishes, is affected by oil, and no where near as long last as urethane.. If you are chewing urethane busshes out your car has some serious problems.. I'd hate to see what it would do to rubber bushes

INJECTED_250 · 17-10-2005, 07:28 PM

I fit both at work, the BIGGEST problem people make when fitting rubber bushes is that they do the bolt up when its in the air, then when the car is let down it holds the bush in a twisted posistion, the bush then splits easy. You need to leave all suspesion bolts loose then get under the car and tighen them up with it sitting in its normal ride height ( a 4 post hoist is great for this ) . THe bushes will last a lot longer when done like this. AS these bushes dont have any parts that move only spring, so they have a limited amount of travel
Nolathane bushes dont need to be done like this as the bush its self has movement in it, this also causes them to wear out faster.

It's up to u but i recomend genuine ford rubber bushes. Ive found in the Taxies that the nolathane parts just dont last any wear near as long as the rubber

pepsimax · 17-10-2005, 07:58 PM

hey spope,,edited,,i'm just as entitled to make comments as anyone else is and i was referring to the subject matter "(quotei had urethane bushes put in the trailing arms on my ea 2 years ago and they are still as good today as they were when they were put inend quote)"so there...and as i said if people didn't treat there cars like a bloody drag or race car then they wouldn't have so many bloody problems with them.

and i was commenting on something initial d said,,so if you don't want other people commenting with in your thread don't edited post,,simple as that..

EA2BA · 18-10-2005, 09:03 AM

I believe the best proven compromise between rubber and nolathane/urathane bushes is to use rubber on the trailing arm points at the body and nolathane/urathane at the diff end, otherwaie its harsh and can get bound up a little, use nolathane/urathane for the rest is fine though.

Having said that, I did do a 100% nolathane bush replacement in my XF and found it to be just fine, I didnt find the ride harsh, but the car was also not lowered.

harry · 18-10-2005, 09:07 AM

i found rubber bushes to be the best. i have had just had my rubber ones replaced which have been in there for 10 years.
the ride is so sweet.

bdennis · 18-10-2005, 09:41 AM

I have a ED XR8 SPrint and they come factory with nyolthane bushes all through the car. While i have not driven a std ED i assume the ride is harder in the Spint than that I would expect of a stock ED. The bumps are harder but the handling is fantastic. Turns corners like it is on rails. The only give is the tyres.... I have Monroe GT gas shocks so I expect the harshnes is the bushes...
my 2cents worth..

**Papa Smurf** · 18-10-2005, 08:44 PM

Wait until you guys are older, your choices for PLASTIC will change? or you will need a KIDNEY belt

Damo · 18-10-2005, 10:02 PM

Urethane all the way. By the way people Nolathane is just a brand name. :P

Walkinshaw · 19-10-2005, 12:29 AM

These people who claim that Urethane bushes ruin the ride. Either

(a) Stop running ultra lows
(b) Stop running 30profile tyres
(c) Do less than 30km/h over bumps
(d) Stop being soft.

If installing Urethane bushes in your car creates a rough ride, your car was TOTALY shagged before you installed the bushes.

pepsimax · 19-10-2005, 08:02 AM

and when they were installed on the ea i noticed no harshness in ride quality at all...eventually there will be no such thing as rubber bushes.

klawsterfobik · 19-10-2005, 12:39 PM

and eventually the world's water will dry, and everything will will die. BUT! we'll all be living on the moon by then, and eating space cakes with the aliens.

While we're living in today, i found that the rubber ones were good to keep things soft and comfortable, and the Urethane ones worked better in the front end to get my car around the corner a bit better.

Im off to cook a batch of spacecakes

LUXO_8 · 19-10-2005, 01:36 PM

my whole front end has urethane bushes throughout and i love it.

nice and firm, not too harsh.....handles great....great enough for me to forget its a luxobarge aha...

i just need it a little lower now lol

Psycho Chicken · 20-10-2005, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twr7cx

I work as a kicker at Repco part time/casual while at Uni, and i must say that the Nolathane bushes out sell the rubber Kelpro ones 3 to 1 by the mechanics and suspension places we deal with!

Markup is probably twice as high too.

spope · 20-10-2005, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walkinshaw

These people who claim that Urethane bushes ruin the ride. Either
(a) Stop running ultra lows

I have king lows

Quote:

(b) Stop running 30profile tyres

I have 205/65R15s on my car

Quote:

(c) Do less than 30km/h over bumps

That's a little hard when you are on Princes highway, or even around the back streets. I mean I feel EVERY bump and corragation (sp?) in the road.

Quote:

(d) Stop being soft.

That is probably the problem. :P

Quote:

If installing Urethane bushes in your car creates a rough ride, your car was TOTALY shagged before you installed the bushes.

This is what I can't work out. I KNOW my suspension is shagged, new springs and shocks notwithstanding. I am going to be changing the diff in a couple of weeks, so I figured I may as well go nuts and replace all the suspension bushes in the car. I am just trying to work out wether i should go for urethane or not. Given that I have only done 20,000 ks in the nearly 3 years I've owned the car, wear and tear is not a factor for me, I don't need anything to outlive any other thing.
That's why I am leaning towards rubber - cost is not an issue by the way - but I would prefer a somewhat softer ride. And most likely whichever bushes I choose will not wear out in the time I have the car for.

Sox · 26-10-2005, 11:29 AM

I never fit replacement bushes with rubber.
Urethane is the only choice really, it lasts a lot longer, allows far better suspension geometry which in turn allows better tire wear, they are more resistant to oil and heat, and of course they do make for a better handling car.

I'm not sure why some people are claiming urethane doesn't last as long as rubber, as my experience has shown urethane lasts a considerable amount longer.
I can't say I've ever had to replace a urethane bush to date (on my own cars).

And as far as squeaks are concerned, they always need to be fitted with a touch of grease.

Rick.

GDT · 26-10-2005, 12:44 PM

I have owned and run my EA daily since 1988. Quadrant suspensions put urethane bushes into the lower trailing arms over 400,000ks ago providing an instant improvement to the rear end. There still ok, so lifespans pretty good. The take away handling message from me is to add a set of Bilsteins. Expensive yes, but you get what you pay for. Firm but not harsh and last forever. Mine went 450,000ks before they started to weep.

ea007 · 26-10-2005, 09:27 PM

I feel that having replaced rubber with urethane almost religously that your spring and shock choice as well as tyre pressures will do more to affect the ride than a rubber versus urthane debate the whole package is in question. this is just my opinion as I do a lot of miles on roads that rarely see a grader or even bitumen.

View Poll Results: Bushes: Rubber or Urethane?
Rubber	7	12.28%
Urethane (Nolathane)	30	52.63%
Mix of both	15	26.32%
Don't care, they don't make the car go faster!	5	8.77%
Voters: 57. You may not vote on this poll