Polyurethane Suspension Bushes

[Don Del]

Quite a few of the suspension bushes on my 110 Station Wagon are showing signs of age and are in need of replacement. I would appreciate any comments on the wisdom of replacing all the bushes with a set manufactured in polyurethane. The majority of the roads that I drive on in Bolivia are similar to those found in UK quarries and I think that the kit from Polybush in a hardness they grade as "comfort" would suit my needs.

[101sean]

If you do a search I think the majority opinion will be to stick with original bushes or use Super-pro bushes.

[Marco]

I'm a OEM bushes fan.... so no Polybushes for me (anymore)... you will find more than one discussion on this forum and others.

Cheers

Marco

[jbs]

Why Super pro as averse to Polybushes? just a curious Question as I've never heard of them before now

John

[Bowie69]

Better made, lifetime warranty

The quality difference seriously has to be seen to be believed.

[Don Del]

I'm a OEM bushes fan.... so no Polybushes for me (anymore)... you will find more than one discussion on this forum and others.

Cheers

Marco

Marco,

You say "no Polybushes for me (anymore)", which I take to mean that you have had some bad experiences in the past. Would you care to amplify?

Many thanks,

Del

[Range Rover Blues]

Poly made my LSE a really crashy ride and though my off-roader is a nice ride the polys reduced body roll, great whenit was our only car but now it only gets muddy I'm going to fit Defender radius arms with single-stage rubber bushes.

[rick]

As the fella's above have said, if going urethane it's only Super Pro, Super Pro or Super Pro.

Designed and cast in Australia, they really are a superior bush to any other urethane bush that I'm aware of and superior in design to OE IMO. I've spoken to one of their design engineers a few times now and they really do think about what and how the bush works, and any new Land Rover ones are tested by a Land Rover shop just down the road from their factory on touring (expedition) vehicles and rock crawlers.

I lived/worked for quite a few years on a farm (1700 acres, cattle) in the middle of nowhere and travelled dirt/gravel/carp roads everyday.

I live closer to town now but still travel dirt/gravel/carp roads everyday for work, and the first bushes I installed are still like new after something like 150,000km. The only OE bush left on mine is the rear lower (axle end) trailing arms, all others are Superpro by now. Ride quality didn't change.

I did get a little more (very little) flex out of the front end with some Haultech Holey bushes in the axle end of the radius arms, (I use 10" stroke dampers) but you need to replace them every twelve months due to the design. I'm very close to full stroking the shocks still, and the 17" free length springs are starting to unseat off their perches. (I can post some flex pics up if needed)

Some (most ?) urethane bushes are miles too hard and their designs generally mimic the OE bush, whereas Super Pro redesign the bush where appropriate, eg the chassis end of the lower rear trailing arms and use an appropriate durometer urethane for each bush. Some are actually softer than OE but there is more mass of bush due to the design so it all works well.

For example the bushes mentioned above use thicker steel plates, a tapered bush design and circumferential grooves to allow better up/down flex. They work very well. The front radius arm bushes also feature a similar design.

[Mo Murphy]

Another vote for SuperPro here. Their bushes aren't all made from the same stuff like the cheaper manufacturers, they use different compounds for different bushes reflecting the type of job they do.

HTH

Mo

[Marco]

Marco,

You say "no Polybushes for me (anymore)", which I take to mean that you have had some bad experiences in the past. Would you care to amplify?

Many thanks,

Del

Hi Del,

I've used UK Polybushes on a 130 (mainly road use) and also on a Series 109 in Africa. On the 130 I do rate them to be more flexible than OEM rubber ones (to much body roll). On the Series vehicles I do rate them as unsuitable due to the fact that with leaves springs the full vehicle weight will rest on the Polybush material inside the leaf springs vs coil spring vehicles where weight will rest on the spring, not the bush. On my Series the center tube pressed itself trough the softer bush compound.

For changing bushes it will not make much difference, I've always needed some kind of press to get them in or out. Both OEM and Poly.

I do not know the Super Pro ones but others are positive according to posts. Guess you will have to decide if the extra expense is worth the better ride / expected durability.

Cheers

Marco

[Off Road Toad]

I use the Bearmach poly urethane bushes on the 90, they survived the trophy cevenol (including when we ripped the trailing arm out of the chassis!) and the transilvania trophy this year, whereas i kept destroying OEM LR and Polybush ones. OE give a slightly nicer ride but nothing amazingly different. I Won't be changing to any other brand for the foreseeable future.

Steve

[Arbman Al]

Is there much difference between 'Polybush' and 'Superpro' makes?

[rick]

I use the Bearmach poly urethane bushes on the 90, they survived the trophy cevenol (including when we ripped the trailing arm out of the chassis!) and the transilvania trophy this year, whereas i kept destroying OEM LR and Polybush ones. OE give a slightly nicer ride but nothing amazingly different. I Won't be changing to any other brand for the foreseeable future.

Steve

I think you'll find Bearmach's urethane bushes are actually Super Pro although it appears that Bearmach get the steel bits made in the UK rather than use the Oz made bits.

http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=23795

http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=23795