Ybnormal

15 year old poly bushings (or poly powder) and less than 500 miles on them. I will definitely go heim joints this time around. Would rubber held up better? maybe! Now I know why my rear camber would always change over the years!

YBnormal...drive a vette

drwet

Wow. Thanks. I'm going to check mine tomorrow. They're older and have more miles on them than yours.

IronMaidens2.0

I am curious about what you call POLY .There are many plastic and elastomer polymers that start their name as POLY .

The toughest is Polyurethane.

I work in the plastic industry for almost 38 years .And have never seen Polyurethane crumble like that unless it was exposed to overheating for long periods of time .

Where did you buy these at? This does not look like the proper material was used for bushings ?

Ybnormal

Mine turned to powder when I took them out, glad I used rubber on the front end.

Ybnormal

Ironmadens I bought them from a vendor that I won't mention there name and have had many parts from them that I am truly satisfied with. They were bought in 2002 and the vendor is still around. That is all I will say.

YBnormal...drive a vette

resdoggie

I've had my poly adjustable rods on for 20+ years and they are still good. Too bad some guys end up with **** bushings but it happens. It's also too bad that they will tell others not to use poly because they are ALL bad. When buying poly and everything else out there, buyer beware.

Big2Bird

Ive had all poly for 15 years, and over 20,000 miles. A few have cracked, but none have crumbled. They were all from VB and P.
That being said, I did switch the rear struts to Heims, and will do the T/As with Johnny Joints next round.
I drove the car 6200 miles this summer, and did crack a rear spring hanger bushing, and a couple rear sway bar link bushes.

Sky65

The same thing happened to the ones on my 65 after a couple years. They were a VBP kit. I went to heim joints after that.

Tom

drwet

I checked my adjustable strut rods tonight and the bushings are perfect. For the record I bought them from Vette Brakes 21 years and 24,000 miles ago. ( I don't drive my car enough! )

Big2Bird

Sounds like good batches and bad, or changing vendor sources, or .....

jb78L-82

Here we go again..someone has a bad experience with poly and all poly is supposedly Sh$t!

I installed VBP poly strut bushings in the OEM stock strut rods in 1984 (YES 1984!!!!!!!) and removed the OEM struts with the poly bushings about 10 years ago for Competition Adjustable struts with heim joints and the 4 POLY bushings looked BRAND NEW...Lets see that would be 30+ Years!!!!! Try that with rubber....I have still have the OEM struts with the poly bushings installed in the struts in the garage, of course, if anyone would like me to snap a photo even after sitting in the storage area above the garage for the last 10 years where the temp gets to 120+ degrees during the summer.

And how about this:

The front upper and lower control arm bushings installed over 10+ years ago still look brand new......

And the poly composite rear spring end cushings installed with the 360 rear spring in 1986 are still on and look brand new.....................

Oh yes, the front poly sway bar endlink bushings from 1983 (yes, I have been using poly for a LONG time way before it was fashionable) have had to be replaced (some of them) since a couple have deteriorated from 35 years of use..oh must be crap......

The only place I will use rubber bushings is for the rear Trailing arms...that's it.....

3JsVette

Just a though about extreme heat, are the bushings on the rear pumpkin (inside) and does the exhaust run right next to them?

128racecar

I have all heim joints throughout the front and rear suspension on my 1979 Honda Civic race car. Fantastic feel on the race track, but....

I hope all your fillings in your teeth are solidly in place😳

Marc in Indy

jb78L-82

I posted this on my 78 L-82 4 speed in September...

I have a 78 L-82 4 speed car with the gymkhana sport suspension (67,000 miles) that I have owned for 34 years and I have tinkered with the suspension one part at a time over all those years to achieve the perfect balance of superb handling, steering response and a firm but not harsh ride. Not knowing if you have a base suspension (most likely since most did not have the sport suspension from the factory) or the sport suspension, below is what you need for truly sportscar handling with a great ride for your 78:

Front:

550 lbs front coil springs/1 inch lower than stock-$100-MidAmerica
1 1/8 inch solid front sway bar (OEM Bar size)-$200-GM Stock Bar
poly upper and lower control arm bushings-$50-Prothane Poly
Bilstein HD shocks-$150-Do not recall where I bought theses Bilsteins
Front Spreader Bar-$100-Speed Driect
Custom blueprinted/rebuilt OEM steering box- GTR 1999-Gary Ramadei-$300

Rear:

360 monospring-$300-VBP 1986 year
Bilstein Sport shocks-$150-Do not recall where I purchased these Bilsteins
OEM Style Rear Sway bar (not the aftermarket type bars. I highly discourage NON OEM/GM style rear sway bars)-7/16 or 9/16 or 3/4 inch (I have this one replacing the stock 7/16 inch bar)-$200-Mid America
Competition adjustable strut rods with heim joint ends-$200-MidAmerica

Total Cost $1750

This suspension will get you a FAR SUPERIOR suspension than what came on the car when it was new, X3 if the car had a base suspension from the factory. You will need to add 17/18 inch rims and tires (ZR rated only W/Y sub rating) later to maximize the superior suspension setup. I have ultra high performance summer only tires Front-255/45/17 ZR and rears 255/50/17 ZR's.

This car not only rides great, has tons of steering response, but can handle like a modern sportscar!^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

As for the heim joint adjustable struts...makes the rear end feel more planted since there is much less camber changing under a load and has little to no detrimental effect on ride quality,

This suspension by far is much more compliant than my 10 C6Z06, 2012 Lexus IS350 F Sport and 2008 Chrysler 300 with Bilstein Struts/shocks, ultra high performance tires, Eibach V8 aftermarket sway bars on my 3.5 V6 300, and mopar strut tower brace...MUCH more comfortable ride!...firm but not harsh AT ALL.....

Les

Poly is not all bad and it's also not all good. The poly bushings for my rear spring bolts are all degraded, with cracks across the entire outer surfaces. I got these 3-4 years ago from VB&P and the car is always garaged. It hasn't been exposed to extreme heat or cold and gets driven approx. once every 2 weeks throughout the year during good weather only. There's no reason whatsoever for this to happen so soon.

Big2Bird

50% of Corvette parts are junk. Bushings are no exception.

Some are good, some are bad, and most take work to fit correctly.

Caveat Emptor.

crf311

Same thing happened to me. Caused me to spin out coming off the interstate off ramp. Just missed a huge sign. Never again will I use poly anything on my vette.

Also had a poly spring bushing fall apart without ever having been used. I installed it, but never put any weight on it. The vette has stayed on jacks. Cleaning up one day I noticed it was nothing but pebbles.

Backstop

I notice you post this post often, would you be able to throw some part numbers or links to manufacturer pages on there so people can price it out a little more accurately?

Like this OE style bar the one or or is this here kit OK or something else?

I wouldn't mind just following in your footsteps for my 73 coupe that I want to use for autocross and occasional fun days at the track.

leadfoot4

I've been using various "poly" bushings sine the late 70s, in various cars. As "jb78L-82" mentioned, I, too, have been using them for a lot longer than they've been "in fashion", and for the most part, without issue. Most of what I bought were the Energy Suspension brand, but I also used a few from VB&P.

Jeffs82c3

Who sells rubber bushings for the c3?? I've looked for them thru several company's and all I could find was poly... Looking for rubber body mounts...