555ss

Has any one tried poly bushing kits for the control arms then gone to the bearing set ups offered but serveral vendors?? are they worth the money?
The car is a C5Z basically used for TT events with some very limited street use (under 300 miles a year)... Im looking for reasons to why to spend $1400 +- more than bushings.. I run on A6's and beat it pretty hard, running 5-6 events a year.

Thanks for any help
Bob

zigspeed10

I'm interested in this as well. My car currently has poly and I'm wondering if going to spherical bearings is worth the cost. I know they are better but how much lap time improvement will there be. My current dilemma is I want brakes and aero too so where should my limited amount of upgrade money be spent.

To put some data behind poly vs. sphericals it would be nice if someone has run both and can tell us how much their static camber settings needed to change to compensate. I could theoretically see a braking improvement due to needing less camber. The other harder to measure benefits I think would be better feel and quicker response.

yooper

Great questions, also interested in measured data.

sperkins

I'm in the middle of my monoball install now. Outside of the better handling, I’m expecting much better tire management and wear.
I won’t be able to report anything for a few months though.

ErnieN85

fatbillybob

Driver improvements = lower laptimes.

Everything else masks driver shortcomings.

Bushings are not very valuable. In t1 racing they did little good. We hoped for better tire wear but it made no difference running delrin. In st2 this year we will have to wait to hear how bearings work under race conditions.

sperkins

Agreed.

Couldn't disagree more.

froggy47

wtb-z

Are you referring to rubber -> delrin or poly -> delrin resulting in little improvement?

drivinhard

There is a substantial improvement in the car dynamics going from the very soft stock bushings to even just poly.

mountainbiker2

I think there worth it if you've done everything else. I had a couple of upper front bearings get loose right away. Then they seemed to stay that way and did not get worse. Still need to fix them. I wouldn't waste my time with Poly bushings ever again. Here's the review I did back in Aug. 2011. I feel it's still accurate.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/auto...ng-review.html

Steve A.

Han Solo

Not a big fan of poly as in that red urethane stuff. Tried a set on a swaybar once and had them bust in a short amount of time.

In my opinion a properly designed Delrin bushing (Global West) is far superior to anything else if you only need it to pivot. It won't work if you need it to deflect or pivot. Rod ends are going to be noisy period but will give better control than rubber or poly.

John Shiels

If you are not real aggressive now I would do other things first like shocks and or springs. Coil-overs are another option. Unless you have a big budget and don't care.

sperkins

I ran Pfadt poly for over 3 years and never once had any binding issues.
Your issue was common with the brand of poly bushings that you were running (non-Pfadt).

"These bushings were installed for 3 years and were never re-lubed. They saw 3 years of hard racing on a track only C5 race car. Can't ask for anything better."

MarkDFW

I am interested in this as well. Would anyone considered either poly or spherical setup streetable? My car will eventually be converted to track only, but still sees a lot of street miles. Not sure if these mods would have the car handling too stiff for the street.

trackboss

I have monoball lower control arms at all four corners and they are silent. They do transmit NVH more effectively than any plastic however. There is a distinct difference between the two. Monoballs in good working order do not make any noise on their own. If anyone experiences that its the monoballs asking for replacement. The urethane bushings on the other hand make lots of noise. That was the main reason I switched out the rear urethanes to monoball.

froggy47

That vid could be my car also after 2 + years a half dozen track days &probably 100 autox plus street miles 5k) Zero noise/binding and when I took them apart to lube they really did not need it (I did not drill for zerks). Small issue with front uca retainer fixed by free update. I guess they are 10% of the cost of delrin/mono ball. Correct me if I'm off on that.

John Shiels

depends on you taste of ride. poly no problem then again I'd drive a stone if it was faster,

el es tu

The change from stock is a big leap and worth it on the street. Im in the same position: C6 street car that is slowly being turned into a track car. No issues running poly - just better road feel (unless youre really sensitive to bumps).

That said, while I like my poly bushings, I kind of wish Id have held out and went with all metal.

If youre looking for the cheapest place - RPI has the pfadt bushings for less than 300 bucks shipped.

froggy47

It's just to subjective, like asking if xyz exhaust system is too loud for street, everyone tolerates differently.

Best to ride in a friends car that has the mod you are contemplating.