suspension bushings - did anybody do the upgrade ?

I was talking to my mechanic at champion motorsports and he told me that the main thing I should do on my car is to update all the suspension bushings. They look perfectly fine but he told me after 10 years, there is no way they perform as they should. He say that he can 'press' new one in for decent price. I wonder if anybody here has upgraded their suspension bushings. I am talking about all the rubber bits that are located at the end of suspension links like the trailing arms, lower control arms ect.. I think there are like 20 over the whole car. the pain is to remove all those arms from the suspension, not hard job but still, is it worth it ? I know many have done this to go with monoball (full metal bushing) but those are too hard for street use, unless you want to loose your teeth fillings over bumps anyone ?

I just replaced the trailing arm bushings in my 912. Those suckers are hard to get to go back in with new rubber. Very tight....

I have put in the new Powerflex bushings in the rear sway bar. I am going to do the front at some point but may wait until winter.The OEM rubber ones can get worn pretty easily all over the car. When they wear out it is hard to notice unless you take the arms etc apart then you can see the wear. Over a period of time we get used to the way our cars drive and ride and don't notice the small things like these bushings.

Some of us have been complaining of highway speed 'float feeling' Replacing the bushing might be a good cure. The bushing wear slowly indeed and we get to them, I assume a full replacement must bring the car back to new as this is the main wear item that change the way the car feels. I saw on the gt3 forums that a lot of users realized their transmission bushing were dead, only after removal for inspection and that new bushing really help regain proper behavior when most owner did not even realize the car was not at 100%.

I replaced pretty much my entire suspension when I bought my '99 last August. Among other things, I put in Elephant Racing "sport" all around because I track the car. Combined with almost new PSS9's and replacing a few other worn out parts, the car is as tight as any I have ever owned.

Hal, that is very interesting. Can you confirm the process you followed? You had to remove every parts with a bushing and then bring them to the shop in order to have the new one pressed in ? How much did this cost in parts ? and how much did you pay for the press job ? Phil

Phil, the Elephant bushings were a little under $700 and yes, everything had to be removed to have the old ones removed and new ones pressed in. I was also having PSS9's, drop links, rotors, motor / transmission mounts installed at the same time so I don't have a breakout for labor on the bushings.

+1 on the Powerflex bushings. Very solid feel for combined street / track use. Price-wise very reasonable. Changed out the front lower control arm inner bushing on both sides for less than $100. Procedure is pretty straightforward, if you have a good ball joint separator ( http://www.sears.com/kd-tools-univer...p-00996404000P ) that doesn't tear up the rubber boot on the ball joint. After LCA is out, I used a propane torch to burn up most of the old bushing. Make sure to press out the old bushing's aluminium sleeve too. A shop vise works OK to press in the new one.

Flying penguin : I assume you bought these here for the lower control arms http://www.elephantracing.com/suspen...erbushings.htm Hal, can you point where you bought yours ? I don't see elephant selling more than the lower control arms bushings

Phil, after looking at the Powerflex site, I perhaps (probably) still have several more to change out.

they have a cool diagram http://www.powerflex.co.uk/products/...%29-525/1.html

Yeah, that is the one I saw. I am not sure about that much urethane in a street car, even if it goes to the track occasionally. Too much potential for NVH. I am already getting some of that with my limited upgrades.

NFH ? what do you mean by that ?

Ahhh. . . Typo. Noise, Vibration, Harshness.

yeah that is always the price to pay when wanting something sharper. I think the stock setting was really perfectly engineered for the street. Updating our old bushing for brand new stock one might be a great improvement already for most of us. I am just surprised not many have gone that way, especially considering most of our cars are 10 years old but we all choose the 911 for its sharpness and old bushing is really a killer. I hope some other will chime in with their experience in upgrading or updating their bushings

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It will be hard to determine the real difference vs. how the car felt when it rolled off the showroom floor 12 years ago. In my personal opinion, the risk of trying the Powerflex bushings is fairly low if you can do the work yourself. I am very happy with the result of just a fresh set of LCA inner bushings, which seem to be the most vulnerable. JP

I have expirence with powerflex on BMW's and the Company's description has been accurate. More focused than stock but not bone shaking...

I replaced every single bush with Powerflex. Bought new suspension control arms, installed on those, then swapped the control arms with new bushes so the car would not have to wait for too long. Also installed H&R anti roll bars with Powerflex bushes. I wanted to be on a safe side, did not want a squicking noisy bushes, so I bought a jar of copper paste. I applied plenty of paste with a small paint brush. Very happy with the results. I cannot notice any difference whatsoever in noise levels. I hope this helps. Cheers.

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The person who started this thread doesn't own the car anymore but I'm sure people will def agree the poly bushings are a better option.