yogi

I have an 1987 coupe with over 100,000 miles on it. I plan on replacing the shocks with Bilstein HD and going with turbo tie rods. For the rear my suspenion bushing options seem to be poly-graphite, poly-bronze or neatrix. I'm going to go with neatrix.

It's the front I'm not sure about. My choices seem to be poly-graphite (noisey and squeaky plus a hard fit) not willing to except. Or going with poly-bronze which are expensive. Are there any other bushing option for the front? If not it looks like I will go with poly-bronze? thanks,

hoffman912

just go with poly broze all around and get it over with. you'll be much happier.

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

Yogi:

You have 3 choices for front bushings:

1) New a-arms to get rubber ones; $ 448/each

2) Polyurethane; (noisy and maintenance intensive), $ 60/set and MUST be machined to fit

3) Poly-bronze; Smooth, easy maintenance, and best control, $ 245/set of 4

For me, this is an easy choice to make, given the options.

recordmanv

Steve or anyone: Would replacing all 4 front Bushings(20 year old-orig OEM rubber), say with the poly-bronze, require re-alignment or front torsion bar removal or re-setting? I have been thinking about this myself, but not willing to do it if it's at the expense of having to set-up the car's alignment again! Thanks.

KC911

When I installed my front poly-bronze bearings, I was refreshing all of the suspension components, lowering, etc. and required a realignment. You'll definitely have to remove the control A arms (including the torsion bars) from the car, but I don't see why you couldn't do that (as long as that's all you're doing), and then reinstall everything (easily indexing the t-bars to the same ride height), thus keeping your alignment intact. I'm sure Steve (or one of the other experts) will chime in soon. You could also post this question on Pelican, as Chuck Moreland (Elephant Racing - designer and producer of the bearings) will see your post and provide an expert opinion also. Hope this helps...Keith

LukeSportsman

Yogi:

There is another option which was recently discussed with its regards as a valid automotive suspension alternative. Needle bearings are also fab'd for the front only of the 911. This isn't an option for the rear, but you were asking what's out there for the front. Chuck has written a paper comparing the options recently.

Polybronze is where I'll go next.......tired of squeaking. "Regular" people must look at our cars strangly with squealing brake pads, squeaking suspension joints, inside tires that growl around corners and exhaust notes that stumble at idle. What have we done with our cars in the quest to "fix" them

Noel

I've had Poly Bronze for about a year now and they are great!

Prionace Glauca

Can someone post comments on ride quality for a street car when using the poly-bronze?
Resonate vibrations?
Road noise amplification?
Pothole reaction?

Thanks...

Noel

I upgraded to larger t-bars when I did mine, so I can't say what the difference of just the bushings would be.

J. Brinkley

ride quality, according to my wife, is better, acoording to me, it's slightly stiffer and better. This is a street car.

no resonate vibrations, in fact no noise at all. That's what I noticed the most, completely quiet, absolute silence on new paved freeway

no road noise amplification

pothole reaction, I think the same. But that's all relative to T-bars and shocks I believe. I drove back to back in another car, same vintage, also my car back to back within three days, the change is well worth the effort. I've only done the front bushings with monoballs. I will be doing the back next. I cant hardly wait

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

Hi:

You will need to remove the front torsion bars and a-arms to install ANY bushing,........

Its an easy-to-moderate DIY'er project for someone with tools and patience. After that, you will need to corner-weight & realign the car.

IMHO, after 20 years, the OEM rubber bushings are sagging and the poly-bronze ones will improve the ride and handling of your car. Its well worth the $$$ and effort.

KC911

If "I" can do it...anyone can ! Steve, is a realignment absolutely necessary as per Recordmanv's question? It would seem to me (novice that I am), that you could indeed remove the torsions bars and a-arms, replace the bushings with poly-bronze bearings, and then, 'IF' you reinstalled everything and set the ride height back to where it was, that the car would still be in alignment. If he just had an alignment (and doesn't want to do that again), could he accomplish that in your opiinion? When in doubt...trust the expert (i.e. Steve W)!!!

Keith Craver

Rick Sylvestri

I made the bone head move of upgrading my t-bars and not replacing my a-arm bushings because she never squeeked. I had already installed Neatrix in the rear last year so I installed the t-bars front and rear, aligned and corner balanced. One week later after an AutoCross she started squeeking ALL the time.
Now I get to do it over again It's Chuck's Poly bronze witout a doubt. Don't want to do this a third time. I wish I would have listened to previous posts when I was doing this upgrade... Can you hear me now?

yogi

Thanks for all the replies. They lead to me to another question. Is neatrix fine for the rear or should I go with poly-bronze back there to? I don't want to hear any squeaking.

Jerry Baer

Noel

If you are doing it yourself, I would actually recommend installing the AJ-USA adjustible spring plates. It makes setting the final ride height so much easier. It will also save you money when you get your car corner balanced, as the height can be adjusted with a single allen wrench. You don't even need to remove the wheels. The best $300 I spent on my project (Even less actually because I sold my old spring plates for $150).