Suspension refesh?

[oxide_mr2]

Afternoon all,
Been a while for me, but back to the forum with a rev3 NA

Cars been looked after but shes no spring chicken and has 120k on the clock

At around 60+mph the car starts to get fidgety and as always reading up on previous threads on here just confirms my suspisions - most of the bushes are likely well past their best.
And the car could probably benefit from being fully alligned.
Pointless if all the bushes are knackered.

Just wondering if anyone on here has done a complete bush replacement - if so how much did it cost them and where did they find the parts were cheapest to be sourced from. Also how much work was it.

Ive replaced various bushes on various cars in the past, and have found some are fairly easy where as others are stubborn and time consuming to replace.

I've tried polybushes and found them a bit too hard on other cars and as this car is stock standard with the exception of a stainless back box, i was hoping to keep the bushes the same.

Thoughts and comments much appreciated.

[qwakers]

i can only speak for polybushes on price and looking at prothane bushes i found the uk prices errrr, frightening...

but i got mine from america for $142.80 including shipping from http://www.aftermarketsuspensionparts.c ... a_mr2_1995

the service was bang on and the bushes seem great. a real saving even after the tax bill.

[abovetherim]

Poly bushes will be stiffer than OEM rubber but...

They are not overly stiff with OE shocks and springs. I would describe it as tighter.
The benefit of poly bushes is fitting, no press needed!
The old ones can be pulled out with threaded bar and tubing or sockets of the right size or bearing pullers etc. The new ones just push in by hand.

I bought a complete set of prothane from Peter at SBITS for IIRC £120ish.

If you are competent with the spanners you could get it done in a weekend.

Also whilst all the arms are off they can be made pretty.

[pbmr2]

I'll just leave this here...

https://www.amazon.com/Prothane-18-2009 ... ne+18-2009

[pbmr2]

Most of the bushes are not available without the arms, no idea what the cost of them is from MR T but it isn't going to be cheap, if they still make them.

Some of the bushes are available in rubber, I'd get as many in rubber as you can to soften the ride, however all the major ones will have to be poly.

It is a shame but there isn't really any other way. Just going through this myself and hoping that the bushes don't make the car a nasty ride.

Don't get the black version of the Prothane bushes as they are even stiffer.

[oxide_mr2]

Thanks guys.
that gives me a rough idea.

Years back i had a Nissan Almera GTi, i replaced the engine mounts with RED polybushes and afterwards i couldnt see out of my rear view mirror there was that much vibration in the cabin!!

I read that the blacks are meant to be the closest to OEM but i see that your comments suggest they're harder than REDs???


I have a bush/bearing puller tool that will pull them out or push them in as i did the rear swingarm on a MK4 golf.

I recall the new ones being split with a sleeve down the centre, which was a great design.

So to confirm - which bushes would give me the closest thing to OEM without wandering down the stealers?

[qwakers]

all i can say is im VERY happy with the improvement my reds gave me, butttt, it IS being built as a track car.....

[Race Idiot]

I've had the prothane kit on two cars and there is very little difference in nvh.

[oxide_mr2]

Also

I take it this kit is the same???

https://www.amazon.com/Prothane-18-2009 ... automotive


http://www.aftermarketsuspensionparts.com/182009

Part numbers match - darn sight cheaper on Amazon!

[oxide_mr2]

I've had the prothane kit on two cars and there is very little difference in nvh.

Is that between the reds and blacks?

[oxide_mr2]

all i can say is im VERY happy with the improvement my reds gave me, butttt, it IS being built as a track car.....

I've thought about doing the odd track day, but the car will be used on road 99%

[Race Idiot]

Both were the red kit, i'm pretty sure the colours don't differ in stiffness.

I honestly had more noticeable vibration on idle when I had TRD motor mounts fitted.

[SonicSW20]

Polymer tech has come a long way. Modern polybushes are not the round bits of hard plastic that were around in the Max Power days. You can squash Prothane bushes somewhat by hand. They'll be a big improvement over knackered OE bushes in all aspects.

[oxide_mr2]

Polymer tech has come a long way. Modern polybushes are not the round bits of hard plastic that were around in the Max Power days. You can squash Prothane bushes somewhat by hand. They'll be a big improvement over knackered OE bushes in all aspects.

Good to know. The ones i fitted to the Almera back in probably 2008 were rock solid - might as well have been nylon.

On a slightly different note, my engine mounts are past their best also.
I see Polybush do some.

Any recommendations?
I intend on doing these in the spring along with the clutch.

[gnzyza]

I have the black series engine mounts and they do transfer a fair bit of vibrations into the cabin.

[SonicSW20]

I have Powerflex yellow bushes in my engine mounts. They seemed a little harsh at first but seemed to soften up a bit after a little while.

[gnzyza]

Comparing to the prothane suspension bushes the Black mounts are very tough.
To be fair I changed all the bushes, mounts, suspension and exhaust all at the same time so it's probably all of these things combined than just the mounts.

[SonicSW20]

Yeah, I wouldn't fit Powerflex Black series on a road car.

[oxide_mr2]

So the general jist for best combination then?

Black prothane suspension bushes
Yellow Powerflex engine bushes


Any one got a link for the exhaust bushes?

[SonicSW20]

Prothane black and red are exactly the same functionally, it's just a colour difference.

You can buy new Toyota exhaust mounts from TCB Parts