How frustrating.
I know that polyurethane isn't an expensive or difficult material to work with to cast. Friends of minde develop skateboard wheels which require about as much precision as a bushing, if not more.
Anyone with basic knowledge of cold casting could reproduce every bit of rubber from this car into polyurethane or polygraphite (graphite impregnated urethane) in large enough batches to keep costs down.
On one end, I can see how it would cost the customer $600+ for hand making each bushing, but on another level of practicality, I don't see why the molds aren't made to cast in larger batches.
I mean, what the hell is Energy Suspension thinking, making MKII bushings and none for the MKIII/IV?? That seems as backwards as seeing a kit for an '86 Dodge Charger, but none available for a '68...
I don't buy the demand thing when it comes to relatively modern and modern mass production car parts. Let alone wear parts. Let alone wear parts on a high performance, saught after sports car of any make. Especially on something this new, in comparison to a car that is 30/40/50+ years old (of which can be seen in ES's catalog). They made thousands of these things and the chassis was around for quite some time. You see stuff for a Nissan Z. There really is no reason.
I mean, even if you think about it from their end, if their marketting department knew how to do their job with any amount of awareness, they would see that they would have very little or no competition if they offered the kit at a reasonable price. What on earth could go wrong from a sales point of view? is ES paying the marketting rep to play with a Rubix Cube or on myspace?
I could understand if this chassis were only a one year thing or if it were a much lower production car, but even then you can get whatever you want for a Viper or a Vette.
I'm willing to go as high as $500 for a decent suspension rebuild kit if it includes hard parts as well.