Poly bushings in street car driven regularly?

[tekdeus]

I'm soon going to install poly bushings into my car. But I was reading on some other car forums that people have experienced binding and squeaking after 6-12 months of daily driving, even though they lubed the bushings at the time of installation. They said they had to relube them and should have added zerk fittings.

Just wondering if I should go the extra mile and install zerk fittings before the poly goes in? Anyone else have any problems after significant miles on poly bushings?

 

[Piratetip]

Haven't had any squeaks yet on mine.
Sounds like they are half-assing the job initially.
I put zerk fittings on all my bushings, even the swaybars.
Just another step in the installation, its easy, but takes a little more time.

 

[toy fanatic78]

Installed poly bushings in several of my cars now,never had a squeak from any of them(cressida has quite a bit of mileage on it's poly bushings.)
If you get black ones(Energy susp.)they are graphite impregnated,which makes them self lubricating also.

 

[Fuzz420]

The slight squeaking doesnt bother me.Its only really noticeable at parking lot speeds.If it squeaks at highway speed i cant hear it over my exhaust.

 

[SySt]

I put maybe 5k miles on my poly bushings. I installed grease fittings when I installed the bushings. I did not keep up with lubing the fittings at all and after maybe 5 months of driving the front lower control arm bushing sleeves seized to the poly andthe sleeves were then rotating inside the subframe wearing the subframe away. I took the bushings apart and re-lubed them, now I make sure to lube the fittings at least once a month.

 

[jimi87-t]

I have poly bushings on my BMW, and they do squeak, but like Fuzz said it only happens at very slow speeds.
And I've been running them for about 3 years with no problems, daily driven.

 

[spinningheadboy]

I zerked all of my poly's. Its the only way to go.

cwd

 

[jugodegolf]

I zerked all of my poly's. Its the only way to go.

cwd

Good info. Bushings is on my to do list. Squeaks at low speeds:3d_frown:

 

[IJ.]

Mine have been in the car for 4+ years now and have done many many miles, no squeaks I gave them a coat of Castrol LMM grease when I installed them as I've had Poly's in the past that drove me bugshit.

 

[Mo87NA]

Mine have been in the car for 4+ years now and have done many many miles, no squeaks I gave them a coat of Castrol LMM grease when I installed them as I've had Poly's in the past that drove me bugshit.

Drove me bugshit? Tha'ts a good one. I like it

 

[shaeff]

Zerk.

 

[jugodegolf]

Mine have been in the car for 4+ years now and have done many many miles, no squeaks I gave them a coat of Castrol LMM grease when I installed them as I've had Poly's in the past that drove me bugshit.

Squeaks can do that.:aigo:

Did you do the zerks?

 

[IJ.]

Nope just lubed them at the initial install then didn't touch them again for many years

 

[jugodegolf]

he said lubed.:naughty:


seriously thanks IJ.

 

[IJ.]

Was surprised when I pulled the car apart that the grease was still in there doing it's thing

 

[tekdeus]

Mine have been in the car for 4+ years now and have done many many miles, no squeaks I gave them a coat of Castrol LMM grease when I installed them as I've had Poly's in the past that drove me bugshit.

Is this the magic grease of choice then?

By the way, I got the Energy bushings here, and they are black. Someone mentioned that they are graphite impregnated, but I did not see that anywhere on the box. True or false?

Btw, I checked all of my current stock bushings and they are fine, and the wheel bearings and those spherical bearings are new as well(Randy replaced them 1 year ago). It just seems that my wheel offset combined with 350-400 RWTQ is too much for the stock rubber, and I end up with tons of toe upon accelerating. Probably not ideal for traction either!

 

[IJ.]

I use it as assembly lube when I build an engine it's a Moly Grease with a high melting point and seems to work very well with poly, don't know about "magic" though maybe that what all the kids with the fast NA's are using for top end runs

 

[toy fanatic78]

Is this the magic grease of choice then?

By the way, I got the Energy bushings here, and they are black. Someone mentioned that they are graphite impregnated, but I did not see that anywhere on the box. True or false?

Btw, I checked all of my current stock bushings and they are fine, and the wheel bearings and those spherical bearings are new as well(Randy replaced them 1 year ago). It just seems that my wheel offset combined with 350-400 RWTQ is too much for the stock rubber, and I end up with tons of toe upon accelerating. Probably not ideal for traction either!

According to whomever I talked to at energy(few years back,can't remember the name)inquiring about using MK2 bushings in my cressida,I asked the difference between the black and red as far as stiffness.I was told that they are about the same hardness,but the black ones are graphite impregnated.
I believe it states this on their website also.
As far as the squeaking goes,I've always just used the "formula 5 prelube" that energy supplies w/the bushings.Have used red and black bushings in several cars without a single squeak.