Suspension refresh

[Billy Mild]

When is it time to refresh the suspension on these older C4's? My car has 72,000 miles and I think feels pretty tight overall. It seems like bushings start to rott away being that they are rubber from the factory.

How bad of a job is it to replace stock rubber bushings with poly?

[Funracer]

Did a Mini Cooper with poly a few years ago. It squeeked terribly in cold weather thereafter. Maybe
the poly is better now.

[JimZRyd]

I've read that the newer poly isn't as bad with squeaks as the older stuff, esp if you use plenty of their lube. I plan on doing mine soon. As long as you are replacing you might as well upgrade

[XfireZ51]

Originally Posted by JimZRyd

I've read that the newer poly isn't as bad with squeaks as the older stuff, esp if you use plenty of their lube. I plan on doing mine soon. As long as you are replacing you might as well upgrade

I redid my suspension about a year ago. And replaced bushings w poly. Speaking w a very knowledgeable suspension person, it was highly recommended to NOT use the lube provided by the bushing manuf. Rather use
The aluminum or copper anti-seize. The lube becomes waxy and cakes. Not so the anti-seize.

[pantera1683]

Originally Posted by XfireZ51

I redid my suspension about a year ago. And replaced bushings w poly. Speaking w a very knowledgeable suspension person, it was highly recommended to NOT use the lube provided by the bushing manuf. Rather use
The aluminum or copper anti-seize. The lube becomes waxy and cakes. Not so the anti-seize.

I replaced all my front rubber bushings with Polys back in 2010. I also used copper anti-seize and haven't noticed any squeaks.

[JimZRyd]

Thanks guys for the heads up about the anti seize. Sounds like the route to go!

[Fully Vetted]

So, is there a Poly Kit available that includes all of the bushings or do you just piece it together?

[pantera1683]

Originally Posted by Fully Vetted

So, is there a Poly Kit available that includes all of the bushings or do you just piece it together?

I bought a whole front end kit...I think. I'll look through my records when I get home and get back to you.

[rkreigh]

check out van steel

they just released a new composite bushing that looks really trick

similar to derlin but more street worthy.

I saw another company in Carlisle that also had some nice bushings that self lube with the hardness and installation advantages of poly and are more reasonable in price

actually I don't think the stock bushings are all that bad but after 20+ years they are likely to deteriorate

they are a real pain to install and you should have a press and some properly sized sockets or at least a soft jaw vice.

I've got 93k on my 95 and I noticed the stock rear bushings had started to crumble from all the hard launches, fronts still look ok

I went with the banski rods in back with spherical rod ends and much to my surprise the ride and handling are BOTH better and the suspension is freed up.

I also went with coil overs and have some spare grooved shocks if anyone needs them to buy the rippie hats and coil overs really are nice for the adjustment capabilities.

I'd like to swap to a better shock too as although the bilsteins are nice, modern shock technology with remote reservoirs are much better but still to rich for my blood.

stiffening the c4 chassis is a must too. I drive the c4 and c5 back to back and the suspensions are setup with similar components and the much stiffer c5 chassis allows for softer calibrations without hurting the handling much.

either one will scare the pants off me and paste me to the window class like a curious kid at the kandy store so the limits are high indeed.

[spork2367]

Originally Posted by rkreigh

check out van steel

they just released a new composite bushing that looks really trick

Link? I didn't see it on their site.

I'm an engineer at a large CNC job shop. We are also a big plastic reseller and machine a lot of it. I'm curious as to what they're using. I know just about all the rod materials that are out there and suitable for bushings.