93celicaconv
Member
Waking up this older thread. Later this fall or early winter, I'll get under our ST185 and see if I can get a pry bar to check bushing slop, and check those spherical bearing units as well.
I know I want a comfortable, compliant street car (not a track car) regarding suspension firmness. Most poly bushings are a fair amount harder than natural rubber, so I don't want to go that route. That said, Toyota's availability of OEM natural rubber bushings is very, very limited now. Where Toyota OEM is not available, I don't see any other options but poly bushings. The threads I've seen generally don't sound encouraging to me for poly bushings (they are harder, there is move vibration and noise getting through, and they generally don't seem to last very long).
Paul from GT4 Racing said their normal poly bushing hardness is in the 75-80 ShA range, or about 15-20% harder than natural rubber. They can provide poly bushing hardness around 90 ShA for track & racing (just the opposite direction from where I want to go). They can also provide poly bushing hardness around 65 ShA which would be similar to natural rubber. I don't know how that translates into energy/shock absorption differences between natural rubber and softer poly bushings.
Has anyone used softer poly bushings on ST185's and felt they got back to "showroom" suspension characteristics for these cars? And have they been durable (as durable as natural rubber)? If you found sources for softer poly bushings, from where did you get them? And did the source provide all bushings needed for an ST185 (to not be forced to mix & match various kinds and hardness levels of bushings within a single car)?
I'm just not finding this process of sourcing "factory-spec" type of bushings for ST185's easy at all.
I know I want a comfortable, compliant street car (not a track car) regarding suspension firmness. Most poly bushings are a fair amount harder than natural rubber, so I don't want to go that route. That said, Toyota's availability of OEM natural rubber bushings is very, very limited now. Where Toyota OEM is not available, I don't see any other options but poly bushings. The threads I've seen generally don't sound encouraging to me for poly bushings (they are harder, there is move vibration and noise getting through, and they generally don't seem to last very long).
Paul from GT4 Racing said their normal poly bushing hardness is in the 75-80 ShA range, or about 15-20% harder than natural rubber. They can provide poly bushing hardness around 90 ShA for track & racing (just the opposite direction from where I want to go). They can also provide poly bushing hardness around 65 ShA which would be similar to natural rubber. I don't know how that translates into energy/shock absorption differences between natural rubber and softer poly bushings.
Has anyone used softer poly bushings on ST185's and felt they got back to "showroom" suspension characteristics for these cars? And have they been durable (as durable as natural rubber)? If you found sources for softer poly bushings, from where did you get them? And did the source provide all bushings needed for an ST185 (to not be forced to mix & match various kinds and hardness levels of bushings within a single car)?
I'm just not finding this process of sourcing "factory-spec" type of bushings for ST185's easy at all.