[scott70]

Not trying to make it a road race car or anything so I'll probably just stick with rubber. Now I'll just see if there's a quality kit out there for it.

[HWYSTR455]

What's in it now that you are replacing? And do you have aftermarket springs?

Those two questions will give you a more accurate recommendation.

If you are using factory springs, and you switch to a more easily articulation suspension setup, the factory springs will be too soft. (and you will notice it)

Poly bushings are more free-articulating bushings than OE, there are no 'teeth' on the inner sleeves, so you don't have to worry about tightening them while the car is loaded (on the ground).

OE rubber bushings have the inner sleeve actually bonded to the rubber. That provides a certain amount of 'load reduction'. When you tight the bushing, the 'teeth' bite into the frame mounts, and resist a certain amount of twisting.

In later 2nd gen F-bodies, a harder durometer bushings was used as part of the WS6 handling package, which were tuned to the springs & shocks (rate & valving). No one ever complained about harshness with those.

Free-articulating suspensions usually benefit from different shocks than OE type.

Most have rubber body bushings, so I honestly can't understand how people can say the ride gets 'harsher', it's almost unmeasurable. But I think it's more due to the fact that a more free-articulating suspension makes it more 'sensitive' to shock selection (and spring). And THAT is what I believe people related the 'harshness' to. (And not the bushings themselves).


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[scott70]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

What's in it now that you are replacing? And do you have aftermarket springs?

Those two questions will give you a more accurate recommendation.

If you are using factory springs, and you switch to a more easily articulation suspension setup, the factory springs will be too soft. (and you will notice it)

Poly bushings are more free-articulating bushings than OE, there are no 'teeth' on the inner sleeves, so you don't have to worry about tightening them while the car is loaded (on the ground).

OE rubber bushings have the inner sleeve actually bonded to the rubber. That provides a certain amount of 'load reduction'. When you tight the bushing, the 'teeth' bite into the frame mounts, and resist a certain amount of twisting.

In later 2nd gen F-bodies, a harder durometer bushings was used as part of the WS6 handling package, which were tuned to the springs & shocks (rate & valving). No one ever complained about harshness with those.

Free-articulating suspensions usually benefit from different shocks than OE type.

Most have rubber body bushings, so I honestly can't understand how people can say the ride gets 'harsher', it's almost unmeasurable. But I think it's more due to the fact that a more free-articulating suspension makes it more 'sensitive' to shock selection (and spring). And THAT is what I believe people related the 'harshness' to. (And not the bushings themselves).


.

What’s in it now are the original rubber bushings. While under the car I noticed at least one had some of the rubber was hanging out of the shell. Original springs and sway bars. My gto has the ride and handling package.About 2 years ago I replaced the original shocks with bilsteins on all 4 corners. I mean they were spiral shocks … date coded 1969. All the bushings in the rear are poly…figured it would help against wheel hop. I have no squeaks back there. Supposedly my car has 47,000 original miles on it.