Rubber or Nolathane

[b3h3m07h]

Been doing a bit of research and some people say rubber bushes and others say go nolathane. i want to do all the bushes at the front end of my vr but don't know what to get, rubber, nolathane or a combination. anyone done this and what would you recommend? cheers

[westbad]

nolathane ive got the full kit in my ute, there a 2 piece bush so are very easy to fit they dont need to be pressed in and they seem firmer that the standard.

[Brett_jjj]

I use nolathane.They last for ages and give a good ride.The rubber ones chop out to quickly.

[VrWagz1]

Both definatly have their place in a car. Stuff like sway bar links, panhard rod are good choices for nolothane, where as control arms i would be more likely to use rubber as it will last longer. Rubber bends and squashes better and tends to last on parts that take a good floggin. Where as polyurathane dosnt bend and twist much and easily flogs out, but is good for things that just take weight and not so much twisting movement.
Tbh, if your jst getting everthing refreshed and dont do any amount of racing just get everthing re-done in rubber, its cheaper and works fine.

[calais24/7]

I've got nolathane throughout my car, they where installed by previous owner and so far no problems, it is a bit stiff but im happy with them.

[Brett_jjj]

Both definatly have their place in a car. Stuff like sway bar links, panhard rod are good choices for nolothane, where as control arms i would be more likely to use rubber as it will last longer. Rubber bends and squashes better and tends to last on parts that take a good floggin. Where as polyurathane dosnt bend and twist much and easily flogs out, but is good for things that just take weight and not so much twisting movement.
Tbh, if your jst getting everthing refreshed and dont do any amount of racing just get everthing re-done in rubber, its cheaper and works fine.

Urethane bushes last heaps longer than rubber.Rubber is soft and wears out quickly.Ive been through heaps of rubber ones until I started using nolathane brand bushes,have not had to replace them since.

[wraith]

Agree with the post about both having their uses. Some parts you don't want something that has no give. Rubber gives it that better flexibility. Been told that by a guy who used to work at pedders so you would think he would know.

[Brett_jjj]

I got told all that crap when I first got nolathane bushes,they turned out to be excellent.Id never use rubber again.

[aztech01]

rubber are fine and i stick to rubber
There are some nolathane bushes that are good and some are shit found the blue type to be cheap quality compared to the red bushes but im trying super roo bushes which is a blue bush but seem to be better quality but only time wil tell Also for controll arms and caster rod use genuine rubber as some rubber bushes out there a cheap shit from china Genuine bush will out
last a nolthane bushes so use genuine rubber for those main parts

[greenfoam]

Urethane definatly doesn't last anywhere near as long as rubber, You might think they do if you get them in your car and drive 50,000ks. But fact is the rubber ones can and do last ten times that distance. Rubbers that are going to break like sway bar rubbers, then go urethane on those (it's the only place they really should be). But in the end unless you need race car type accuracy with your steering...... rubber is just better all around. Also urethane needs to be lubed if that drys out they fail very quickly.

The only urethane I have in my car is the strut tops and it was one of the worst things I ever did, huge increase in vibration and harshness from just that one thing. When I bought my old VN it had just had the panhard rod bush replaced with urathane, that bush was stuffffffed in 40,000ks, like really stuffed so much that the car was almost impossible to drive straight, the rest of the car was the factory rubber and nothing else ever needed replacing, I replaced the panhard rod bushes with factory Holden rubbers and it was still like new 50,000ks later. You wont ever see the factory using urethane because it's just no good in a daily road car.

If you are going to replace them with rubber use the legit rubber from Holden then you know it'll last you another 20 years

[wortus]

I'd probably use nolothane for the castor rod bushes as these bushes are under a lot of load when you brake. I'd also use a nolothane kit with the bent rod for the sway bar but the rest I would use rubber as especially the lower arm bushes they need to move a lot and rubber is better for that especially with standard rate springs as they will compress more.
As far as rubber wearing out quickly, sure maybe on castor rod bushes but lower arm bushes etc I doubt it very much. I had a VN and it had all original bushes except the sway bar, 300,000km and they were fine. Don't believe the likes of Pedders telling you there stuffed they do that as standard. Dine cracks on the outside don't mean the inside is worn out. They told me this on my VN when I bought it and then 10 years later said it again and they reckon they only tell you wien it will fail in 6 months. I had LJ Torana's before that and most of the rubber bushes were original when I sold them, they only had nolothane in the castor rods as they crush.

[GTP 85]

Don't use urethane bushes in the upper control arms. My VN has the pedders ones in the upper control arms and they are already cracked. I have also seen numerous cars th my local wrecker which have flogged out urethane in the same place.

[Brett_jjj]

Ive had nolathane in my car for 4 years now,havent had to replace any of em.They just passed another rego inspection.I was using genuine ones from holden before that,and they would chop out in no time.Try driving on dirt roads all the time like where Im from with rubber ones.Dirt roads soon sort out good bushes from shit ones.They last for f*^k all time.Ive seen cheap urethane ones chopped out too though,the blue ones.Nolathane (red ones) are the ones to use.

[06vzcalais]

rubber are fine and i stick to rubber
There are some nolathane bushes that are good and some are shit found the blue type to be cheap quality compared to the red bushes but im trying super roo bushes which is a blue bush but seem to be better quality but only time wil tell Also for controll arms and caster rod use genuine rubber as some rubber bushes out there a cheap shit from china Genuine bush will out
last a nolthane bushes so use genuine rubber for those main parts

i second super pro, If they are good anought for ARC they are good enough for me. Noticed a huge handling difference with super pro compared to all my flogged out rubber bushes have nolothane castor bushes thou

[VrWagz1]

Heres what happens to nolothane bushes in upper arms in only a few years, which is pretty much the bush that takes some of the most stress in the whole car. Rubber outlasts these by miles. No matter where you put polly bushs, a quality rubber one will last longer. If urethane outlasted rubber im sure car manufactures would install them from the start.

As you can see the polly simply gets flogged out as i dosnt squash as good. You can see even in the good end(look closely) that the steel ring has delaminated from the polly. It is near impossible to get a solid bond bond between the urethane and steel. This also shows on the steel inserts that are sitting ontop of the arm, there is no evidence of the urethane on the insert at all.

[Brett_jjj]

I was replacing rubber ones that looked like that every 6 months.Theres a completely different top control arm made by Nolathane.It is made with square steel tubing.It stops this from happening,I got them ages ago and have had no problems since.Apparently there is a problem with the standard pressed steel ones and the bushes chopping out,and nolathane made these other square ones to fix it.Also I found that if I just replaced one lot,eg just the top ones,they would wear out fast.Maybe the new ones cop all the load.If you replace all of them at once ,top front and rear ,bottom front and rear and panhard they seem to last longer.The rods that go through the middle are not bonded to the urethane,when you buy them ,they are seperate anyway.The rod just slides into the hole through the bush.You get a packet of grease with the bushes to smear on them before you fit them to stop them squeaking.One good thing about rubber bushes,no squeaking.

[06vzcalais]

the reason manufacturers dont use these is simple rubber is cheaper and flogs out quicker if they put in top quality parts they would go broke as noone would need replacements

[moose man]

Rubber bushes tend to stay in place when they wear out, so still provide a bit of cushioning.
Poly bushes usually fall apart once they have failed.

Another thing i don't like about poly is it wears out the surrounding metal before the bush wears out. Usually much cheaper to replace a rubber than to replace an arm/collar/chassis mount.

[greenfoam]

That's the main problem I've seen when they wear also, the urethane wears the metal it's rubbing on (bad). By all means use urethane bushes but I know no suspension shop here will put them in without telling you "you'll be back for rubber in a couple months"

[greenacc]

I fitted Super Pro through my front end 20 000 K ago and no problems yet. Love the responsive steering but hate the vibrations.
The reason new car manufacturers use rubber is because they are more comfortable. WHO buys an uncomfortable new car ?

[wortus]

when I had my VN I replaced both of the upper rear arms as some of the original rubber bushes had split, you could see it when they were in the car but they were still intact and functioning however when I took them out and put the centre of the bush in a vice and moved the arm there was a lot of movement and you could see the split opening up in the rubber. I just went to Holden and bought brand new arms with bushes in them as that was the most economical and easiest option, not much more expensive than new rubber bushes alone. When I sold the car about 9 years and 130,000km later they were still fine and had no splits at all. I understand that especially in a VN S1 these bushes chop out because the tourque and power of the motor come on fast and this was reduced in the S2. I know it used to have bad axle tramp and behave badly if you gave it too much. The lower arm bushes and pan hard rod were all fine the whole time I owned that car unless you believe Pedders that is, the only other bushes I ever replaced on the rear were the sway bar bushes and I just used rubber. I also had to replace the shocks which were original and stuffed when I got it with 170,000km at just under 9 years old.
The front end was getting a bit tired by the time I sold it but it had done just over 300,000km and all that had been done to the front was one new ball joint, one new tie rod arm, shocks and bearing plates, all bushes were original except the sway bar.
I'd only consider the use of nolothane on the castor rods but that said on the VY I have now these are still original (still have the yellow dabs of paint on them) at 137,000km and not worn out and I will just replace them with genuine rubber ones should they ever need to be.

[BowTie]

Theres poly bushes and poly bushes.

You get what you pay for.

[Haydz]

ive just upgraded every bush in the front of my vr from flogged rubber to nolathane and i absolutely love the way it handles now.


i can feel the road through the steering wheel. like i can tell the difference between the types of cement im driving on.


the car is very solid and holds a solid line. of course this is comparing to flogged rubber. but ive also driver cars with good condition rubber. they always give in a little. hence not giving the strong responsive feeling.

for me id rather replace nolathane ones more often and have the better steering. coz afterall nolathane ones are pretty easy to replace. dont need a press for removal or installation.

although i havent touched the rear end yet. i cant comment on this. and the difference between irs and solid probably makes a big difference

[b3h3m07h]

thanks for the input everyone, all your different views have been great. if i were to go ahead and do the front end what bushes would i need excluding the swaybar link bushes (already done with them with the bent rods and new bushes)? combination or all rubber, i still wouldn't mind a smooth ride

[BowTie]

You need Z-bar/radius rod bushes (4) and inner control arm bushes (2).

The Z-bars are easy enough to change yourself but the control arms are hard. Can be done.

Now is a good time to fit adjustable z-bars for castor control if you are that way inclined.