Polybush. Clywedog Road South. Wrexham.

Colonial · Aug 20, 2016

Dear best beloved.

I refer to an ad in LRM for Polybush bushes placed by the above named company. I have the Freelander 1 (3 door), '55' plate with approx. 77,000 miles. Obviously the vehicle is now getting to the age were replacing all the rubber beneath is probably a sound thing to consider. I've done a brief search on this site regarding the change from the black rubber to polybush, and various opinions are expressed.
I'd like to ask if anyone has purchased an entire set for a Freelander from the above named company and if so,
(A) Were they satisfied with their purchase?
(B) Were they an improvement over the original spec?
(C) Are there any issues to overcome when fitting any of them?

Many thanks in anticipation.

Alibro · Aug 23, 2016

I take it from the lack of response the answer is no.
Have you seen these?
http://www.paddockspares.com/dc7002-britpart-yellow-polyurethane-bush-kit-freelander.html

Colonial · Aug 23, 2016

Alibro said:
I take it from the lack of response the answer is no.
Have you seen these?
http://www.paddockspares.com/dc7002-britpart-yellow-polyurethane-bush-kit-freelander.html

Thanks Alibro. Will explore further. Have you used them?

Alibro · Aug 23, 2016

Colonial said:
Thanks Alibro. Will explore further. Have you used them?

Nope, but I think I saw a thread some time back where they where mentioned without any negative comments. Sorry, pretty vague but best I can do.

Skinny Mike · Aug 24, 2016

If your going to use the polybush type, make sure you use plenty of grease. If they don't come with any, use marine grease or equivalent. Or you'll be going down the road going squeak squeak squeak

Mike

Nodge68 · Aug 24, 2016

I've used Superflex polyurethane bushes times on other vehicles, always with good results.
I do plan on fitting poly bushes to my Freelander, at some point in the future

Joe_H · Aug 24, 2016

Skinny Mike said:
If your going to use the polybush type, make sure you use plenty of grease. If they don't come with any, use marine grease or equivalent. Or you'll be going down the road going squeak squeak squeak
Mike

Nawww

.... what you use is Waxoyl !!!... nothing else - the perfect bush lubricant

....

ewrrr...

oooooo. maybe that came out wrong...... ..... plenty on, stick it in, and wait for it to move about a bit... might get the off 'bush' f&rt .////// but thats ok... then it will be slippy marvellous fro the entire 'session'

NEVER use grease !!!!

--- it is like kryptonite to superman......

Nodge68 · Aug 24, 2016

Polyurethane bushes should use a Lithium grease. I've used plumbers silicone grease to good a effect.
Whatever you use, make sure that it's not oil based, as oil is very damaging to polyurethane.

Colonial · Aug 24, 2016

I've made an enquiry with this company. The full set for the Freelander 1 comes in at £205.67 plus V.A.T. then £11.00 carriage fee. In the LRM advert they display 3 types. Performance, Dynamic and Comfort. The guy explained that they found the Performance Range and the Comfort Range don't work well on the Freelander. They'll only sell the Dynamic for this vehicle. Apparently there are 18 bushes and two integral washers in the kit. I'm close enough to collect direct from the site, which I'll do in the near future.
Thanks for the useful comments.

Joe_H · Aug 24, 2016

Nodge68 said:
Polyurethane bushes should use a Lithium grease. I've used plumbers silicone grease to good a effect.
Whatever you use, make sure that it's not oil based, as oil is very damaging to polyurethane.

Waxoyl is 100% perfect with Poly bushes - it is THE best thing... no issues at all and FAR FAR better than lithium base. Also easy to re-apply.
Enjoy

Joe_H · Aug 24, 2016

Colonial said:
I've made an enquiry with this company. The full set for the Freelander 1 comes in at £205.67 plus V.A.T. then £11.00 carriage fee. In the LRM advert they display 3 types. Performance, Dynamic and Comfort. The guy explained that they found the Performance Range and the Comfort Range don't work well on the Freelander. They'll only sell the Dynamic for this vehicle. Apparently there are 18 bushes and two integral washers in the kit. I'm close enough to collect direct from the site, which I'll do in the near future.
Thanks for the useful comments.

I personally would not waste my money as you will not notice ANY real difference AT ALL !!!. Most of the spam is pure hype and BS - typical aftermarket bollox.. we ARE talking a FREELANDER HERE ???
Stick with standard and you will be fine. IF it was a RACE or TRACK car then possibly - but. let's be serious ???

on a freeking Freelander ?

not a bleedingcat in hell's chance of ANY noticeable difference unless all the original bushes are utterly Captain Cooked. Even then

, it is FAR - FARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR - cheaper and easier to replace with aftermarket units in the original style.
Sorry... but

- does not compute - HUGE waste of money effort and time.

Nodge68 · Aug 24, 2016

I must admit, I'm kinda with Joe_H. I've not fitted PU bushes, mostly because of little gain, other than easy fitting.
You will probably not notice any difference between poly and factory rubber were performance is concerned. What you will notice is increased road noise transmitted to the body, that poly doesn't take out.
PU bushes were developed for road cars, as a budget aftermarket alternative to factory rubber. I seriously doubt that you'll be paying that much for factory rubber. You can get a full set of PU bushes for the FL1 for around £80. That's as much as I'd be paying tbh.
If I'd been given a price of more than £200, I'd fit factory bushes instead.

Contrary to popular belief, PU doesn't generally find its way onto pure track cars, as location isn't sufficient. Most proper track cars will use Rose joints for suspension location, which maintain geometry regardless of loads imposed. Rose joints are too harsh for road car suspension.

Colonial · Aug 24, 2016

Joe_H said:
I personally would not waste my money as you will not notice ANY real difference AT ALL !!!. Most of the spam is pure hype and BS - typical aftermarket bollox.. we ARE talking a FREELANDER HERE ???
Stick with standard and you will be fine. IF it was a RACE or TRACK car then possibly - but. let's be serious ??? on a freeking Freelander ? not a bleedingcat in hell's chance of ANY noticeable difference unless all the original bushes are utterly Captain Cooked. Even then , it is FAR - FARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR - cheaper and easier to replace with aftermarket units in the original style.
Sorry... but - does not compute - HUGE waste of money effort and time.

Thanks for your thoughts Joe. My ambition with this motor is to make it last my life-time, hopefully another 20 years

I've decided one expensive repair/upgrade each year. Last year was the fuel tank cradle, this year, the bushes. Next year may be the VCU, if needed.

Colonial · Aug 24, 2016

Please see below entry.

Colonial · Aug 24, 2016

Nodge68 said:
I must admit, I'm kinda with Joe_H. I've not fitted PU bushes, mostly because of little gain, other than easy fitting.
You will probably not notice any difference between poly and factory rubber were performance is concerned. What you will notice is increased road noise transmitted to the body, that poly doesn't take out.
PU bushes were developed for road cars, as a budget aftermarket alternative to factory rubber. I seriously doubt that you'll be paying that much for factory rubber. You can get a full set of PU bushes for the FL1 for around £80. That's as much as I'd be paying tbh.
If I'd been given a price of more than £200, I'd fit factory bushes instead.

Contrary to popular belief, PU doesn't generally find its way onto pure track cars, as location isn't sufficient. Most proper track cars will use Rose joints for suspension location, which maintain geometry regardless of loads imposed. Rose joints are too harsh for road car suspension.

Joe_H said:
I personally would not waste my money as you will not notice ANY real difference AT ALL !!!. Most of the spam is pure hype and BS - typical aftermarket bollox.. we ARE talking a FREELANDER HERE ???
Stick with standard and you will be fine. IF it was a RACE or TRACK car then possibly - but. let's be serious ??? on a freeking Freelander ? not a bleedingcat in hell's chance of ANY noticeable difference unless all the original bushes are utterly Captain Cooked. Even then , it is FAR - FARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR - cheaper and easier to replace with aftermarket units in the original style.
Sorry... but - does not compute - HUGE waste of money effort and time.

Final update. Bushes ordered and I'll collect tomorrow. It'll take me a week or two to have them fitted all round. I'll give you my honest feed-back thereafter. When I got this motor the road noise was bad and various rattles throughout. I had the tyres changed a few months ago (from Wrangler) to B.F Goodrich A.T.s and that made the motor exceptionally quieter (even my wife commented on that). So, I'm starting with a quiet vehicle. If, after the new bushes are fitted and the vehicle is noisier or it's handling etc. is adversely affected, then I'll own up. Like-wise if there is no noticeable difference or there's an improvement in handling which I hadn't anticipated then I'll also throw that into the ring for debate.

Rimini-Scott · Aug 24, 2016

I have fully poly bushed mine, I would say if you own a sport and you planning on fitting poly then you WILL notice more road noise. It doesn't bother me much as my other car is also full poly so I'm used to it, on the sport though I did notice some difference as it does turn into corners much nicer.

Don't fit a poly engine mount though, tried one and the vibration was awful.

Alibro · Aug 25, 2016

Rimini-Scott said:
I have fully poly bushed mine, I would say if you own a sport and you planning on fitting poly then you WILL notice more road noise. It doesn't bother me much as my other car is also full poly so I'm used to it, on the sport though I did notice some difference as it does turn into corners much nicer.

Don't fit a poly engine mount though, tried one and the vibration was awful.

Agreed, I fitted one to a K series and at around 4k rpm it was vary nasty.

Rimini-Scott · Aug 25, 2016

I didn't even get as 4K as soon as I switched the engine on it was awful.

Joe_H · Aug 25, 2016

Colonial said:
Thanks for your thoughts Joe. My ambition with this motor is to make it last my life-time, hopefully another 20 years I've decided one expensive repair/upgrade each year. Last year was the fuel tank cradle, this year, the bushes. Next year may be the VCU, if needed.

Hi Colonial
You also have another problem here. As well as poly bushes being a poor choice on any road car where you want a comfortable and quiet driving experience (sorry - don't shoot the messenger!) as they cause the suspension to be harsh and transmit noise much much more than a normal bushing, also, what you will NOT get compared to normal bushings is longevity. They will wear much faster than a normal bushing and also in differing ways. They are simply not designed for a 'normal' road car use. A very bad choice IMO.
I would thoroughly recommend that you cancel the order.
The market for these things is for either the ill-informed saxo driver or boy racer, or, someone who has an older performance vehicle that wants to improve the suspension taughtness and remove excess give for better handling at the expense of comfort and noise. The major buyers tend to be the track day guys,
The guy who told you that they didn't recommend X and Y types for the freelander is giving you utter bull - what he is lying about - ooops, I mean telling you, is that is the only type he has in stock as they sell so few.
So, less comfort, more noise, far worse wear then standard and much greater expense. They really have nothing going for them when you think about it.
Regards
Joe

Colonial · Aug 25, 2016

Joe_H said:
Hi Colonial
You also have another problem here. As well as poly bushes being a poor choice on any road car where you want a comfortable and quiet driving experience (sorry - don't shoot the messenger!) as they cause the suspension to be harsh and transmit noise much much more than a normal bushing, also, what you will NOT get compared to normal bushings is longevity. They will wear much faster than a normal bushing and also in differing ways. They are simply not designed for a 'normal' road car use. A very bad choice IMO.
I would thoroughly recommend that you cancel the order.
The market for these things is for either the ill-informed saxo driver or boy racer, or, someone who has an older performance vehicle that wants to improve the suspension taughtness and remove excess give for better handling at the expense of comfort and noise. The major buyers tend to be the track day guys,
The guy who told you that they didn't recommend X and Y types for the freelander is giving you utter bull - what he is lying about - ooops, I mean telling you, is that is the only type he has in stock as they sell so few.
So, less comfort, more noise, far worse wear then standard and much greater expense. They really have nothing going for them when you think about it.
Regards
Joe

Joe.
I've spoken to their tech staff to-day. They state that people are fitting these bushes using grease etc. That apparently is the big mistake. I asked about waxoyl, and again I was told a definite no-no.
They must be fitted dry to a cleaned area otherwise the grease and grit form an abrasive paste which then grips the bush and causes distortion. The only lubricant of any type must be soapy water or tyre soap, both of which dry out leaving a dry fit. As for your assertion that they only had one type in stock they showed me all three and explained the differences.

Polybush. Clywedog Road South. Wrexham.

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