What are the bushes made from?

[Rik178m]

can you use neoprene instead?

[flyerncle]

Cheers Ronnie,saved me trying to remember/work it out.

Neoprene is soft so possibly not good for bushes.
With regard to using hard bushes I understand your concern that passing more forces to the weld/structure may cause failure, but on the other hand what about the use of Rose joints as they are more or less solid.
Personal opinion on bushes, I have used the best/cheapest/easiest solution to the problem and it will do what I need it to do.
A certain amount of give in the bushes will lessen feedback from the road ie bumps and the like as this will not be fed back through steering and suspension, I think I have read that poly bushes are abrasive and the stainless tubes were sacrifical/meant to wear, so I suppose it all depends on what you want from the car and how much time and money you want to spend.
Please do not take any of the above as argumenative it's only my point of view and there will be someone on here who can give the definitive solution.


Cheers All

[londonsean69]

UHMWPE = Ultra High Molecular Weight PolyEthylene

Neoprene is more than likely far far too soft for bushes - although the only neoprene I have dealt with is in Diving kit. (as an aside - neoprene is generally made by injecting nitrogen into rubber sheets)

To Flyerncle - I assume that it is only the SS tube that is meant to rotate inside the bush. Otherwise given (a lot) of time surely the outer wishbone bush tube would also wear??

I personally think, that in terms of wear, the mileage we do is probably inconsequential. A lot of rep-mobiles are doing 50k a year, how many roadsters are doing more than 10k??

Again, not trying to start a ruck, just furthering my learning

Sean

[flyerncle]

Sean,If you look at how the suspension is set up the tube is clamped in the bracket and the bush turns on it, if fitted correctly the bush should not rotate in the sleeve of the wishbone and that would defeat the object of the poly bush as it is meant to rotate around the stainless tube.

You are dead right about the mileage and wear and tear thing as in reallity the car will do very little in terms of road use and most suspension bushes are rubber with a sleeve moulded in to it.

[londonsean69]

Originally Posted by flyerncle

Sean,If you look at how the suspension is set up the tube is clamped in the bracket and the bush turns on it, if fitted correctly the bush should not rotate in the sleeve of the wishbone and that would defeat the object of the poly bush as it is meant to rotate around the stainless tube.

That would be why the sleeves are a tiny touch longer then

[Rik178m]

This is turning out to be quite interesting. The neoprene we use at work is very tough. Its used to hold sharp steel panels in pallets, For rollers on heavy pallets and as spacers on welding arms (welders used constantly for approx 16 hrs a day). I will find out the spec of the material and compare with the polyurethane

[londonsean69]

Originally Posted by Rik178m

This is turning out to be quite interesting. The neoprene we use at work is very tough. Its used to hold sharp steel panels in pallets, For rollers on heavy pallets and as spacers on welding arms (welders used constantly for approx 16 hrs a day). I will find out the spec of the material and compare with the polyurethane

I must say, I never imagined neoprene could be quite so tough, but then again, look at the info Dupont has on it, specifically for car use - Neoprene info for cars

Material science is crazy

Sean

[flyerncle]

Just to complicate matters further, factor this into the equasion,every rubber compound has "hysteresis"(possibly spelt wrong)basicly the amount of bounce/rebound it has.
So if you use something that is not hard enough you will end up with soggy feeling suspension/steering.

Possibly so Sean

[Bonzo]

Bring back Metalastic bushes

Nice soft ride

Suit my old stiff bones

On a serious note. If when my build is completed & I find the ride a bit harsh, i'll certainly look into Metalastc bushes as an option.

[peter2482]

i having my bushes turned out of uhmwpe, not sure if this will be to stiff, but gonna try it and see how it goes.