Poly Bushes Fr Wishbones

[sorrentoaddict 1]

hello everybody,

 

as in title -- can you share your experiences with Poly bushes for the front wishbones,

in terms of how did it affect the "ride" or, to put it better, what is left of it...

 

on my 205 the ride has recently developed into very "crashy" and even undrivable at times,

and maybe it has to do with installing the poly bushes several months ago (or is it maybe just me getting

old..).

 

but the car is definitely very "crashy" and has lost all fluidity in chassis terms.

tire pressures are run very reasonably, but still it is so crashy that parts of the

cabin are starting to disintegrate (not to mention my back).

 

my suspension spec. is as follows :

 

- OMP front lowering springs -15mm

- KONI sport all round, set to softest F and R

- lowered 20mm at rear beam

- rear bump-stops shortened - 30mm (was HORRIBLE before shortening them)

- rear beam refurbished recently

- front upper and lower strutbraces

- std GTI 1.9 wheels & tires (195/50-15 Yoko C.Drive)

- 266 mm FR disc setup & calipers of 306 S16

- poly bushes (Powerflex I think) on front wishbones

=================================

could it be that the FR brakes are a tad too heavy, and

combined with the heavy 9 kg. stock alloy wheel maybe

the unsprung weight is too high?

 

I considered investing into a set of BILSTEIN Sprints, but maybe

it is not the KONIs to blame for this sudden increase in suspension

harshness? (and the Billies are too expensive to just experiment

without being sure 100%...)

 

any ideas & suggestions, I am getting really confused ?

 

Cheers & thanks

 

Alex

[pug_ham 241 3 Cars]

I've run a roughly similar spec on my car previously but can't say I noticed much difference in ride quality between standard oe bushes & the polybushes that were fitted to the 309 wishbones I had fitted previously.

 

One both that set up & as it is now I've got Koni yellows with whatever -40mm springs supplied in the Koni kit up front, shocks adjusted almost full hard & on the back a refurbished beam, 20mm tb's, 24mm arb, group N tarmac Bilstein rear shocks & a group A BBM mount kit. Brakes on both set ups were 266mm.

 

When running the polybushes I had 309 front wishbones, driveshafts & a 309 rear beam on group N rear mounts, other than that as above.

 

Since swapping back to 205 running gear & rear beam spec as above, I find its a nicer ride than on the 309 stuff.

 

Have you got another set of wishbones you could try to see if it is due to the polybushes? TBH the oe bushes are pretty solid construction so I'd be surprised if poly bushes make any difference.

 

Graham.

[sorrentoaddict 1]

thanks for this. I was also not so convinced about the effect of the poly bushes, and on second

thought I am almost sure that they have at least SOME responsibility for the end-result as it is now..

 

Problem is I didn't use the car for some months, and I cannot recall reliably whether the difference

is due to the PowerFlexs, or to something else going out of order maybe (shocks??).

 

Maybe the springs are rubbish too -- could be that they are too soft for that compression setting of

the Konis... I guess I am going to have to measure them these days... OMP...

[C_W 3 1 Cars]

I'm surprised you're running Koni's softest all round? On the rears mine are set to softest as they are unuusllay stiff but the fronts I've set them to 1 & 3/4 turns, set on softest the car feels wallowy and probably softer than an OE shock - unless your fronts are a different calibration?

[Alan_M 66 1 Cars]

When I ran poly bushes, mine was never crashy. Incidentally, I haven't noticed much difference between the poly bushes and the now fitted Pug ones.

 

Was going to ask what the rating of the springs are, but even mine are 200Ib on Bilstein Challenge shocks and thats not crashy. Cancelling these out, I'd look at the shocks