Front poly control arms bushings worth it?

[Dean85GT]

So with all the major rebuilding I have been doing Ive got the opportunity to swap out the front control arm bushings. Energy suspensions sells a poly kit for the front, its cheap and all but Im just wondering if its actually going to be worth it. Im mainly concerned with installing and removing the old bushings. If it is going to be a bad headache then I wont even bother. The current rubber bushings in the arms are still in good shape.

Thanks

 

[HaynStang]

I installed those poly bushings and apparently the install was a pain but the results were worth it. In my case the stock bushings had turned completely soft so replacing them was necessary.

I removed the control arms from the car and had a shop R&R the bushings and I guess they had to use a press, air hammer, and heat to get the old ones out... they said it was not fun but once they were out the new ones pressed right in. I guess it took them like an hour and a half working straight through to get the old ones out, only charged me $75 though which seems pretty fair.

If you have the control arms out anyway and have access to the right tools I say go for it, might as well do it now before the stock ones get bad, and the poly busings do tighten up the suspension quite a bit.

 

[trbkrb]

I must have been lucky on mine. Once I removed the arms, I used a drill bit to cut holes in the rubber and "walked" it around the bushing basically tearing it up. Then used a large screwdriver and hammer to remove most of the rubber in pieces. Then I used an oscilating drum sander my Grandfather had to finish removing the rubber from the arms. Took me less than an hour for both arms. The poly bushings fit right in place. Now my front end is quite hard, almost too hard on bumps and potholes, but that is probably more due to removing the spring isolators than replacing the bushings with poly ones.

 

[Cougar5.O]

Yikes, I've heard bad things about removing the spring isolators. The Fox cars are designed to use them - I would get some poly isolators in there.

 

[trbkrb]

Yikes, I've heard bad things about removing the spring isolators. The Fox cars are designed to use them - I would get some poly isolators in there.

I had new poly ones (isolators) in there, but the front sat up a good 1-1/2" taller and there was no way I could get it aligned since the tops of the wheels stuck out too far. I had already trashed the rubber ones, and haven't had the extra $$$ for CC plates yet, so I'm living with it for now. Hopefully this summer I can fix it all, since I'm probably going to have to replace my inner tie rods/steering rack again.

 

[Dean85GT]

I had new poly ones in there, but the front sat up a good 1-1/2" taller and there was no way I could get it aligned since the tops of the wheels stuck out too far. I had already trashed the rubber ones, and haven't had the extra $$$ for CC plates yet, so I'm living with it for now. Hopefully this summer I can fix it all, since I'm probably going to have to replace my inner tie rods/steering rack again.

Are you talking about the spring isolators here?

Anyways Im still on the fence, but I found that MM carries ones that use the stock sleeve, which makes me pretty happy. Its alot easier to burn out the old rubber and slide in some new bushings as opposed to having to press out the old sleeves and all.

 

[HaynStang]

Good point- I forgot to mention I bought the bushings that come with new sleeves and require pressing the old ones out. Maybe next time I would just get the ones that press into the old sleeves... if MM sells them I'm sure they work fine.

 

[Roland69]

never done mustang front control arms but I have done a few older chevy cars. I put the torch to the old bushings and leave them outside to burn for maby 20 minutes. clean them up after the rubber is burnt out and press the new ones in with lube.

 

[trbkrb]

Are you talking about the spring isolators here?

Yes, I should have quoted Cougar5.0's comments, but I forgot! Sorry!

 

[89GTpwr]

I actually just did mine, it was the ones that come from energy suspension like about 2 days ago, and to take the old sleeve out i just walked the rubber out of the sleeve using a drill bit then cut the sleeve in half, and then took a little pencil grinder or Dremel , with a little cut off wheel and went in it and put a slit in the sleeve just where it makes contact with the control arm once you do that they practically fall out, but just be patient when installing the new ones as when i did mine i actuall ruined my control arm as i ended up puttin to much pressure on the control arm and pinching the entire control arm in a bit, so i had to get a new one .

Just a random question about the spring isolators -- i bought the set from energy suspension and i went to install it but i only put the rubber on the top of the spring and not on the bottom because the rubber was to fat and hard an it didnt look like it was sitting almost on top of the control arm so i didnt put the bottom one on,, allowing it to set nicley in the control arm, should this be fine, or should i install the bottom one? If i remember correct i dont think it had the rubber on the bottom when i took it off but im not sure.

 

[lang williams]

My car came with just the front upper spring isolators an I was wondering if I should keep it that way or put the bottoms on when I do the poly ones. I'm getting ready to tackle the control arm bushings too, i got all poly from summit. First I have to get some bigger wrenches to get the control arms off!