Group Buy: Rear Poly Stabilizer Bar Bushings

Hey all, I've found someone who will mold us hard plastic stabilizer bar bushings for a good price. These would fit stock bars, or the 22mm Addco or Cadillac bars.

The main benefit of using a harder bushing is less bar flex/movement in the turns. The soft rubber bushings allow the bar to move 1/2" or more on each side during hard cornering. Hard polyurethane bushings reduce that movement to near zero, so your bar stays centered and more of the force is transferred from the outside wheel to the inside.

The bushings will be sold for approx $12.50 per pair + shipping. I'm looking for 10 people to go in on a group buy. If 20 people go in, the price could be even lower. Those who buy bushings for the stock bar can modify later on if you decide to upgrade to a bigger bar. The smaller hole can be easily bored out.

If you're wondering whether these will provide a big change in the handling of your ride, the answer is probably not, but in conjunction with harder bushings on the front + stiffer sway bars, you should feel firmer cornering behavior. I noticed a difference in mine when I went to hard bushings on the front. Also, these bushings should last the life of your car, whereas OEM rubber tends to get softer or crack over time.

Please respond to the above poll if you are interested. Thanks!

Isn't polygraphite the best material, in terms of not squeaking? I have polygraphite on the front of my 68, not a squeak in a couple years. I don't know if polyurethane is the same or not. I did vote for a stock set though.

how difficult are they to install?
and probably a complety different topic, but what are the orange rubber bushings that are inside the framework on the front of the car? when i had my riv in the air for the DP install, i noticed mine were completly dry rotted and falling apart. what are they called?
if you need a better description or pics just let me know. thanks

For the price everyone should get these, even if they're only for the stock bars. Get them while the getting is good, and then if you do decide to get the Addco bars you will save yourselves months of hassle (provided your mechanic gets your bushings bored out faster than mine has ((still waiting)) ).

95 and 96 owners, be warned, your rear bars are smaller than 17 mm. If you want to use plastic bushings with the stock bar you will need to specify a smaller hole.

And FWIW anyone planning to use these with stock bars should get front bushings made too.

"Isn't polygraphite the best material, in terms of not squeaking?"

I'm using the hard poly bushings Addco sent for the front, and no noise yet, but it's only been a month. I liberally applied a green marine-grade grease.

Here's what our source says about bushing material and lubricant:

"POLYURETHANE bushings NEED to be lubed! Polyurethane can be noisy if done WRONG.

You cannot blend anything into polyurethane. Not even graphite! Nothing like this works because the family of urethane plastic does not like impurities (the word polyurethane means blends of different urethane plastics).

Graphite does not work for a couple reasons. If you put just a little in the urethane then the graphite is fully encapsulated by the urethane and the graphite never touches the metal sway bar or a-arm shaft. If you add a lot, then the polyurethane falls apart because it does not stick to the graphite (remember, graphite is a slippery lubricant). You might as well throw a handful of dirt into it.

Polyurethane must have the right lubricant to make it quiet. There are some lube greases that are bad for polyurethane. So there are all these greasable bushings caked up with the wrong grease and the polyurethane bushings are still noisy.

The correct lube is sent with every kit that needs lube. It works, it's green, it's sticky...and need be applied only at installation.

You cannot cost reduce your polyurethane products and expect a long and quiet life. Polyurethane is like anything else important to you. It comes in many different grades. Polyurethane can be designed and tempered a lot like steel.. If you design it to cure too quickly it becomes harder. Harder polyurethane is noisier. Shorter molding time means less cost. So between the correct chemistry and mold design, it costs just a little more to do it right. But it sure pays off.

Polyurethane needs to be lubed, so we send the "Poly Lube" with every kit. And we always endeavor to supply the best value for your money."

Maybe the polygraphite works, but it's probably more expensive, and this manufacturer doesn't use it. For this deal, we're getting a quality plastic with a lubricant that should keep the noise down.

What is the bar diameter for '95-'96 models?

Would your source make custom bushings for bushings other than the stab bars? I have no problem buying stock bushings for the entire car and giving them up for measurements.

Absolutely. Let's do the group buy for the rear stabi-bar bushings first, then if that goes well, we'll start another project.

how about some poly motor mounts and trany mounts from this "source" after seeing your dyno, you need some too, Aaron.

can the 95/96 riv be upgraded to the 97+ rear bars? if so, does anyone have their stock 17mm bars lying around after the addco's were installed?

I'm game.

I would love better engine mounts. My intake distorts my box if I get on it because of engine movement!

Maybe Jason will know the bar size on 95-96 Rivs. All I can tell you is that they're smaller.

I still have my stock bar. For some reason I haven't thrown it away yet. Not sure if I have anything to measure it with though.

ewolfe0050 wrote:

I would love better engine mounts. My intake distorts my box if I get on it because of engine movement!

Ditto, these would be nice to have.

I'd like a set of poly bushings for my '95. I'd also like a set for the front stock bar. I would love to go to a bigger bar front and rear, but Addco lists only a rear bar for the '95. I am afraid to go larger at one end and not the other. Would it have a bad effect on the handling? Has anyone tried a larger rear bar and an STB on a '95?

The problem with doing bushings to fit '95-96 bars is, I have no sample bushing to use for making the mold. Even if we did make these, the benefits would be very minimal using the thinner '95-96 bar. If you want these for your '95-96, you'll need to upgrade to a stock '97-99 bar, or a 22mm bar from Addco or Cadillac STS.

'95-96 owners, vote for "stock 17mm bar". Mark, I saw your vote and will record it.

Mark,
addco's site is messed up. You absolutely CAN and should run the larger front bar.

As for the rear bar on the 95-96, I don't know about the size. The only p/n in the catalog is 25604384 for the swaybar and 25604734 for the bushings. They are both listed as "all models 1995 - 1999", whereas 2 distinct numbers are used for the front bars (95-96 and 97-99). Please use a dial caliper or a sliding wrench to measure it. Or check the rear bushings for a different p/n.

Quote :

I am afraid to go larger at one end and not the
other. Would it have a bad effect on the handling? Has anyone tried a
larger rear bar and an STB on a '95?

Mine has the Addico bar on the rear along with a STB and mine handles fine. MUCH better than stock. I have the front Addico bar in the garage, I just haven't installed it yet.

update for the bushings?
i'd like to install them with a caddy rear bar when i do my rear shocks in the spring.

we didn't get a positive response for the bushings, so I never placed the order. The source wanted to make 10-20 pairs, and we only had 5 interested. Maybe if we had a dozen members who were in, I'd buy the excess and sell them, but I don't want to be stuck with them, either.

Will they do a poly mount for our cars? I'll provide the OEM. I'd be very interested even if they are priced high- if we can't get a group buy.

Eric, read page 1. They will mold poly rear sway bar bushings for around $12.50/pair. I already have the OEM bushings ready to go. The only thing keeping this from happening is the vote count = 7 total. I would like to see 15+.

Sorry, obmitted "engine mounts" from my post above.

If you have a fresh OEM engine mount to make molds from, I don't see why we couldn't make them. How many engine mounts are there on the engine, and are they all different?

I'm in and would love to have the tranny and engine mounts as well. I will be getting a set of Adco bars for my 98.

As soon as the dealership (parts dept) opens tomorrow, I will check on how many and if they are different. I will also look into the tranny mounts. I believe it's three with one transmission mount and they are all different.AA if you would confirm your shop can and is willing to do this I will go ahead and get all the mounts.