8651 Highway N Suite #109 Lake St. Louis, MO 63367, United States
Rubber versus Polyurethane
Polyurethane bushings have become popular as a replacement for original rubber suspension components in recent years. If a suspension that used the bushing as a bearing between a spigot and torque rod end was originally equipped with a rubber bushing, installing a replacement polyurethane two-piece bushing will basue problems.
The much harder polyurethane bushing will build up more heat causing premature wear to the steel spigot and the inside of the torque rod end. The hard polyurethane bushings cannot be re-torqued and compressed like the rubber bushing. This leads to premature wear not of the bushing, but the steel. The vehicle becomes harder to steer straight and the common solution is to replace the bushings more frequently in a much shorter time than the original rubber bushings. The cycle begins again until the steel has had so much wear that the only fix is to replace the spigots and/or the torque rods.
This is why it is critical to only use rubber bushings in this application. The rubber bushings are soft and will conform to the steel when torqued properly. When re-torqued on an annual basis, the rubber bushing will become more compressed and fill any voids created by normal wear. This simple step will increase the life of the bushings approximately twenty percent.