Polyurethane Bushes

[Gohn 68]

I've had a set of Meyle TD/GTi wishbones in for a while now

have heard some others mention the regular rubber bushes they come with need changing

never done it before though and probly will change the ARB bushes at the same time too

 

so i've looked at several different poly bushes online:

Powerflex, FloFlex, MattLewis Racing, SuperPro (which does both UK and Aust made versions)

 

are they all pretty good, or some better quality than others ?

do they squeek and carry on or make the ride harsh ?

will I need 4 all up ? (two per wishbone)

and will I need a press ?

 

 

[welshpug 1,657]

personally I would stick to Rubber bushes, bakerbm do oem replacements now, there is less material for movement in them than a poly bush!

 

probably worth checking, meyle is reasonably well regarded so I'd mot be surprised if they are ok.

 

the arb bushes were Polyurethane from the factory and particularly long lasting, the aftermarket stuff also dont fit well.

 

in a 205 to be honest its quite hard to tell whether they increase the nvh as they're buzzy tin boxes anyway!

 

you dont need a press to do either type, a vice will help to extract the old ones and fit the steel sleeved rubber type, poly ones will go in by hand/vice/mallet.

 

they come in sets.

Edited February 17, 2022 by welshpug

[Anthony 1,003]

If the car isn't pulling left and right as you come on and off the throttle, then the wishbone bushes are probably OK.  No experience of Meyle wishbones on a 205 and whether they came with decent bushes fitted as standard - the OE ones were made and stamped "Kleber" and they were good and long-lasting.

 

I've been running PolySport / PolyRace wishbone polybushes for many years now after I bought a job lot of them around when the OE bush kits stopped being available from Peugeot - must be well over 10 years ago now.  No idea whether there's a stockist of them in Australia but here in the UK they're sold by Rally Design

 

For me they've proven really long lasting - the current set on my road car have been on there for around 6-7 years now, having moved them to a second pair of wishbones as they outlasted the first set of wishbone balljoints, and other than creaking/groaning a little on speed humps as they've dried out, they're still going strong.  I don't notice any NVH issues during normal driving with the softer PolySport ones, but there's a definite and noticeable harshness there on large, sharp bumps that isn't there on standard bushes - although nothing like as pronounced as the NVH impact from say Group N top mounts though which I find crashy with the UK's pot-hole strewn roads.

 

Note that their ARB bushes don't (or certainly didn't years ago - it's possible they've since changed it) have the "notch" to locate the ARB and thus they don't fit properly and should be avoided!  It's annoying as the OE bushes aren't available as a pair to buy anymore, or at least, the orange one was NFP several years ago.

 

As Mei says, many wishbone Polybushes come as a set, but it's worth checking before you buy - the PolySport / PolyRace ones mentioned above for example you need buy a pair of front bushes and a pair of rears (they're different sizes).

 

Personally, now that BakerBM are manufacturing decent replacement rubber bushes, then I would use them rather than polybushes, on a road going car at least.  When I finally wear the bushes out on my car, that's what I'll be doing - just remember that once fitted to only torque up the bolts with the weight of the car on the wheels and the suspension compressed to its normal resting position, as otherwise the bushes will fail prematurely.

[Gohn 68]

well that's just saved me a whole lot of hassle, thanks for all that !

I've always liked the rubber ones anyway so did a quick u-turn after reading the above

then admit I had to look up NVH - noise vibration harshness

the current bushes are still very new and good (and the wishbones are Febi not Meyle)

so I'll just do nothing and spend nothing until/unless there's a decent reason

and then get the BakerBM rubber ones

 

good thing I asked, cheers

 

[DamirGTI 342]

There's pretty good (rubber) aftermarket bushes which you can buy for pressing in the wishbones ... in fact , can still find OE "Kleber Industrial" bushes but under "Sasic" brand .

Apparently Kleber makes rubber parts (mounts , bushes , hoses etc.) for Sasic aftermarket brand , or they're repacking old OE stock parts .. i know this because the last pair of bushes which i bought from Sasic had identical OE "Kleber Industrial" writing on them , sometimes they do come with the writing "erased" but still can be seen it's made by Kleber .

 

Second best is : Hutchinson or Lemforder wishbone bushes .. Hutchinson especially i'd say same as Kleber , very good quality and also PSA OE supplier for rubber parts (can often seen "Hutcinson" writing on PSA cars hoses and the likes ..) .

 

Can give you part numbers if wanted to find some of the above .

 

Febi metal parts i had no problem with in fact it's been very good for years now (Swag and Blueprint too they're all Febi group) , Febi bushes tend to be hit and miss certainly lower quality rubber on Febi nowadays than what it used to be .

 

Meyle i tend to avoid if possible .. there's 2 or 3 quality variants of Melye parts , most of it it's cheap Chinese crap as they're not the parts producer just re-packer (so is Febi to a degree) . If buying something from Meyle only "Meyle HD" .

They're heavy based on PR/aggressive marketing and pushing stuff around the shops for peanuts prices/margins , making those parts sell ... as well as a few other same/similar "operations" which turned up lately in Germany especially (for very interesting reasons..) like : Russian "Febest" (think deliberately named so it reminds you or you get them mixed up with Febi !) , Polish "Maxgear" and a few others all pretty low or very low quality parts .. eastern EU as an particular is flooded with they're parts .  

 

D

[Gohn 68]

thanks D,

I bought some Meyle driveshafts and suspect they are just cheap rebadges, but time will tell so crossin my fingers for now

any way of checking if they're genuine Meyle ?

 

just checked the whishbone bush part numbers

Front Bush #352331

Rear Bush #352323

 

good to know there's still some other quality rubber options in sasic or lemforder

might order some and stick em in a box before they go extinct

 

[welshpug 1,657]

interesting to hear about Sasic bushes, Autodoc list them all for the 205 very cheaply  (about what I remember them being priced when available from Motaquip about 15 years ago)

[DamirGTI 342]

I use Sasic bushes and mounts quite a lot , coolant hoses too ... as i say , there's often "Kleber" writing on they're rubber parts , and honestly never had problems with "ill quality" of any of them Sasic rubber stuff ... other parts also , you'll often find OE Peugeot/Citroen part just repacked in Sasic package !

 

D

 

[DamirGTI 342]

3 hours ago, Gohn said:

thanks D,

I bought some Meyle driveshafts and suspect they are just cheap rebadges, but time will tell so crossin my fingers for now

any way of checking if they're genuine Meyle ?

 

 

There's no "genuine" Meyle mate ! , as said they do not produce anything , they're just "re-packer" brand . They're buying from others and packing up in posh boxes with nice design/print and bold writing "Germain quality" !!

 

Driveshafts are bit critical part , essential need to be good quality , with driveshafts you're best bet off the OE item is - GKN (which i think made the driveshafts for OEM PSA anyways) .

 

D

[welshpug 1,657]

everything Meyle on my bmw and vw have Meyle cast into them...

[DamirGTI 342]

Paid to make/put Meyle stamp ! .. but , who did actually made the parts and which country of origin ?!

 

Not satisfied , and ain't gonna use any Meyle parts myself anymore .. quality wise , here on the east think we're getting the lowest grade parts with lowest warranty (well , f*** warranty as no one will give you new part exchange or money refund if you even claim warranty) , over there on the west you're parts importers and salesman likely insist on first grade parts or "no deal" so likely quality is better there than here so is the legal system if "things go sour" .

 

D