Front wishbone lollypops

[Roadrunner]

Hi Im about to replace the lower rear front wishbone bushes,as you know stock bushes are not of a solid design and on the forum various members have succesfully replaced them with bushes of a solid design either with M type bushes or bushes made by poweflex or similar,I was speaking to a friend of mine who runs a Mach 1 Mustang and he recently replaced some suspension bushes on his car with powerflex type bushes and said that there was very give in them and caused some of the components on the suspension of his car to actually bend or distort,I just wondered if anyone had fitted powerflex and had any bad results or any sign of damage to any of the suspension components.

 

[Nodzed]

Fitted purple power-flex rear wishbone bushes to 3 Zeds now, never had a problem, also never experienced any problem with over stiffness. plus a doddle to fit.

 

[Sean d]

I polly bushed a rally car some years ago and it was dreadful so I won't go near them again, I have recently fitted M lolly pops and they are great, I also fitted new lower arms, be prepared to get your wheels aligned as mine was miles out and barely driveable.

 

[Howard]

Fitted Polly bushes to my Z3 (3.0), no concerns on a standard road going car.

 

[Lee]

Fitted powerflex to over 30 cars in various places, never experienced any distortion. Only things worth noting with the z3 is more transmission noise in the rear if totally decked out. Also rear swing arms sometimes squeak after a year or two. Other than that up front is well worth it, makes the nose very responsive.

 

[gookah]

I fitted polybushes all round including rear suspension. now i have regular creaks and squeaks from them, and rattles everywhere else that I never had before as the car seems to shake itself apart. Great at first but getting tiresome now.


Oh yes, and a week after poly bushing the rear diff cover:

The chain got me home after the diff fell onto, and dragged, along the road


a new diff cover is no longer available from BMW.. so I had to have it welded

BMW bushes are cushions
Poly bushes are baseball bats.
Which would you rather be hit in the face with? because that is what every bump now does to my car.
Rubber absorbs shocks, polybushes transfer them, to the next weakest part.

Yes the handling is now great, but at what expense?

 

[Steve Medlock]

Honestly, I don't think polybushing the lollypops is too much of a risk. After all, if you decided you didn't like it, it would be fairly quick and easy to change back to OEM.

 

[Sean d]

Why not just go M, after all they are good for the M

 

[t-tony]

How does the price compre Sean. Mine needs doing and I'm still not decided which way to go. I think I'll probably risk poly type on the lollipop bushes.

Tony

 

[Sean d]

How does the price compre Sean. Mine needs doing and I'm still not decided which way to go. I think I'll probably risk poly type on the lollipop bushes.

Tony

I think mine where about £35 mate, could get standard for £18 I believe, they are after market though.

 

[t-tony]

Cheers mate. Got a 15 min wait for a table at Texas Roadhouse so killing time using next doors WiFi.

Tony.

 

[5harp3y]

Fully polybushed here, no problems at all and much easier to fit if you don't have access to presses etc

 

[Dino D]

Mine has had full power flex purple up front and half of the rear for 6yrs and 40k miles now.
The rest of the rear (subframe and diff) were done 2 yrs ago.

I don’t feel it impacts on ride as much as the quality of springs and/shocks and wheel size/weight and damper settings.

 

[Howard]

Mine has had full power flex purple up front and half of the rear for 6yrs and 40k miles now.
The rest of the rear (subframe and diff) were done 2 yrs ago.

I don’t feel it impacts on ride as much as the quality of springs and/shocks and wheel size/weight and damper settings.

Completely agree, I changed mine because the bushes we’re badly worn, replacing the worn top suspension mountings also didn’t have much effect on the handeling, just good house keeping as the car is 16 years old and things wear out. Where as changing the wheel and tyres (previous post) had a dramatic positive effect on things.
Never had any squeaks from these bushes, assembled with the grease supplied.

 

[Nodzed]

Why not just go M, after all they are good for the M

Hmm I've poly bushed both my Ms and they are much better than standard M bushes

 

[Roadrunner]

Thanks for the response guys,much appreciated

 

[Sean d]

Hmm I've poly bushed both my Ms and they are much better than standard M bushes

M bushes are better then standard

 

[Nodzed]

M bushes are better then standard

True that sean, my point is I believe Powerflex are better. Just my opinion having tried Z3 OEM, M and PF

 

[Howard]

Another factor for fitting Polly bushes (Powerflex) is the ease is fitment as not everyone has access to a press or wants to purchase the whole bush assembly.

 

[t-tony]

Have to agree re ease of fitting, but unless you're wanting to track a car or really like to drive hard all/most of the time original BMW bushes are going to be more than adequate considering how long the originals have lasted. Having said that I'll likely do poly bushes on my front lower arm rears.

Tony.