An essential part of any vehicle's suspension, flexible mounts and bushings are at the points where the chassis/body of the vehicle connects to the moving components. Their role is therefore to act as a flexible link between the exposed parts, but also to absorb noise and vibration from the road. The most common material used in the manufacture of these components in most cars is conventional rubber. This is cheap and provides decent elastic properties, but its lifetime is severely limited. Over time, due to pressure and other external influences, it loses its elasticity, deforms and in extreme cases even cracks. This of course has a negative effect on the driving characteristics, causing changes in axle geometry not only when cornering, but especially when accelerating and braking. Also, worn-out bushings have a big impact on tyre life.
The solution is the use of polyurethane bushings, as they eliminate all the negative properties that classic rubber has.
Advantages:
- High durability compared to rubber bearings
- High flexibility and load resistance, which translates in particular into noticeably more precise driving characteristics, better response and vehicle contact with the road
- High resistance to weather conditions, high operating temperature range, resistance to gritting materials and various chemicals (oils, lubricants...)
- Last but not least, a positive effect on tyre lifetime
Disadvantages:
- Less suspension comfort when using harder 90+ ShA compounds
- Necessity of occasional relubrication
Offer:
In our offer, you can find polyurethane bushings from two manufacturers. The best known is POWERFLEX, which has been developing and manufacturing these silent blocks for over 25 years. It is a top manufacturer that offers comprehensive solutions and a wide range of products not only for general traffic vehicles but also for racing specials.
A cheaper alternative is STORONGFLEX, which offers an excellent price/quality ratio. You can often find polyurethane bushings cheaper from this manufacturer, than conventional rubber ones.
Correct selection of bushings:
Before buying polyurethane bushings it is very important to clarify what purpose we want to use the car for. If it is a car that you want to use for normal driving, it is preferable to use bushings with less hardness, so that the comfort of driving is also maintained. In the case of POWERFLEX, these bushings are purple in colour (80ShA) and for Strongflex, these bushings are red in colour (80ShA).
However, if you expect uncompromising driving performance from your vehicle or if it is a competition vehicle, we recommend using POWERFLEX black (95AhA) or STRONGFLEX yellow (90ShA) bushings. With these bushings, it must be taken into account that they are already stiff enough and can transmit vibrations and noise into the cabin of the vehicle.
For explicitly extreme purposes, we also offer solid replacements for bushings. These specially designed fits are designed for maximum durability and precision in vehicle handling, but they lack any elastic properties and are therefore not suitable for normal traffic.