Hi,
I'll just touch the topic of the bushes themselves in relation to the
initial query.
Bushings are there to allow the suspension to articulate. There is some
isolation of sound and motion, but not a lot. What the various materials
allow is some "flex" at the joint.
But the point I wanted to make is that if you upgraded to another bushing
material and the ride is a lot more harsh, I'd first verify that the
suspension is able to fully articulate for the entire range with NO
binding.
If the bushings are installed wrong, the suspension cannot fully
articulate without extra effort and you will def. feel this in the seat of
your pants.
I would next verify that the shocks are working properly. You can test
this in the absence of the springs fairly easily. The effort to move the
shock throughout the range shuld be smooth and even the entire range.
Next, I would verify that the sway bars are not binding. Check them be
undoing the end links from the suspension and verify smooth operation for
the entire range of motion.
Last - what are you running for springs? If you have really stiff springs,
try running something a tad softer and see if that helps.
I've been quite surprised over the years over how little the bushing
material matters in terms of road isolation. The material almost does not
matter except to say that the poly and delrin busing deflect less under
extreme loads and that they poly/delrin bushings seem to last longer than
the rubber... when installed correctly.
Now, to your question about bushings. The relative hardness of the
bushings can be read with a durometer. There are different scales
depending on the material used. A quick web search found this reference:
http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=194360
There's a good chart there showing the overlap of the various durometer
scales.
I hope this helps.
rml
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