Polyurethane bushings - interested?

[Patrick C]

Tom, what will be the main difference between your manufacturer and those of Superflex?
http://www.superflex.co.uk/products.php?cat=111

I have these along with Toby's sway bar bushings. Great products.

[Tomcio]

Make a poly shifter bushing kit and I'll be your first customer.

I have taken some measurements and I'm ready to start making a mold. I'll have the shifter bushings made out of polyurethane. The question is how hard or soft do we want them? OEM or harder? I don't think softer is really a good idea here. My idea is to go slightly harder than original rubber. Let me know what you guys think and how many sets I should make.

I have these along with Toby's sway bar bushings. Great products.

Looks like I'll be giving them a call soon. I wonder if they ship to Poland... We'll see. Thanks for the link Domi!

[Mark D]

I'm in for a set a poly bushings too for the shifter. Anything has got to be better than the deteriorated rubber on my car.

[FABombjoy]

I have taken some measurements and I'm ready to start making a mold. I'll have the shifter bushings made out of polyurethane. The question is how hard or soft do we want them? OEM or harder?

Good question, let's ask the experienced person

JFYI, I replaced my shifter bushings with teflon ones..

Cool! Any NVH complaints? Did you replace all 4 bushings? Was this a DIY or did you find an off the shelf solution?

Teflon is shore 98A, high compared to most urethane bushing kits. If it works well w/ no significant introduction of noise into the cabin then that's good news.

[DMCMW Dave]

Teflon is shore 98A, high compared to most urethane bushing kits. If it works well w/ no significant introduction of noise into the cabin then that's good news.

If you are not worried about NVH (noise/vibration), I've thought about using heim ends (i.e. ball ends) in the shift linkage and adding a proper bearing to the pivot bolt area. Probably be pretty noisy but if you want a direct-feeling shifter it would be the way to go. I have not heard of anyone doing this though.

[FABombjoy]

If you are not worried about NVH (noise/vibration), I've thought about using heim ends (i.e. ball ends) in the shift linkage and adding a proper bearing to the pivot bolt area. Probably be pretty noisy but if you want a direct-feeling shifter it would be the way to go. I have not heard of anyone doing this though.

I certainly encourage you to give it a go and let us know how well it works

[andyd]

Let me know what you guys think and how many sets I should make.

I'm probably up for a full set Tom.

Although I haven't checked my existing ones, but as the box is out, why not?!

Will keep an eye on this thread.

Cheers,

Andy

[LordFly]

I would definitely be interested in a full set of black ones!

[Tomcio]

OK, it seems like I will go ahead with this project. I'm thinking about making the shift linkage bushes a bit harder than OEM. This should provide more precise shifting while still damping vibration. I would go with a different color though. I don't want them to look the same as the OEM rubber.
I have another question for those interested. Each one of those rubber bushings has two plastic sleeves that go inside. Should I be making those as well? On my car the rubber is long gone but the sleeves are in perfect condition and can be reused. What do you think? Do you want the plastic sleeves to be a part of the kit?

[andyd]

Do you want the plastic sleeves to be a part of the kit?

Great stuff! As I say, I haven't seen mine, but gut feeling says yes, new sleeves too...

Are everyone else's still okay? If so, I will presume mine are too.

Thanks tom,

Andy