difference between bushings in rear arms

[steve40]

i'm looking at the umi site for upper and lower rear control arms for my monte.....i was curious what the differences are between the poly bushing, rod ends, and roto joints are?

the main use of my car will be street/cruiser, but i would like to make it out and experience a few autox evets. is there a big difference in input from bumps and such into the car and noise between the 3 ends?



i was looking at the 3037 and 3038 arms

thanks,
steve

[Schwartz Performance]

Poly bushings are a decent upgrade from rubber because they don't deflect as much nor do they act like rubber bands. The cons are that they will deform over time under prolonged stress. They also can squeak a lot if you don't lube them a lot.
Roto joints are good in vehicles that will have a lot of suspension travel since they usually have a large angle of movement. They're greaseable and I think most are serviceable. The cons are the price and possibly noise/vibration/harshness compared to rubber.

Rod ends are good, they're inexpensive, strong, and easy to replace if one happens to fail. We use them on our chassis. Depending on the geometry that the arm they're going into has, they have a limited amount of articulation/swiveling compared to roto joints. I've heard people complain at the theory of rod ends and how noisy they are. There's a difference between the $5 economy steel rod ends and the $40 American made chromoly ones though. We haven't had any complaints.

-Dale