Solid Control Arm Bushings

[O'Neall]

Who all makes these? GW has their Del-a-lums, but are there others?

Also, do the solid control arm bushings transfer a lot of noise/vibration into the cabin?

Thanks!

[Jeremy]

I run solids on my upper and lower arms and haven't noticed an increase in road noise. They work much better than poly. My favorite setup was solid uppers with rubber lowers but I haven't found a rubber bsuhing that will work with my new setup, yet, for the lowers.

[Marcus SC&C]

You may wanna be a little more specific. Solid rubber? Solid delrin? Solid poly? Solid steel?
GW is best known for their DelA Lums,which are excellent. We recomend them all the time for the more hardcore guys. Delrin is a great high performance bushing material. The only thing to remember with delrin is to be generous when you grease them. Delrin is hard and if you allow grit to get in there it`ll wear them out prematurely. They`re always greasable not only because it lubricates them but because the grease seals dirt out and when you grease them it displaces any grit that that may have gotten in there. Properly cared for they`ll last darn near forever!
A number of racing outfits make nylon bushings but they don`t have a shell,often are not greasable either. I see them more as racing pieces.
Steel bushings actually work quite well in upper arms because they`re not weight bearing and they allow the suspension to move very freely and with NO deflection. We have one car with about 46,000 miles on a set of our greasable steel bushing upper arms. It`s been driven in rain,snow,floods,been in one front end collision. (don`t let the shop clean up kid borrow the company car!)
We pulled the bushings apart a few thousand miles ago and the bushings and cross shafts still mike exactly the same as new ones. Not too shabby!
Theer`s no discernable difference in ride harshness with solid bushings in the upper arms. Now steel bushings in the lower arms,because they`re weight bearign seems to have a little more effect on NVH. Mostly mid and higher frequency though. I don`t like using steel on lowers because that location is so vulnerable to grit and water though. Delrin is my top choice there. If a car is more of a street cruiser OE rubber works just fine in the lowers. Mark SC&C

[O'Neall]

My car (77 T/A) will be a street car... so how does this sound for the front end.

-Global West Del-a-lum upper control arm bushings
-OE rubber lower control arm bushings
-Solid body/subframe mounts
-Welded in subframe connectors
-Stock 1 1/4" front sway bar
-Energy Suspension graphite impregnated endlinks and swaybar bushings (w/ the grease zerk)

And of course, new upper/lower ball joints, inner/outer tie rods, adj. sleeves, idler arm, and centerlink.

Am I forgetting anything other than the coils which I haven't decided on yet (whether or not to go with lowering springs)?

[David Pozzi]

I wouldn't be afraid to go with Del-A-Lum lower bushings at all. We have them in my wife's 73 Camaro and we can't tell them from the stock bushings as far as ride quality. Shocks or tires make a much larger difference in ride.
David

[79T/Aman]

I had over 70,000 miles on solid steel bushings befor installing our Comp upper arms with no wear and this car was driven every day, keep them greased and they will last a long time.

[Yelcamino]

My El Camino has the GW del-a-lum bushings in the upper and lower front arms and the rear lowers have del-a-lum on the axle end and heim joints on the frame end. I don't think it rides harsh at all and as for noise I can't hear it over the exhaust anyway!

Herb

[O'Neall]

There you are 79T/Aman! I've been trying to get a hold of you.

Did you get my email (I also PM'd you thru TAC just before it crashed... but I doubt you got that one)?

[79T/Aman]

been working on a big project for the past 6 mon. or so, but mostly been on TAC, well you see soon

[Marcus SC&C]

Jon the only change I`d make to your list is to do something to get better alignment specs out of it. 2nd gens respond really well to additional + caster and a little - camber. You won`t be able to do it with stock parts especially if you lower it. If you`re on a strict budget loose the DAL upper bushings and get Moog offset crossshafts instead. You`ll gain a lot more from a performance alignment than you will from the bushings (even though they`re great bushings). If you want better alignment and high performance bushings without breaking the bank check out our adj. tubular arms. Mark SC&C