dbrockma

Is there a stock 'kit' that can be ordered for all body/suspension bushings or do I have to use part numbers for everything?

After replacing bushings on my semi-daily driver, I have come to the conclusion that spherical end control arms are way, WAY too harsh for any street driving. The noise and harshness is truly incredible.

I went with a poly kit (because the kit was easy to order) and eventually broke a control arm. They seemed a little more noisy than my other cars standard rubber bushings.

Anyway, I have a second car with 140k on it and I suspect it has the shocks/struts and bushings it came with. Driving on the interstate when you hit a bump in the road results in feeling like you are on a boat going through gentle waves (up, down, up, down) and more important is the front end is all over the place.

GaryDoug

Sounds to me like the shocks are toast.

Injuneer

Are you using spherical rods ends on the front or rear control arms? Did you break a front or rear arm? What brand aftermarket parts are you using?

The harshness with the rear lower control arms can be minimized by using a poly or hard rubber bushing in the chassis end connection, leaving the rod end at the axle end connection. That retains the articulation capability of the spherical rod end, while minimizing noise and harshness.

I would assume you have a lot of aftermarket suspension parts with the setup you have, so it's not likely you would find a ready-made "kit" to replace the bushings.

I would agree with Gary on the "motion of the ocean" issues on the second car. That is primarily controlled by the shock absorbers. And with a 20+ year old chassis, its highly likely that the stock/factory rubber bushings are also gradually rotting away.

dbrockma

On the car I built for dd-autocross [1996 Z28 T-top] (never did though) I had a UMI (?) K-member, control arms, spherical rod ends on the entire front end. This was where the noise was mostly at, as far as I could tell. You could feel every penny on the road though.
The rear I went with poly first and broke a control arm, no idea if it had anything to do with it being poly or not, it broke during normal driving as near as I can remember.

On my current daily driver [1995 Z28 convertible], I want all stock rubber, so I was asking about a kit that could be ordered from GM for all the stock parts, rather than one piece at a time. I am piecing together a list now. The ones on the t-top car I changed with patience, drills and a lot of hammering, but this time I'm going to get the parts and drive to the little shop on the corner and let them do it, as they have a press. While they are in there I'm going to have them change the rack, ball joints, bearings, pretty much everything that moves.

I could take it there and just tell them what I want changed and let them figure it out, but I would rather get Moog or AC Delco instead of the 'economy' parts.

It rains so little here I may just ditch the 96 and keep the convertible.....I have considered swapping all my Baer brakes, adjustable shocks, rear-axle from the T-top to the convertible as the driveline, suspension and brakes are brand new.... If I could trust them to swap my 383 into my convertible I'd probably go that route too and get rid of the T-top car altogether.