yalipito

Well guys I recently ran into this site http://www.toyheadauto.com, they have all kinds of poly bushings including the 96 4runner a arm bushings. Now my question is, has anyone here used their bushings and have an opinion to share?
By the way this is the only place that I could find that had poly bushings for the a arm on the 96 runner, hope this isn't a useless thread,

Jerm

I've never used them, but may be worth looking into.

JC_ez

The poly a arm bushings are going to make for a rough ride and they won't let the suspension work as well as good factory rubber bushings (more binding, squeaks). This is because poly "bushings" work like a cheap bearing rather than a true bushing. I haven't tried them, but I know they will have these problems. My opinion is to stay away from them.

Although I haven't tried poly a arm bushings, I have tried several types of poly sway bar bushings and they sucked. Same problems as I mentioned above.

JCM4x89pu

I offroad pretty hard, and the rubber bushings just can't hold up.. I switched to the red poly bushings from energy suspension.. i loved them, but after about a month they stared squeaking.. so i switched to the black polygraphite bushings from energy suspension (supposed to help with the squeaking).. but again, after about a month they started squeaking. so, i solved the problem by making my own bushings on a lathe.. i made them out of aluminum with a delrin liner and teflon cored rifling.. plus a fitting to make them greasable. no squeaks since.

since i am an aerospace machinist, i dont expect that many other people are abe to fabricate bushings as nice as mine.. but the poly bushings are really nice.. just turn your radio up so you dont hear the squeaks!! another option is to score grooves the inside of the poly bushings with a knife, and lube them with a mix of grease and powdered graphite.. you shouldnt have any squeaking or binding issues.

as far as being stiff, stiffness is actually an advantage of poly bushings.. it makes the handling better.. and they can withstand much more abuse. pm me if you have any questions.