Technical So, so tired of crappy parts…

Once again, I’m dealing with crappy parts from “good sources”. I purchased a set of upper control arms from CPP (Classic Performance Parts). They came with poly bushings already installed, so I was thinking, Great!, saves me the hassle of pressing new bushings.

Long story short- less than 1000 miles and the bushings are crumbling. Two are gone, and the others not far behind.

So now I’m out cold. I’ll have to disassemble the front end AGAIN, which as we know is not an easy job. Purchase and press in new bushings. Once reassembled, I’ll take it BACK to the alignment shop.
My money, my labor, my down time…all for what? So we can peddle Chinese knock offs as quality products.
CPP’s response?…………zzzzzzzzzz

 

how are my original bushings in better condition than modern poly ones?

 

Not to be that guy, but are the poly bushings overcompressed?

There’s a reason oem’s use rubber bushings and sleeves.

 

Its a known fact that CCP is Chinese crap.Their ball joints wear fast.Their 55-57 pitman arms had failures.These reports are all over sites like Trifive.com,and others.Folks like the price point so they shop there.As far as im concerned CCP is no bettter than Johnny Law on e bay. Sure it takes longer to come up with the money for really good parts,and the project has to wait,but in the end you have less problems.Most of us have been burned once. The trick is to never get burned twice.

 

I never considered CPP to be a “good source”. They are a low end street rod supplier.
Find a source for OEM rubber bushings.

 

Dang that sucks. The quality of rubber products is horrible anymore. This summer I almost bought a pair of repro upper arms for my '65 because I too thought it would be way easier than swapping out bushings. But I had a set of bushings that I bought 25 years ago and decided to just use them instead. After seeing your post, I'm glad I used the old stuff.

 

Boy that sucks! Thanks for letting us know.

 

Sounds par for the course sad to say.

 

Negative. You can see from the one bushing that still has a collar that they are installed correctly. They are literally brittle.

 

I am going through the same thing. I don't know what brand of bushings mine are but they are crumbling and falling out. About 5 years ago I had someone clean up, powder coat and install polyurethane bushings in a set of control arms for me. I then installed those on my wife's Nomad. Then it set in garage for 5 years waiting for me to finish all the other things I was doing to it. Last May I took the car to someone to finish, A/cond, wiring, steering, etc. etc..... They finished it up last October, and did a fine job, we were very pleased. Then in December, after only driving a few times, I noticed a chunk of rubber where it had been parked. I got under it and found what you found, identical to your photos. But only on the lower arms. The upper are fine but being replaced anyway.
Since I had put the suspension together the car had been in my garage which is heated and air conditioned. I don't hnow if maybe the bolts were tightened with the suspension at rest or hanging or if they were already tightened before I installed them. I know they should be tightened after bouncing a few times. I have also had screw driver and hammer handles break up, even had wheel chair hard wheels crack.
I thought polyurethane bushings were suppose to last longer!?

Anyway, I am almost done replacing them with standard bushings. At least everything is clean and new. I did mess up threads on one ball joint and a couple of the boots. It had just been aligned before we got it back last October, so I was careful about the shims and I do have my own alignment equipment.

Just glad it happened when it did and not on the way to Tri Five Nationals in August.
I should have it back together in the next couple of days.

Good luck with yours. Ron

 

Unless a guy is road racing his car, I can't imagine why he'd want poly bushings in the first place. They are hard, and will transmit all the road roughness right to your seat. I'd much rather have rubber in my car. Now, finding good rubber may be hard to do these days as well . . .

 

Just went back and re-read your post. My top ones were fine, it was my lower ones that crumbled and fell out.

 

There have been many people experiencing crumbling bushes, both plastic and 'rubber.' In fact lots of people have had bushes and tie rod end boots crumble and fall on the floor before the car even gets finished and driven!

(Same 'rubber' is also used in offshore brake boosters)

 

I agree, I was thinking about longevity when I had mine done, but so much for that. Won't happen again. Ron

 

The rubber moog bushings in my upper A-Arms on my daily driver 64 El Camino would have to be replaced every 6 to 8 months and that's me driving it everyday. I guess even the Moog bushings aren't that great. I've converted to some tubular up am so with some Delrin bushings in them and they seem to be holding up fine for the past year,it gives me a little more positive caster adjustment which is nice too

 

when I had my 55 I had trouble with the OEM style bushings not lasting very long, and got some poly bushings, installed them in the original arms, and they worked just fine. I think they were Energy Suspension brand bushings. Looks like they're probably more expensive than what you got?

If you still have the stock arms, get good bushings and install them, and be done with it.

I seem to recall I had to get some offset upper shafts to help get camber where it should be. The car was heavy, with a blown big block and TH400, though. That makes a difference.

good luck! thanks for sharing your tough lesson

 

What? I just replaced mine with MOOG bushings! Anyone want to buy a Nice '57 Nomad? Brand new bushings. Lol.
It's the wife's, so I can't really sell it. I tried to convince her that it would have made a nice Gasser with a straight axle.

 

We found that to happen 20 years ago. They either crumbled are were to small and didn’t hold.

 

I bought a set of sway bar bushings for my 47, no miles on them and they're already looking 20 years old.

 

I have a box of 'em sitting in the back floorboard I know some sources use different rubber formulations. A lot of 'rubber' parts are now stiff and split easily. Found that out a couple years ago changing an old shifter boot. New Mr. Gasket was so stiff, couldn't get the tranny into 2nd! Names don't mean anything anymore. Corporate guys just buying names and outsourcing to crappy manufacturers w/ inferior material. End of rant

Joe

 

Thanks, Jeff! That's righteous and bookmarked.

Joe

 

Good information to have. My main experience has been with the decline in quality of Moog suspension parts. Not sure how long some parts will live yet, but had some parts that didn't even work like lower balljoints that were supposed to be a press fit that just fell in the hole in the control arm. Anyway, good to hear feedback like this to help all of us source the best stuff we can considering the brands in question may not always still be what they used to be even. Oh, and I am also a fan of just running OEM style bushings everywhere. Learned that lesson back in the 80's from friends that tried poly bushings.

 

That´s a good point, they worked great for me also.I´ve put Energy Suspension´s poly bushings on my 56 in 2004 and they are still like new. The car is on air bags, so they are going through a lot of travel.

 

take a look at Ride Tech site - says that Derlin is the gold standard of suspension bushings - a thermoplastic known as polyoxymethlene - worth a look

 

You could put a simple sleeve around it before you tighten it up and that would hold it in there. Maybe a little grease to keep it moving.

 

It seems either way is a crap shoot anymore. I purchased all new Rubber suspension parts USA made from Kanter for my 52 Chevy probably a decade back. Noticed they were cracking and looking worn way to fast for a low use vehicle stored indoors. When I bought our 57 Chevy the PO had rebuilt the front end with rubber bushings as well, same situation. I actually had a control arm bushing fall apart while driving. So I went and rebuilt them using Energy Suspension (USA made) bushings and have had no issues with them so far. I didnt notice any difference in ride quality or handling but its a big ol 4 door wagon low as hell, loud and I drive it like a hot rod so...

 

Oddly enough…I replaced the sway bar bushings not long ago because I found chunks laying under the car…

 

I've had two turn signal switches in a row from the same manufacturer faulty out of the box. I think in the next ten years or so it's gonna be real hard to find quality parts for anything.

 

I’ll look into the Enery Suspension bushings. I only went poly thinking increased longevity. How’ THAT work out?