Poly or sports pack bushes

[Jared]

Hi JEC, as my leaky PAS system is now being disassembled I'm wondering about rack bush replacements as the steering is a bit vague, even by old car standards. Which is better, poly bushes or sports pack bushes? Some say the poly bushes can give a harsh ride or knock and upset the handling on bumps, some rate them.
What are your experiences?
Also where can I get said components? Any help much appreciated

[davidr]

Jared - I have purple Polybush ones on my 89 V12 and I find that they give a good firm feel to the steering with none of the wandering and vagueness that you're getting and I don't feel any loss of refinement.
My Celebration still has its original sports bushes and the car feels much less positive than the 89 car. I've looked at the bushes, levered them with a pry bar etc and they are in good condition but they just move more. I'm thinking of putting Polybush ones on there too.
Regards
David

[ptjs1]

Jared,

I put poly' on my 4.0 Convertible 8 years ago and they much improved the initial turn-in sensation, even though I could see no noticeable wear on my original bushes.

The Sports bushes also get a good writeup. I have also heard of owners who have put poly bushes on the lower 2 mountings and a Jaguar Sports bush on the top mounting.

The original Sports bushes are available from Jaguar. The top bush is cheap (£10) IIRC but I think the lower Sports bushes are quite expensive at £45 each.

Decent polybushes will be about £25 for all 3 bushes.

Good luck

Paul

[Jared]

Thanks for the advice. I see poly bushes are available in different colours/different hardness. I can't find purple, they seem to all be red, blue or black. Which colour?

[PaulGover]

I replaced sports bushes (I thought they were oil-damaged, but in fact they were fine) with poly bushes, and couldn't tell the difference. So on a price basis, I'd go for poly. Having just done my front axle bearings, I suspect stub-axle wear (a groove where the inner roller race has play on the axle) may have as least as much effect as small amount of play in the steering mounts. I also suspect that the standard bushes might be OK if they came with a perfect set of the rubber-faced washers, but as I've never seen a perfect set (they're always wrecked by oil) ...

If you have OK sports bushes, I'd leave them alone, as they're a b*st*rd to get out.

[Brakebuster]

for a bit of balance against fitting polly bushes

even though the original fitted metalastic bushes look fine, and pass an MOT , there is decades of use associated with them , they will be ' wearing ' if not worn

but bear in mind, the original bushes gave the ' correct ' setup and feel Jaguar wanted at the time, and yes i know, polly ones wernt invented then and they might have used them , but they would have set the car up differently with regard to other components to if they did .

i have fitted original brand new from Jaguar ( not aftermarket from SNG or others ) metalastic bushes on all suspension components , and its a tight but comfortable setup , as its meant to be

I have however conceded that the steering rack mounting bushes need to be the polly versions due to the always known excessive sideways movement in the rack mountings , the polly stiffen up the mounts giving a more direct and quicker response to steering input,


so , dont just change the bushes to polly because its the latest thing, they are not bad , but dont just discount original bushes because its ' older technology '

pays ur money , takes ur choice

BB