As above,anyone got poly bushed trailing arms on their 3dr or sapp or are the o/e rose jointed Ford items better?
From what I understand you can still get the one set from Ford and the other from GGR,not sure which way around though..lol.
Anyone got any thoughts on this,would be good to have opinion from both sides.I have seen something before about using the original Ford bushes as they are rose jointed and handling will be tighter than a poly bushed trailing arm?Any help would be much appreciated.

Many thank.Lee.

 

Hi Lee,

If it was me i would only use the original style bushes that GGR remakes, you can only get them from GGR as ford ran out.
The poly bushes give to much slack on all the 2wd cars my friends have done and some have reverted back to the original style ones, not been in a 4wd with the complete back polyed but in the 2wd it feels sloppy and dangerous when driving at high speeds and wanders about a bit especially with larger rims on.
I am sure you will get lots of different views on this.
Cheers Johnny..

 

Forgot to say Lee my 500 has only poly bushes from GGR on the front TCA's and rollbar mounts and every other bush on the car is as ford intended, this is good enough for me and the handling is superb, Koni adjustables all round with Brooklyn Ford supplied lowered springs by 20mm, these springs are excellent but no longer available, the rears are progressive rated.
Johnny

 

Johnny,do u remember u spoke to me about the auralis escos(rsoc site) u bought as I only live a few miles away from where u purchased the car.
Good views on the bushes,I had poly items fitted when I had the underside of my car done last year,been told since they are crap and dangerous at high speed as u stated above and I'm on 17"wheels aswell.My car is fully polybushed front and rear of the car.
What's the score with the dognut bushes in the rear beam then?Genuine or poly once again???Interesting to hear what people views are on this topic.

Thanks.Lee.

 

I have poly everywhere back and front, imo the rear polys get blamed when clearly not at fault, jesus they don't exactly have high load as they are only trailing.
The whole rear end on a sapphy or 3 door is a problem, due top budget and other constraints they had to use what was in the parts bin at the time of making, which is far from ideal.
The major problem is the rear diff hanger, even new ones are way too soft, ford then decided to compound the problem on the cars by fitting less than ideal anti rolls bars on the rear.
I run poly at rear(all fixings) but also run a poly diff mount, and a 22mm adjustable anti roll bar.
The rear is 100% slop free and sticks like glue, corners I wouldn't go round at anything much over 80/90 before are 100% rock steady at 150 now, talking of long sweeping dual cariageway stuff, doesn't even twitch.
I tried my car when experimenting without any rear roll bar, then with a poly diff mount, that alone took away 90% of the rear steering when hitting a bump mid corner, then added the arb, 100% happy with it now.
The basic design is the problem, as they are not fully trailing arms, any increase in bump/height deflection also causes a camber and toe movement, so going down a bumpy road the wheels are all over place toe and camber wise, add to this the soggy diff mount(even when new), this then alters everything again as diff/beam rises and falls in height relative to the body adding yet even more movement into the mix.
In order I would sort the diff mount first, this will give you most bang per buck improvement, then arb then bushes.
tabetha

 

Tab,I had a new poly diff,mc rallying if I remember correctly,fitted last year and all new powerflex bushes all round.
Yo suggest a larger anti roll abr then with bushes?I know the 3dr is 14mm,2wd sapp 18mm and escos/4wd sapp 22mm,I think that's right.I would require brackets made up then to relocate to the trailing arms is this correct?I will also require flush bolts then for the diff mount aswell from what I rememberHow does the larger roll bar affect the flexing of the car,obviously it's stiffened up,so i guess there will be less flex under load?
Thanks.Lee.

 

It would have to be the ggr/ford ones for me lee

 

Rear arb's are xr4i 10mm, 3 door(cos) 14mm, 2wd sapph 16mm, 4wd sapph 18mm, escos 22mm.
There can be clearance issues with the bolts, it is possible to fill a std diff mount with poly which works just as well, but you know it fits 100% perfect even with a 22mm escos roll bar as the bolts are recessed, to fill costs around £25, Ikotarin from pf is using one I did for him on his 3 door.
AS you rightly say if using a sapphy arb you will need to weld on mounts for the arb brackets on the section above/behind the diff, as well as the arms, alternately could fit sapphy arms.
The brackets are the same on all sizes of arb on sapphy, or you could always have a custom one off arb made that locates exactly the same as the 3 door one, if you want standard looks, just made thicker.
Flexing of the car ?, this is mainly down to the softish(in performance terms) shell, the mk1 seem a lot softer/wobbly than the sapphy, adding a rear centrally bridged rear strut brace will help in this dept.
The rear arb if 22mm sapphy type will bring a whole new feel to the car, to coin a phrase I heard on TG, "I've never driven a car where the rear doesn't seem connected to the front", this is how I view the cossie the front is fairly planted the rear is all over the place.
For an unbiassed opinion ask opposite lock or sir nose as they have been in my car.
I always ask myself would I do the same mod(whatever that may be) again, if I can honestly say yes I'm happy, if no, it didn't work as far as I'm concerned.
Would I do it again, I'd have got a poly diff mount and a 22mm arb before I even bought the car.
These are just my views, I am already on coilys which help a lot imo, opposite locks mate said he'd never been in the rear of a cossie so comfortable(he has one himself), a few people have said this before, other just scream ha ha!!
tabetha
tabetha

 

Tab,I already have a rear strut brace,but I am on Konis with ahmed springs,all new last year along with the ploybushes had it all done when the underside resto was being worked on.
Did u get my pm about the 2 things,just reminding u as u said u would forge otherwise?

Thanks.Lee.

 

Tab,I already have a rear strut brace,but I am on Konis with ahmed springs,all new last year along with the polybushes had it all done when the underside resto was being worked on.
Did u get my pm about the 2 things,just a reminding u as u said u would forget otherwise?

Thanks.Lee.[/QUOTE]

 

valve and banjo bolt ?, yes on my to do list today, going to start sticking notes to my forehead, can't believe how bad my memory is!!
tabetha

 

Have you tries using Polybush Kits? we have just modified the rear training arm bushes for the escort mk3-4 on our budget range to allow adjustment to the stiffness and movement allowed. This is simply done by reducing the size of the insert and using a larger diameter bush either side. Simple mod with great results.

The polybush kits however are more expensive but can be made to your specification. Feel free to give us a shout if you need any more info.