How much of a NVH difference does new bushes make?

[A900ss]

All,

I have an older car, 2010 and it’s done 88k. Last year I fitted new springs and dampers and it improved the ride a fair bit.

The lower control arms with associated bushes (drop links, lower ball joints and bushes in the control arms) are all original as are the engine mounts.

Despite new suspension, the steering is a little vague and the ride/NVH could certainly be improved.

If anyone has replaced all the front bushes/engine mounts in an older vehicle, was the difference notable?

It won’t be cheap to do but I intend keeping the car for a few more years yet.

[buggalugs]

Depends how knackered the old ones are. For engine mounts look for a lot of engine movement at idle, vibrating gear knob etc. For bushes use a pry bar from underneath to look for movement and visually look at general condition. You don't mention tyres which can have a big effect on ride and steering feel & accuracy. Also wheel alignment.

[J4CKO]

More of a precision thing than NVH, unless bushes are that bad things are vibrating or knocking together, if anything an older, soft, squishy bush could be more pliant and take out more buzz, like the opposite of a poly, or even sold bush but I wouldnt worry about it.

I would get under there and inspect (with axle stands and put a wheel under there, cant be too safe) with a pry bar, look for stretching, cracking, separation etc, would be looking for ones that need changing, not just changing them for the sake of it, can be a lot of work and not gain you much if they are still ok.

[Lotobear]

I've usually found that ARB bushes and droplinks yield the most noticeable difference especially to steering/turn in precision and happily these are usually the easiest and cheapest to do.

Lower arm bushes unless completely knackered (separating), as opposed to just appearing 'soft' don't seem to yield a huge difference IME and can be a pig to do.

[Huzzah]

J4CKO said:

More of a precision thing than NVH, unless bushes are that bad things are vibrating or knocking together, if anything an older, soft, squishy bush could be more pliant and take out more buzz, like the opposite of a poly, or even sold bush but I wouldnt worry about it.

.

Rubber tends to harden as it ages.

[Sheepshanks]

Huzzah said:

J4CKO said:

More of a precision thing than NVH, unless bushes are that bad things are vibrating or knocking together, if anything an older, soft, squishy bush could be more pliant and take out more buzz, like the opposite of a poly, or even sold bush but I wouldnt worry about it.

.

Rubber tends to harden as it ages.

I'd imagine that'd be more than offset by the bushes cracking and tearing.

[donkmeister]

Sheepshanks said:

Huzzah said:

J4CKO said:

More of a precision thing than NVH, unless bushes are that bad things are vibrating or knocking together, if anything an older, soft, squishy bush could be more pliant and take out more buzz, like the opposite of a poly, or even sold bush but I wouldnt worry about it.

.

Rubber tends to harden as it ages.

I'd imagine that'd be more than offset by the bushes cracking and tearing.

Exactly.

OP, to some extent it will depend on the car's suspension design as to how how much difference new bushes will make. It makes a huge difference, as Jacko says, to the precision. The bushes locate the suspension pivot points in three dimensions, and as you tend to get separation of metal and rubber over time, the location along the axis of the bush can get especially bad over time. I've had a bush fully separate, and that centimetre or so of play really made the handling sloppy. Replaced every bush and it was like a new car.

Balljoints (kingpins, control arms and rod ends) also make a significant difference.

[jfdi]

Just replaced all front suspension bushes on my 2010 Mercedes GL at 70k. Totally transformed the drive, pot holes still make a thump but it's more a solid thump and the car stays in a straight line rather than pulling to one side or the other. Well worth doing.

[Lester H]

The car has been sold on, so I will never know. However a trusted mechanic and a more sales orientated friend ,when a drop link was being replaced, told me that replacing all bushes would make minimal difference to the feel unless the car, an Avensis Tourer, had done starship mileage by which he meant closer to 200 than 100k.

[dan98]

I'd look at the tyres and wheels situation first before the bushes at such a low mileage.

Decent quality ride-orientated tyres with fresh alignment / balancing can really tighten up the steering and feel, while often being quieter and smoother than budget tyres.

A bigger difference again can be had using the smallest wheels / tallest tyres combo for the least harsh ride.
eg. took a Golf Mk5 from 19" down to 15" and it transformed it into a magic carpet basically.
Even an inch difference can be very noticeable, especially on smaller cars.

[donkmeister]

Lester H said:

The car has been sold on, so I will never know. However a trusted mechanic and a more sales orientated friend ,when a drop link was being replaced, told me that replacing all bushes would make minimal difference to the feel unless the car, an Avensis Tourer, had done starship mileage by which he meant closer to 200 than 100k.

If only Lexus had access to these 200k mile bushes when they engineered their flagship instead of the 100k mile ones, I'd have saved a fortune...

(Joking aside, it's always a trade-off. There's a spectrum of cost-benefit to maintenance with "Uber" at one end and "ubersaloon" at the other. Your mate is probably somewhere in the normal middle ground of "there's no point chucking that much money at an old Avensis". Look at the barge thread to see just how many of us will spend the purchase price again keeping our old wrecks up to snuff, when they don't necessarily NEED all that work to keep them on the road).