What is the car going to do for a living? If only the street stay with the soft bushings, but if you are looking at the track and want consistent times the harder bushing will help. The T1 arms have one hard and one normal bushing.
Tony #54
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Tony
02 Red/White/Blue Full Cage B&W Shifter T1 Suspension kit. 18"CCW Wheels Most Body Parts are Carbon Fiber
To the best of my knowledge, the T1 sway bars only come with hard bushings. The front T1 a-arms come with bushings that are harder than stock, but not really what I would call hard. I don't think rear T1 a-arms exist. The rear a-arms use stock bushings.
For the sway bar, I don't think the bushings have anything to do with ride quality, they just provide support for the sway bar to rotate in without any other movement.
What you may be asking is what to use for the sway bar endlinks which are the part that attaches the sway bar to the a-arm. The T1 bars come with metal to metal heimlinks which work great, but are noisy. Some find this bothersome for a daily driver. I use them on the track. Others know of aftermarket endlinks which work but are lined so they are quieter. Hopefully one will chime in. If not, ask DJWORM. I'm confident he knows.
I think LGM has the teflon lined endlinks. Call them and ask. For the arms, I'm going to drop polyurethane in mine just as soon as I get my life in order (too much going on).
I am planning on running with the stock T1 metal end-links. I will just keep them lubed up. If the noise becomes obnoxious, I will swap them out with an after-market option.
My main concern is whether or not I should put in harder bushings for the A-arms and whether or not this will provide better performance or just make for a harsh ride. I suppose I have this same question on the bushings for the sway bars themselves.
The T1 a-arm bushings really aren't that hard. No where near as hard as poly bushings. I doubt you'd even notice the change. They will help, but I would be surprised if you thought they made the ride to harsh.
As an FYI, you can't just order the T1 bushings, or at least you couldn't last year when I replaced my front a-arms. You have to order the whole a-arms which come with the T1 bushings in them. The good news is they aren't that expensive, about $165 shipped (each).
Arm - T1 Front Lower LH 12480077
Arm - T1 Front Lower RH 12480078
I've driven a number of cars with poly bushings. Latest is my dad's 94 C4 with them through out the car. His ride is really harsh. He also has yellow konis set on stiff.
The bushings aren't making noise, and it doesn't seem to be transmitting any more noise than before. Also the C5 chassis is stiffer, and will transmit less noise.
I've driven a number of cars with poly bushings. Latest is my dad's 94 C4 with them through out the car. His ride is really harsh. He also has yellow konis set on stiff.
The bushings aren't making noise, and it doesn't seem to be transmitting any more noise than before. Also the C5 chassis is stiffer, and will transmit less noise.
I've always preferred a car with the harder bushings, as the car responds NOW, not when the bushings are done squirming around.
165 for the arms is not that much but the bushing is a wear item that should be changed regularly for consistent suspension setting retention. So I vote for buying a chinese lathe for 400 bucks and a 15 ft stick of delrin for 50 bucks and make em! Been there done that. Delrin is the stiffest thing next to heim joints.
165 for the arms is not that much but the bushing is a wear item that should be changed regularly for consistent suspension setting retention. So I vote for buying a chinese lathe for 400 bucks and a 15 ft stick of delrin for 50 bucks and make em! Been there done that. Delrin is the stiffest thing next to heim joints.
Delrin also smears under pressure. In practice it doesn't last as long as polyurethane. If I was racing (and the rules allowed whatever bushing material, but no spherical bearings), I'd run delrin, and keep them often.
The poly bushings are a good compromise between a rigid bushing, and a flexible one.
Well it depends on the compromise. You can lube delrin to a degree and that reduces wear. I've been waiting to replace my bushings but amazingly they have held up to 2 or 3 years of racing a 2800lb car. Maybe I'm not going fast or hard enough. PU squeeks on street cars. Delrin makes no noise unlubed or unlubed. You can graphite impregnate some PU to reduce the noise but it sometimes works sometimes does not. Delrin is harder than PU. On street comfort is still pretty good with delrin vs PU. Street tires are so sloppy that the rigidity increase in delrin is made up by slop in the tire. I think everything changes with progression to DOT R's and then to slicks. Almost anything is better than stock rubber. PU is readily available. I'd take delrin if available. I'd do heim for track cars only.
I have the T1 sway bars on my car now. I drove it around a bit tonight and it is definitely more firmly planted to the asphalt in its feel. What little roll the z06 had with the stock bars is not almost completely gone.
I had concerns about the streetability of the car with the bars installed. I did not change the springs and the car is very well mannered, but sits much flatter when cornering hard, even where traction is high.
Driving down the freeway it feels like if whats to follow the surface and the road oscillations a bit more the way a go kart does, but it is not bad. Without hard cornering, I think I would be hard pressed to tell a T1 sway barred Z06 from not just driving down the road.
I can't wait for California Speedway on the 18th and 19th.
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