Does anybody have any experience with polyurethane bushings on Saturns, like "energy Suspension" or "Prothane Motion Control" products, especially on L300's?

 

I doubt anybody has installed poly bushings on an L series... But the theory behind the poly bushings is to take all of the slop out of the suspension, so that it travels as designed and intended... They do stiffen up the car a little, and rattles and squeaks might become more apparent than before, due to the nature of the bushing...

 

people used prothane bushings in S Car motor mounts...never understood the fascination.

 

On a couple of Hondas, I used polyurethane bushings before. On an early 90's Accord, I replaced all the bushings in the control arms of the front suspension after the original bushings wore out and were sagging. They really firmed up the suspension. The kit was actually not very expensive (never checked the OEM rubber bushing price). That car was prone to eat tires, which tendency decreased after the stiffer polyurethane bushings.

Installing them was also much easier than pressing in the OEM rubber bushing design. That in itself was worth it.

Also used the polyurethane engine mount bushing inserts on that car and a late 90's Civic, which has very delicate engine mount bushings. On the Accord, the front engine mount kept breaking every couple of years. The bushing itself was not available but only as part of the whole dog bone arm for like $94. After buying the second one, I added the polyurethane insert, and the bushing never broke again; easy fix for about twenty-thirty bucks.

So, from my experience the real fascination is not having to replace bushings every three years or so and the ease of installation compared to traditional bushings you have to press in. Some cars are more prone with certain bushings, and I have no familiarity with Saturns.

 

every 3 years? I just replaced both trailing arms on my 95 SC2 (one rusted through and snapped, not waiting on the other). the bushings were so dry that when I grasped them to remove they crumbled into dust. the only bushings never replaced were the front stabilizer bar bushings which as of this weekend were still flexing.

 

No, it was not the suspension bushings that went out in three years. It was the big bushing in the big dog bone shaped torque arm (the type that has smaller rubber joints connecting the inside and outside shell of the bushing). I don't know how long it was before the first, original went out as there is a thick rubber washer on both sides so you can't actually see the bushing. You can tell if you tug on it, but mostly I never thought it would break so soon. The replacement, OEM bushing did break in about three years. It was also close to the exhaust manifold, so I'm sure heat also played a role in early failure. So, I just used the polyurethane insert, which itself is pretty heavy duty, and the torque arm was good forever.

I guess the signs are easy to see; if there is a polyurethane insert (the type you use in conjunction with the bushing -- engine mount and torque arm, not suspension bushings), chances are the OEM bushing is weak and "delicate." Also, looking at the contour of the insert, one can see the proportion of connecting rubber and air space in the bushing. Some of these bushings are simply for isolating engine vibrations and not the big ones carrying engine weight. When some of these failed, I did not know until actually checking the bushing itself. After adding the inserts, the difference was very noticeable (It was a light, stick shift car.) Definitely more engine vibrations coming through to the frame, so I didn't use all the inserts, just the ones for the weak and busted bushings.

Using them made a big difference on those cars. So far, I haven't seen similar bushing designs on the L300. The only engine mount bushing I touched was the one I needed to take out for the timing belt service. That is a huge bushing, and the engine bracket is monstrous. If the other engine and transmission mount bushings are similar, I don't think I will ever have to replace those.

 

I was just scrolling through and saw that Polyurethane products were mentioned, but not too often. I have not at the present had the need to deal with bushing replacements on my Saturn but have quite a bit of background on replacing these things on my AMC cars. A company that has been out business since 1988. Like anything of the era polyurethane bushings are out there and often used to "improve" the performance of a suspension and they do tighten things up. This is generally perceived by an increase in squeaks of things moving and a whole lot of vibration being transmitted to the cabin and a general stiffness of the suspension. But in terms of handling? Unless pushed to some undefined 110% of driving capability the opinion in general is that they do little at all to IMPROVE a suspension. They have there own wear rate as when used instead of rubber, parts rotate and move rather than flex and the moving causes wear. The vibration and noise in the long run show up as an irritant. Polyurethane can be machined so things can be fabricated. I personally see no advantage at all to using polyurethane and in some cases, the use of the product in locations that were designed to flex when rubber is used, leads to failure as polyurethane has little or no flex to it so the metal fatigues and parts split and fail. As vehicles age and parts become hard to find, polyurethane parts some times can be found or fabricated which gives something to put in when there is no other choice and that is the only time I use a polyurethane part. When there are no more rubber ones made for the application. They work, but in general, if a rubber part is available it does a better job. At least those parts I have seen. A hobby car is generally a low mileage vehicle and polyurethane does not show up as a problem, but on a daily driver, 4 or 5 years of driving about 60 to 70,000 miles, a lot of polyurethane bushing parts start showing up as worn out, at least that is the impression I get from forums I have been on.

 

I put poly bushings on my old chevy. ride was ok but then they would develop these horrid squeaks on the lower bushing, sounded like I was driving an old bedspring around.
If you do make sure you can lubricate them easily. my top ones had grease zirks, so they did not squeak, lower ones had no means of lubing so they were an issue.

 

fine advice

 

I've seen a few guys use them on the Sky, but not sure if they were happy with the results.