Are the Elephant Racing bushings best?

ben parrish · 01-08-2012, 07:07 PM

About to order A-arm bushings. Are the ones from Elephant better than the Neatrix bushings? Why the big price difference?
Thanks,
Ben

wildcat077 · wildcat077's Garage

Ben,

The ER bushings will last you another 10 worry free years and they come with an installation
tool as well !
Anyone who has replaced their front arm bushings will attest to the fact that you need the proper tooling to install them otherwise you will pronounce many unholy words ... lol

They don't squeak either !

Cheers !
Phil

DRACO A5OG · DRACO A5OG's Garage

I have the Rebel Bushing but either will serve a specific purpose, depends on your use.

For just street Neatrix OEM type will do but upgraded bushings are better for the DE/Trax

ben parrish · 01-08-2012, 07:31 PM

So...is there a real difference in the bushings or just the tools with ER? HUGE difference in price.

webrest · webrest's Garage

Spend the money the ER poly bushes they are far superior.
Have done it both ways and I pulled out the rotten poly only bushes to replace with ER ones.
Never looked back they are as quiet as a mouse none of that squeakiness you get with the others.

Dave

slow&rusty · 01-09-2012, 03:56 AM

Must be winter project time, as this same question seems to be popping up every few days.

Chuck Moreland · 01-09-2012, 06:41 AM

The original poster seems to asking about our rubber control arm bushings. Some of the answers given apply to the Polybronze bushings.

Our rubber bushings are most definitely different than the cheap ones on the market. We performed a series of bench tests and captured the results in this video.

ben parrish · 01-09-2012, 06:53 AM

Chuck..sooo glad you responded. I have watched that video and made my decision on who to go with...only question now is do I go rubber or Polybronze.
Mainly a street car but I do drive aggressively and live in the "driving paradise" of the North Georgia mountains. I do some auto crossing and may start doing some drivers ed again.

What would Chuck do?

Pazuzu · 01-09-2012, 07:20 AM

Just for anyone else trying to make the decision...

When I put my polybronze bushings on, I found that a PO had put the Neatrix on before then.

The Neatrix bushing fell off of the a-arms and spring plates. Literally, they had essentially no tension at all holding them in place. There was no question that the fitment was junk, and they were contributing to a lot of suspension flex. I would never ever recommend them to anyone.

RSTarga · 01-09-2012, 08:46 AM

I've had the ER Rubber on my car for about 2 years and they are great, as good as when the car was new.
When I considered the cost differential between ER and Neatrix the labor cost was also considered, I did NOT want to do this again for a LONG time. I had everything rubber in the suspension replaced )all ER rubber),front and rear. + powder coating all appropriate parts.
By the way the shop had some of the Neatrix bushings and they did not compare favorably.

brcorp · brcorp's Garage

+100 on ER

pegasus9 · pegasus9's Garage

I went with ER rubber bushings. For me, It was worth the stretch.
The rubber was dense and you could tell just by looking at it that the proper R & D went into the product.

I had the poly bronze set up on my previous SC. Talk about precision driving, but this time around I wanted to get the original ride like quality if not better.

GH85Carrera · GH85Carrera's Garage

I did the research and went with ER rubber. I do autocross but I also DRIVE the car on the road.

PropellerHead · PropellerHead's Garage

I went with polybronze on my car instead of rubber. The ride quality is difficult to determine because I changed many things at once (torsion bars, dampers, sway bar addition, etc) but it is *not* harsh at all. I expected some increased NVH but I can't detect a significant change.

The control arms went together so easily and the car corner weights and alignment are very repeatable!

The cost delta over several other options was difficult to swallow but in the end I am very happy and feel it is worth the increase. Now I know I won't have to do that job again, only grease the bushings periodically.

ER parts are of very high build quality and supported very well. It is my feeling you won't be unhappy with anything sourced through ER.

ben parrish · 01-09-2012, 10:37 AM

Decided on ER Polybronze--spoke with Chuck and he helped by answering questions and making suggestions. If you are consdering the purchase...CALL CHUCK!!

flat6pilot · flat6pilot's Garage

Great "commercial" Chuck. Sold!

dgmark · dgmark's Garage

Whenever I talk to Chuck, my charge card does a happy dance .

Carrerax · 01-09-2012, 02:38 PM

I did the ER rubber after watching the video. I did this after just putting in new less expensive (<$50) bushings and took them out before even using them. I still had the A arms on the bench. The other ones came out EXTREMELY easy. Very glad of my decision. With the compression of the new ER ones it is night and day.

Carrerax · 01-09-2012, 02:50 PM

I did the ER rubber after watching the video. I did this after just putting in new less expensive (<$50) bushings and took them out before even using them. I still had the A arms on the bench. The other ones came out EXTREMELY easy. Very glad of my decision. With the compression of the new ER ones it is night and day.

DG624 · 01-09-2012, 03:33 PM

I was interested in the Elephant parts but want to know about the additional mounting parts. The control arm mounts. I had my front suspension recently fixed with new body panels.

Factory mounting points (stamped sheet metal) are imprecise at best and can be substantially off due to frontal impacts, pot holes, or suspension pan replacement. If the mounts are not collinear, the control arm will bind with any performance bushing compound or bearing.

How are these parts attached to assure alignment? Do you just bolt them to the body or do you have to have this done by a body shop?