I heard someone mention them a while back and now I am wondering exactly how practical are they?

For heavy vibration dampening bushings, such as engine / transmission, rubber will be best.. but what about for certain suspension bushings? I keep busting a certain polyurethane bushing in my front control arms (the pivot point where the control arms mount to the chassis) and now I am getting abit curious if a brass bushing could substitute. Anyone have experience with this?

Road noise and vibration is not an issue for me.

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It's not leaking oil, it's sweating power!

You can have it re-made from polyurethane by Rodney's Machine Shop, Garth Road, closer to Williamsville side.
Rodney - 366-3489

You need to be mindful of the design of the bushing. Some bushings need to flex, like the 2000 Mazda 323 below. You will not be able to use solid stiff bushings (brass/teflon)with this design.


This one, from a 2003 US spec Sentra, does not need to flex as the pivot points are on the same axis.


Teflon bushings (available at many machine shops, Apex in Gasparillo comes to mind) have a very harsh ride. You will also need to change your cradle arms instead of changing bushings, so know what you are possibly getting into wrt maintenance.

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I have pivot bushings on my control arm..



Looking at the design, I doubt the ride comfort with significantly degrade to the point of me damaging other stuff, plus I have upgraded ball joints on the arm, so they can take a beating.

I've never dealt with Teflon, so I have no clue what that material is like, will look into it..

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It's not leaking oil, it's sweating power!

From the angle, I cannot tell accurately if those two pivot points are on the same axis.
It appears to me that they are not...but have a look and verify with a line and a level.
If and only if they are on the same axis, you will be able to use solid bushings (brass or teflon).

If the pivots are on different axes, and you use solid bushings, that arm is not going to move anymore...

_________________
Amsoil, Redline, Royal Purple, Luberfiner
Diesel & Gasoline Injector Servicing
Valvoline, Delo & Preventative Maintenance
734-7669

They are on the same axis with each other.

_________________
It's not leaking oil, it's sweating power!

Do you install the bushings yourself? Or is a shop doing it for you?
P/U bushings fail for a very few reasons, the primary one being a lack of proper lubrication. Secondly,if the suspension is tightened up unloaded, the weight of the vehicle when placed on the ground will preload the bushing setting it up for failure. Thirdly poor quality bushings: there are many manufacturers and not many quality ones. If they were cheap to buy then they may just be that, cheap.
From what you said I think one of these issues may be what you are dealing with. I have seen it many times.
Whatever you do DO NOT put Brass (Sintered Bronze) on your daily driver suspension it will destroy the weld joints of the car over a period of time. You will begin to hear squeaks and rattles which you will never be able to find.

DIS

what about teflon?

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I got a look at a Teflon bushings for the 1st time yesterday and it is exactly what i need. The Teflon bushings appears similar to polyurethane but are much harder. Most good machine shops can take a piece of solid Teflon (expensive) and machine that down into whatever shape you require..

For pivot point bushings, Teflon would be ok.. Bushings where small flex is required, Teflox would be a bad idea..

_________________
It's not leaking oil, it's sweating power!

be mindful with use teflon actually begins to wear the metal so it slides out of the hole it is in

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Teflon are real agressive for everyday driving....

as cinco said you will get wear where you don't want