I am going to do some rear suspension upgrades on my 5th Gen Elky. I ordered rear adjustable upper control arms and boxed lower control arms with polyurethane (greasable) bushings. According to the Global West website the urethane bushings are a no-no on a street car because they don't flex enough for good handling-they bind up. I am more interested in street handling than drag strip performance. Do any of you guys have recommendations/experience? I already have Edelbrock IAS shocks, lowering springs, airbags, sway bar, 17X8 wheels with Nitto 275/55 tires and it handles way better than before but I wanted to see if I can improve it even more.

I have had poly bushings for a few years now with no problems at all.

I've had the poly bushings both front and rear for several years and love them. They did improve the cars handling and I've had no squeaking problems.

Run the poly on the street! It's a world of difference!

Run the poly on the street! It's a world of difference!I've got the poly body mounts too...Drives like it's on rails!

I am going to do some rear suspension upgrades on my 5th Gen Elky. I ordered rear adjustable upper control arms and boxed lower control arms with polyurethane (greasable) bushings. According to the Global West website the urethane bushings are a no-no on a street car because they don't flex enough for good handling-they bind up. I am more interested in street handling than drag strip performance. Do any of you guys have recommendations/experience? I already have Edelbrock IAS shocks, lowering springs, airbags, sway bar, 17X8 wheels with Nitto 275/55 tires and it handles way better than before but I wanted to see if I can improve it even more.

Not sure I agree with what they say on their website about poly urethane, never have seen, or heard of their De-a-Lum's (or whatever they call them.) You have to remember it is a sales tactic to downplay the competition.

Regardless, in my personal experience, Poly Urethane works great on my El Caminos, and I haven't experienced any "bind."

I have use Poly Graphites in a street application as well, and, well, they stink, and do bind and are very noisy.

With the Poly bushings you'll have less flex in the rear than you would with factory rubber. If that is a bad thing then Poly bushings are bad I suppose.

They could create a situation when your rear end hops a little more but doing what you are doing )and I'd suggest changing up the pinion angle a little to between 4 and 5 degrees) it should give you a bit better hook up than you have now. I think factory setting on the pinion angle is like 2 or 3. You should also consider adding a rear stabilizer.

Thanks for the help guys. I am going to go ahead and put the poly bushings on. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with the 3 point rear suspension from the Buick GNX? I understand that someone makes a reproduction of that suspension and I'm assuming that it could be installed on a 5th Gen. Hot Rods to Hell also makes a 3 point suspension kit and I've seen a couple of magazine articles on installs--it looks kinda ugly but evidently works great.

Hey acauth1, aren't poly urethane and poly graphite basically the same thing other than the graphite impregnated thingamastuff?

www.kirbanperformance.com for GNX rear suspension, you must have an 8.5" rearend for it to work. Looks impressive, but when you consider the expense of an 8.5" rearend, plus the price of this kit, I think that the money could be better spent on some other setup, possibly using a 9" Ford housing. I contacted Kirban Performance about buying parts of this suspension, they were not at all helpful stating that I had to buy the entire kit. However if you already have an 8.5" rearend then hmmmm......! 8)

Mike I have never driven a GNX but in talking to someone who has he told me the difference in handling and traction compared to a four link is amazing, a Ford 9" would be stronger than my 7.5" 10 bolt but it wouldn't make the car handle or accelerate any better. Also on the web site it appears that the kit doesn't include the rear end housing, only the special cover, which is one trick piece. I don't consider the price of the kit exorbitant and if I could find a 8.5" rear axle at a reasonable price I just might do the conversion.

Hey, Make sure to keep poly bushings greased and you will have no squeaking problems. The traction and handling are improved but the ride can be a little rougher. Of coarse to take advantage of the rear bushings you should do the front end, body bushings, frt. and rear sway bars, Qk ratio steering box, springs and fat tires. It will handle like a Vette.

Hey, Make sure to keep poly bushings greased and you will have no squeaking problems.
The trick to preventing squeaking polyurethane bushings is to disassemble the new bushing, sleeve, and shell and liberally lubricate all parts with the synthetic silicone grease that comes with the bushing kit. Then install them. I've installed several sets of bushings this way and none of them ever squeaked. Lots of guys find the grease in the box after they've installed a few of the bushings. Duh!

Ernie
You must have gotten a much better set of bushings than I did. The Energy Suspension ones that I got had a grease packet that was about the size of a McDonalds ketchup pack. I couldn't "liberally" coat one bushing, none the less eight. I used Amsoils' Marine grease & haven't had a squeek yet. Jon

The Energy Suspension ones that I got had a grease packet that was about the size of a McDonalds ketchup pack.
I bought an eight ounce tub of the Formula 5 prelube from JEGS. It was only about $11-12.

You can buy the sticky teflon grease now. I think i saw it at Pep boys.