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Where do you find grease for poly bushes?

Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 10:37 pm
by manga_blue
My Superpros have been on for 4 years and they're bound up so much the suspension hardly moves. I need to remove and regrease them all.

My research says that only fully synthetic silicone grease is suitable (the sticky white stuff). Where do you find it?

Re: Where do you find grease for poly bushes?

Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 10:57 pm
by zossy1
Try calling Fulcrum Superpro - 07 3892 9000

That grease is horrible stuff! But wow, it works!

Re: Where do you find grease for poly bushes?

Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 11:45 pm
by Hellmun
Pedders regreased mine last year. So I assume they have the white stuff in stock.

Re: Where do you find grease for poly bushes?

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 12:01 am
by manga_blue
Thanks guys, will try both.

Re: Where do you find grease for poly bushes?

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 1:18 pm
by Steampunk
This is probably of little help but I've experienced two different greases. The first is that white stuff you mentioned, which Whiteline and Racing Beat provide with their products.

The other is a less opaque, grey-ish substance that is considerably more viscous, which Energy Suspension provide.

How are you going to re-grease them? remove them and do it the hard way? Or do SuperPro's bullet grooves allow for on-car regreasing?
If the former, are you thinking of installing Zerk nipples to make things easier next time?

Re: Where do you find grease for poly bushes?

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 2:39 pm
by manga_blue
Planning on full remove and reassemble. I'm swapping springs so some arms need to come off anyway. Also need to do a new alignment.

I don't understand how zerks would work in this situation. As far as I know the bushes work by allowing the inner sleeve to turn within the crosshatched inside face of the bushes. Zerks would only help lube the control arm to outer bush face zone which doesn't need grease anyway. Or is there a way to get zerks to feed the inner sleeve?

Re: Where do you find grease for poly bushes?

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 4:25 pm
by Steampunk
Hmmm... good question. Perhaps the zerks were recommended by Energy Suspension because their control arm bushes come in two pieces, so when you regrease them with the zerks, it will push the grease on the outside and inside of the bushes.
Forget the zerks then :)

Re: Where do you find grease for poly bushes?

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 11:16 pm
by manga_blue
My Superpros are all 2 piece as well. Andrew, I suppose you could drill through the control arm sleeve and part way into the bush material, then run a finer pilot style hole right down through the bush to the inner sleeve. Then you'd use the zerk to lock the poly bush with the zerk over the pilot hole ... but in reality I think Murphy's Law would prevail.

Or maybe Energy are right and, if the zerk is over the seam between the 2 bushes then grease will be forced all the way in. Have to think about that a bit more.

Re: Where do you find grease for poly bushes?

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 11:37 pm
by Steampunk
I've been trying to remember exactly what the deal was when I helped Mr Starlet install his bushes and zerks. I am 99.9% certain that we didn't drill into the bush itself, and the instructions did not state to do so.

I think at the time I didn't even think twice about how the grease is going to get into the inner surface of the bush, where the actual friction between moving parts occur.

Anyway... I think what I'm trying to get at is if I were you, I would research as much as I can on the best grease to use with the priority of it lasting as long as possible. That white stuff just seems to slough off too easily whereas that grey-snott-looking stuff was really REALLY sticky (kinda like Vasoline but less slippery)

Re: Where do you find grease for poly bushes?

Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 11:02 pm
by manga_blue
OK, so it looks like I should get the Energy Suspension grease somehow.

BTW I just searched their website. It seems that the only greaseable fittings they sell are sway bar bushes. These have a zerk in the bracket over a hole in the bush that leads down to channels on the inner face. They can do it with sway bars because the bushes are D-shaped. For everything else they recommend removing the bush and paying special attention to greasing the inner face of the bush and the inner sleeve.

Re: Where do you find grease for poly bushes?

Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 1:05 pm
by trader
I'm glad I haven't put my bushes in before reading this thread. I have them sitting in the shed waiting for a rainy day. I now intend to put zerks in - drill a hole and groove the inner surface of the bush with my new xmas present - dremel).

Re: Where do you find grease for poly bushes?

Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 3:58 pm
by Mr Morlock
I would have thought Bursons would stock synthetic grease or check the websites for oil co's for a suitable product. I leaned one thing about synthetic grease ( or any grease for that matter) is not to put it in the window channel.

Re: Where do you find grease for poly bushes?

Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 6:26 pm
by Steampunk
manga_blue wrote:OK, so it looks like I should get the Energy Suspension grease somehow.

BTW I just searched their website. It seems that the only greaseable fittings they sell are sway bar bushes. .


Yeah I saw that too, but it seems like a bit of a redundant exercise as those D bushes are by far the easiest to remove/replace, so the zerks (to me anyways) seem like a waste of effort in this instance.
Mr Starlet installed zerks on the upper and lower control arm bushes only.

Re: Where do you find grease for poly bushes?

Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 7:02 pm
by tbro
Hmmmm, drilling into suspension components, gee thats a smart idea!!!!!!

Love to see the look on an engineers face if you were trying to get that approved. :roll: :roll:

Re: Where do you find grease for poly bushes?

Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 8:28 pm
by Mr Morlock
Should poly bushes need greasing given that there are no grease nipples? Most of us ie cars no longer get a grease and oil change.