MOOG TPR Bushing Woes

[Racer X]

I don't have pics right now, but my new (like less than 4000 miles new) TPR are compressed, and moving about in the receiver cups.

These are the tension rod to subframe bushings I'm having issue with. I installed them about 4000 miles ago, a few weeks before I went to Gingerman in Michigan. I did a track day there, with plenty of hard acceleration, corrnering, and braking (I have a 13" Cobra brake upgade on the car). I'm back in NYC now, and I've noticed a bit of play, and some alignment issues, so I took a look while I was changing the oil tonight, and I'll be damned if there wasn't play. The bushings were compressed to the point where they just weren't applying any pressure to the subframe at all. In fact, there was a discernable gap, and I was able to articulate the rod with the bushings by hand.

Is there a material that won't compress and stay that way? Dfferent install technique?

Thanks all.

 

[GR8WYT]

Crap. And after I sweated blood to get Moog TPR bushings into my car prior to Seattle. I know Lance Cheney had mentioned "cold flow" with TPR, I guess it's happening.

Does Ford still stock their red bushing for the TSR to subframe rear? Perhaps combining that with the Moog front might be better? Or maybe it's back to Energy poly bushings... *sigh*

 

[techi14]

I am having issues as well with these. Only like 3k miles on em. Only the pass side though.

 

[nkb93]

My Moog bushings were totally shot after 10k miles of normal driving with a few autox events mixed in. The mushroom shaped bushing was basically torn in two right at the 'head' of the mushroom. I wonder how they can tout this stuff as being high performance, as it clearly is much worse than the stock parts that went over 100k with less damage.

I replaced them with a set of Energy Suspension bushings a few thousand miles ago that seem to be holding up well. Holding them in your hand, the ES bushings feel much more resilient. I always thought the TPR bushings felt like pencil erasers, although I think pencil erasers may do a better job.

 

[Phoenix]

Energy susp. here , so far so good.

 

[Racer X]

****. That was like $70 in bushings that are shit now.

Who carries the Energy Suspension bushings for our car?

 

[K-Dawg]

IIRC, SDPatt made a good thread on this within the past few months.

 

[NJSHO]

I had the same thing happen to the front of my car. I did notice that when I ordered replacements that there was a new design for the front. When I used the new design with the subframe repair kit they seemed to fit much better. Oh I should also mention that the bushing I used the first time were black and I was told they were TPR (even though Ive never seen black tpr anyplace else) the redesigned bushing I put in last year were blue.

Poly is prone to "cold flow" as well Im pretty sure.

 

[Phoenix]

****. That was like $70 in bushings that are shit now.

Who carries the Energy Suspension bushings for our car?

Ultrarev has that. They sell the front and rear (strut rod bushings) in 2 separate kits. Its like 15 bucks per kit , 30 and you do the whole car.

 

[JEM]

Ultrarev has that. They sell the front and rear (strut rod bushings) in 2 separate kits. Its like 15 bucks per kit , 30 and you do the whole car.

The following is based on screwdriver analysis and personal opinion, not actual testing with a durometer, but...

For the front of the front strut rods, the stock Ford red urethane/rubber 'hybrid' set is the best, by far; if you've got a set in good condition don't toss 'em. They're harder than the Energy Suspension bushings (if not quite as hard as the Moog TPR) and they don't cold-flow like the Moogs (or at least nowhere near as fast.) On the black car I combined the Ford red urethane rear half with an ES front half IIRC and this may be a good way to go if you can lay your hands on the ES bushings reasonably cheaply.

For the control-arm end of the strut rods, I ran the Moogs, but I know 'cold flow' has been a problem with those for years. There was a SHO-specific factory bushing for this location but it's probably long NLA by now. I don't know what else is out there.

But all that's academic for me now with the Gen 3 subframe, I need some head-to-head testing of whether the Gen 4 front control arm bushings are better than the Gen 3 parts

For the rear suspension the ES urethane strut rod bushings are probably the best bet. They're firmer than the stock rubber, but softer than the TPR. I had a set in my black '91 and they worked well. I should have kept them when I scrapped the car. I've got the Moog TPR in the back of the white car now, they haven't been in there all that long. They are quite hard, though, and I'm contemplating going to the ES bushings to see if they'd reduce 'road rumble' coming through the rear suspension.

A quick update - I just ordered myself a set of ES bushings for the rear strut rods. From amazon.com, of all places. $20 and change, eligible for their free rots-in-a-post-office-until-a-mule-is-going-your-way shipping once you get to $25. Further update - supposedly they shipped today via UPS ground.

 

[SHOtimer]

I had the same problem, 20-30k of normal street driving and they were clunking and had a lot of gap. I purchased the stock Moog bushings - they had much more material (they were black rubber), and were not as hard as the blue TPR, but did not job and are holding up great.

Doug

 

[sdpatt]

Here is that referenced topic. I had the same problem with the Moog TPR strut rod bushings and the link discusses my solution with pictures.

 

[GR8WYT]

Does anyone have the part number for the OEM bushing referred to in this post? Like an idiot, I threw mine away in 2004 when I changed all the bushings to Poly.

 

[Racer X]

I'll have pictures later, but suffice it to say, I'm never buying MOOG TPR again.

In addition to the cold flow issues, the rear cup washer inverted on itself.

The bushings now have 0 elasticity, and are useless.

 

[K-Dawg]

By rear, do you mean in the rear suspension or on the back side of the bushing in the front suspension?

 

[Racer X]

Backside of the subframe bushing cup... the cup that holds the rear facing bushing. The washer that goes behind that bushing was severely distorted. Comparing it to the washer that came with the energy suspension kit, the Moog is about 60% of the thickness of the ES washer.

I have half a mind to send these things back to Moog with my receipt and ask for a refund.