Wayne (cjd777) and I replaced the upper control arm bushings in my wife's 2006 XK8 with polyurethane ones sourced from the UK in early January 2016. I paid just under $80 for the set and it took two to three weeks for them to show up in my mailbox. The car had just under 99,000 miles on it when we did that job. We also installed the Welsh poly upper shock mounts and new Bilstein shocks at the same time. The car's ride and handling improved dramatically and remains much-improved as the car now approaches 118,000 miles. My wife complained of some slight creaking for a week or so at initial take-off as the poly components settled in, but those noises all disappeared within two weeks and have never returned even in 15-degree weather (we liberally lubed all of the poly components with the correct grease during installation). I would not hesitate to install poly suspension components in your XKR....

 

+1with Jon. I've noticed improved handling, no noise at all within bushes life (worn ones got noisy).

FWIW : I had a sealed pack of poly bushes on the shelf from years ago. I noticed the rear stabilizer power flex bushes compressed a lot after just 1 year. Had a new stabilizer link to install, decided to replace these bushes at same time.

the height of the sealed off the shelf Energy bushes' was perfect, but the mounting hole was too small. Decided to experiment. Clamped the individual Bush with a vice grip, turned on the drill and enlarged the hole. It was easy to do.

Fits great, feels every bit as good as power flex, they still look great after many months, and I couldn't have paid more than $20 for the pack. It was a good ending.

I think you will be happy with the poly bushes.

John

 

Here's the link. I remembered the name and did a quick search. Prices still same (dirt cheap), I can now attest they work just fine and hold up as long as the polyflex brand for me.


like I said, for sandwiched applications just match the height. You can drill out the I/D (inner diameter).

John

John

 

Thanks! Is it because of the hefty weight of these cars that the NVH is barely affected compared to the Civic my brother talked about?

 

Years ago I rebushed my '79 Corvette with Polygraphite bushings. The claim was that the graphite impregnating wold avoid the squeaking inherent with plain poly bushings. Do not know if the ones today all have graphite in them or not. The bushings that I installed were the best thing I had done to the Vette. It rode like it was on rails. I would expect similar results with a Jag

 

I'm also in the process of replacing bushings on my Xkr coupe 2000 year model, I go for poly only in the front upper shock mount, elsewhere I choose rubber/standard type of bushing. For ball joints when possible I go for a slightly bigger tap size to increase strenght.
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Have a Bmw 130i that now has got Powerflex Black Series bushings throughout the front end. Yes, it gives knife edge sharp feeling to the front end but also quite a bit of noise and less ride comfort. The BMW I mainly use for trackdays so I'm very happy with the result. But I wouldnt do it on a car the is mainly used on the road.

Then again, I understand that if you pick the right bushings for change to poly and leave the rest with rubber, you should come out well. Like only using poly for upper front shock mount and upper control arms as well as anti roll bars. But use rubber for the remainder. It has all been done before, always listen to the ones that already did the trail and error part

 

It largely depends on the quality of bushes.... Powerflex offer road ones that should not increase NVH but still have the benefits of poly ie: performance and longetivity, then they offer track ones which are more solid and WILL increase NVH.
Using the road bushes your ride should not feel any harsher but more direct.
Fitted correctly you shouldnt hear any noise or creaks
free delivery over here on powerflex Powerflex Bushes

 

 

There is always a trade-off between comfort and performance, what you need to do is deciding what to achieve with the change. If you replace your rubber bushings with poly bushings you will inevitably lose ride comfort and gain control due to better maintained geometry

 

"Last time I ordered from Powerflex, it was for the sway bar bushes and they sent the race spec bushes instead of the road spec bushes. I’m guessing they did that for a reason?"
Depends on what you ordered i guess.... some of the Road Purple boxes do have black bushes in them if they have decided that is the correct "shure" (spelling) rating for the application

THe road ARB bushes wont have any increased NVH