Hello, I just bought a pollygraphite super front end kit from PST. Read the 2 paragrahs on the difference between polyurithane and polygraphite. Wanted to know if anyone has put the graphite kit on their car and if there are noticeable squeeks w/the lithium grease packs installed? Also, I ordered the 1 1/4 in sway bar in the front and a 1inch in the rear. Will the 1 1/4 in in the front have noticeable understeer? Or will it be o.k.? The susp. in the 67' skylark is original so this should make a big difference in the handling. Thanks, RC.
I have their polygraphite setup on my car. And the same sway bars that you bought also. I installed it using their packs of grease and have absolutely no squeaking problems at all. Ride is definitely more firm than rubber. I would say very similar to modern Z28 or T/A. The only problem with the sway bars is in the front. On the passenger side my tire will just touch it when turned all the way. I am running 245/60R15's and the front is lowered 1" or so, so that may be the cause there. Car handles great. I love chasing Camaros and Firebirds up on-ramps getting on the highways. Then I just blow by them once I get on the highway. It's great looking at their faces as you drive around them in a 33-year old car. As to over/understeer, my car does weigh 4100 lbs and has a fair amount of torque. If you're in a corner and give it enough gas, you can induce oversteer quite easily. I don't drive hard into corners, so understeer (when front end breaks loose) really hasn't been an issue. But car is very stable under most road conditions. But I did build mine more for the quarter mile and not autocrossing. You could also ask dr on this board (Dave Reber). He was out with me last Friday in my car. I'm sure he could give you an unbiased opinion on it. Phil
I bought one of these for my Chevy truck and had installed at a spring and alignment shop. Squeeks like no tomorrow and rides like a lumber wagon also hard to steer. Other than that I was more than happy to throw away $600 on useless repairs that will have to be done again to repair the new problems. I will be going back to rubber replacements and replacing all of the low quality ball joints and tie rod ends with moog quality parts. I would never do this again, even without the squeeks for a daily driver. I thought it was cool for about 2 days until it got old, it does handle curves better than it used to though. I do drive alot, about 12000 miles since Middle of June when this was done. For a cruiser or weekend ride that sees a few thousand miles a year it may be OK.
I installed a set on a 72 442 and had 1 wheel squeek all the time. I took it back apart and greased everything again and it still squeaked. The car handled much better in the curves, but it was annoying. Duane
Squeeks be gone! Put poly-graphite on my car 4 years ago and for a month no squeeks. Then SQUEEK-0-RAMA!!! Tried pulling some of the arms back down to re-apply grease but it was more grief than I was willing to put up with. Thought about it a sec. and remembered that one of the benefits of the poly is that they resist oils, salt, etc etc... So out comes the can of Mobil-1 spray lube. Soaked all the bushings down. No squeeks for a month. Soaked again at first sign of squeeks and now 4 years later I haven't had 1 squeek. (no more applications of lube either) Moral of the story... Go find a can of Mobil-1 spray. As for the ride I think those of you that feel the bushings firm things up so much are just the "sensitive type". If you want the car to be cushy put some cheap shocks on it and go find tires with nylon (non steel belted) sidewalls. That will add some MAJOR CUSH to your TUSH! There's just not that much give in the bushings. Granted most of our cars won't see 30 years of abuse to wear out the rubber bushings again anyway! regards
I read far too many horror stories about poly squeaking when researching this last year. So, I went with all rubber bushings on my '66 Lark. Now I have excellent handling and no squeaks. Did 1 1/8" in front and 1" in rear sway bars. Performs very well.
I bought the full Poly kit (still in the box-not ready to install yet) I was thinking to mix in some stock rubber in place of the upper and lower control arm bushings. Just those are not too expensive and may be worth a try just to get the best of both worlds. If all the joints, ends and sways are polygraphite with stock upper and lower, it might just do the trick. I definately don't want my ride so stiff that my coffee sloshes around too much..lol what do you guys think?
Nick, I was wrong in my previous posting, as I do have polygraphite bushings for my sway bars. Your proposed mixed poly-rubber setup sounds good to me.
I got a similar kit for a 65 ElCamino. Same size sway bars. Also got new springs and cut them a bit and ran 50 series tires. That car handled like a champ. I commuted to work on a winding mountain road here in Santa Cruz. No problem keeping up with anyone I wanted to. A bit of understeer in hard corners off the throttle, easily reversed to oversteer on the throttle. It did squeak though. Polygraphite was 'supposed' to not squeak, but it sure did. Wish I knew about the Mobil 1 spray. I personally did not think the car was too harsh. With 1" cut new stock springs, KYB high pressure shocks, and lowish profile tires it still felt pretty compliant to me and the roads here are terrible. Rest of the suspension was all new Moog such as rod ends, ball joints, etc. When I sold the car a few years later it was all still in good shape and I was NOT easy on it.
Thanks for all the replys... Thanks all that replied. I basically wanted to do my front end one time and one time only. Good advice can save hundreds of dollars. Thanks again. Ryan.
I rebuilt with rubber 5 years ago and just this last year I got a squeak. I think its because I torqued the arms on with the car in the air. I sprayed a little lube on it and it was quiet for a month. I have polyurethane swaybar bushing and mounts along with Monroe sense-a-track shocks and I am very happy with the handling and performance from such an elephant.
