Vintage Rubber vs Poly for 140 front suspension

Maybe it's been covered, but it isn't coming up on my searches.

1971 145S, bone stock. No slamming, keeping all original down to the 165 width pizza cutter tires

I want to rebuild the front suspension on the 140. Eyeing VP's poly & rubber bushing kits- they're about the same price. Can anyone speak to the quality of either?

My concern with the rubber is the concern I have with any rubber bushing- quality. With this type of bushing, it twists as the suspension travels. Poor rubber formulation or poor bonding to the sleeve can cause the bushing to fail prematurely, as is seen on less reputable rubber bushing brands.

My concern with poly is noise. On every poly bushing I've installed in my other cars, I try to install a zerk fitting to keep the bushing lubricated and quiet. It's looking like that may be difficult to do for the 140.

The consensus I have seen is poly for the upper A arms and sway bars, rubber for the lower arms.

I ended up with IPD's bushing set as it was cheaper than VP's at the time, but with their sale on rubber stuff right now... I am not sure how much their polyurethane differs other than the color.

I haven't experienced noise in the poly upper A arm bushings on my 122. The rear end squeaks a lot. Zerk fittings are in my future. I am also sticking with stock height and running 165 tires.

I think the front end arrangement is almost the same between the 122 and 140.

You're definitely looking at 2 different worlds. Cheap rubber, the rubber or the bonding will fail, cheap poly will harden and crack, or squeak.

I've had Superpro poly all over the 140 for ages, still doesn't squeak, but it was greased up at install, with the good stuff as well.

Not knowing a brand of poly from VP, I'd be cautious, as the cheap poly only makes you want to replace it down the road. I've yet to see Superpro poly turn to plastic, but I've seen plenty of other brands that get hard enough to crack just like plastic. That also causes a decline in ride quality and an increase in noise as it hardens.

I agree with Gary. The quality of the materials makes a huge difference. I installed some cheap poly bushings on accessory mounts and they failed within a year, hard as plastic. I bought super pro (from Gary it just so happens) for my 240 suspension bushings and they’re still in great shape 4 years later. What I can tell you is that no matter what you replace your bushings with, the job of removing the old ones sucks!

IIRC, the only rubber bushings that will last longer than a few months are OEM Volvo which are more expensive than the Poly bushings, so I went with poly because it’s cheaper and an upgrade.

What are your thoughts about polyurethane bushings for the lower A arms on 140s and Amazons?

Lando said:

I agree with Gary. The quality of the materials makes a huge difference. I installed some cheap poly bushings on accessory mounts and they failed within a year, hard as plastic. I bought super pro (from Gary it just so happens) for my 240 suspension bushings and they?re still in great shape 4 years later. What I can tell you is that no matter what you replace your bushings with, the job of removing the old ones sucks!

IIRC, the only rubber bushings that will last longer than a few months are OEM Volvo which are more expensive than the Poly bushings, so I went with poly because it?s cheaper and an upgrade.

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Well, accessory bushings are subject to way more heat than suspension bushings, so maybe not the fairest comparison.

And I don't think OE front rubber bushings are available for the 140, and even if they were, i'd still have to question the quality (see bluebox volvo 240 upper spring seats)

IansPlatinum said:

Well, accessory bushings are subject to way more heat than suspension bushings, so maybe not the fairest comparison.

And I don't think OE front rubber bushings are available for the 140, and even if they were, i'd still have to question the quality (see bluebox volvo 240 upper spring seats)

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Well I’ve got better quality poly bushings installed for my accessories and they have also lasted years. Go super pro, don’t waste you money on anything else. Also it sounds like you answered your own question, if there isn’t anything available in rubber but cheap garbage for your 140, sounds like you better get on the horn with Gary and get some poly.

Just skip the rubber and go Superpro poly. I've had full poly in my 122 for years and never had an issue. Pretty sure it was just whatever IPD sold and not even superpro.

IPD has been selling some Superpro stuff over the years actually. The dark purple is Superpro, the blue is their house brand, not sure who currently makes it.

Regarding poly in the lowers, I've had absolutely no issue with poly upper and lower in the 140. Superpro 1698's are the upper's, 1699's are the lowers.