Rear bushings

[Maine]

I need to replace the rear bushings in my 2004 Arc.

I need 2 of the forward main bushings on the trailering arm, Saab #12781136 and I see that TheSaabSite has them for $9.50 each while everyone else has them listed for $30+ each- anyone buy these from them yet? Seems a bit off for an OEM part no less.

Also I need 4 of the rear trailering arm bushings, I found a cross to Moog K200068 for those, $11 each at rockauto.

Any other bushings to do while I am back there? Or any cheaper sources for them?

[david bartlett]

Maine,

I did the big bushings on my 9-5 about a year ago with the $9.50 parts. No complaints as of yet. I did not replace any of the others at the time and so far everything is ok.

Tires are wearing evenly, which was the reason for the bushing change in the first place.

[5XSaabOwner]

I just upgraded my worn out front control arm bushes. Not being a mechanic, and not wanting to spend shop money to remove the old bushes, I took this task on myself. (See platonoffs tutorial), but I bought a pair of OEM replacements (the large ones) and had them installed while I followed the tutorial to get the old bushes out and replace them with Powerflex polys. Don't forget to grease them before inserting!

Not having a heavy duty hack saw, or vice, I had to get friends to help out. It took a couple weeks.

What I learned driving during that time was the OEMs didn't help handling one bit. BUT, as soon as I drove the car away after the polys were installed, it was clear what a huge improvement polys are over OEM.

I plan replacing the rears with Powerflex, and adding a set of aero sway bars that I picked up through our classifieds. FYI, my almost new bushes are for sale there, too.

[MacNoob]

I can't believe how cheap those things are getting to be. eeuroparts has them for $35 now. Saabsite for $9.50 and they say they are OEM!!! I think the first time I bought those I paid about $90 each for them and that was the best price around.

[5XSaabOwner]

Be mindful that the rear Front Control Bush is a bush pressed inside an aluminum housing which bolts to the suspension.

The bush is cheap, but it takes a lot of work to remove the old and insert the new OEM bush. Once installed you will need an alignment.

My recent experience is the OEM did nothing to improve handling.

If you are going through this exercise, why not upgrade to polys? Mos def worth the money

[Maine]

Thanks for the feedback guys, I searched high and low- where can I get them in poly?

[5XSaabOwner]

powerflex usa.

same ones platonoff uses in his turorial

[MacNoob]

Keep in mind that the powerflex bushings are easy to replace and improve handling at the expense of additional noise and ride harshness - they are more of a performance part. For some people whose Saabs are the family haulers that's a poor tradeoff. For others it might be acceptable.

[5XSaabOwner]

McNoob

This is not my experience. No trade offs, just significantly improved handling

[MacNoob]

My buddy put them in his '99 SE V6 and was complaining about them - removed them in favour of OEM. Haven't tried them myself - I have a press so no big deal to swap OEM bushes for me.

[5XSaabOwner]

The V6s are very front end heavy. I had a 06 Sports Combi Wagon

[Maine]

We are talking the rear suspension here.

Where can I buy Powerflex bushings? Any idea the cost difference?

[5XSaabOwner]

I bought mine from powerflex usa

[RMinNJ]

Maine,

Yeah I just replaced the rear trailing arm bushings (front of the rear trailing arm) (with the powerflex ones) as well as the 4 cross stays (with scantechs/oem...there are some polys for those but they are too pricey).

My cross-stays were not that bad and I notice very little difference from doing them Even after my alignment they did not improve the camber.

The biggest difference was from replacing the trailing arm bushing. They seem to be a wear item on these cars. When cutting the old out I found it to be hollow. While I'm sure it gives a comfortable ride I think that the OEMs are a bad design....the inside edge of the bushing has no outer area and it seems to wear.. My rear toe was way out and my rear tires were wearing badly. I'd like to find the engineer that designed them and send him a bill for tires. ( I think he designed the giant bushing on the front steering rack of the early 9-3s..)

The powerflex rear trailing arms are a bit harsher but are clearly a better design (each side has a lot of area). I can't see them wearing and making my toe go out like the oems. After cutting out the orginals the ease of placing the powerflex in makes them worth every penny. I found them the same price or cheaper than the originals and no
press was needed . (just a lot of sweat and care with a hack saw).

In short, between the cross stays and trailing arm I say the trailing arm is what wears the most and make the biggest difference. Really tightens up the rear.

[valbowski1980]

Why not go with some Polly ones from Powerflex? That way you will never need to change them again.

[Maine]

Looks like the Powerflex ones are $66 each vs the OEM ones from SaabSite at $9.50 each- can't imagine using anything but OEM for that price delta. Plus the OEM ones have gone 150K miles before noticable wear/noise. I got an alignment yesterday and they didn't notice any issues with the rear camber or toe that I am aware of, car rides and drives great its just noisy in the rear.

[Maine]

Just bought the OEM ones from thesaabsite, got 2 of them for $28 including shipping, how can you beat that?

[RMinNJ]

Sorry...I had gotten confused in this thread. As I understand;

I see on the saabsite;part 12781136 is the trailing arm bushing for the rear
suspension. Didn't know it could be had so cheap. That said, one would
need a press to press it in. The Powerflex come in 2 pieces and one places
them in the trailing arm hole. After getting the old one out the ease of simply
placing the powerflex one in makes it worth every penny. But if you have a
press (and the entire rear trailing arm off the car ) then the saabsite part may be possible. But somehow I feel this item is a wear item (and the design or the original may be flawed).

Moog K200068 appear to be the smaller bushing for the front of the front
suspension. Again, I'm not sure how one would press the new bushing in
unless one has a press or tool. Here again, Powerflex makes a 2 piece poly replacement that one just places in.

[Maine]

I hear you, but I have a small hand-held press that runs on hydraulic fluid, so I can get in there and take care of it on the car- at least thats the plan!

[mt.aero]

A little off topic, but Poly for suspension is . Here is a quick tidbit to get you guys thinking about it.

By their very nature and design polyurethane control arm bushing cannot function properly. In a normal rubber bushing the steel center sleeve is locked in place and the rubber a tight press fit on the OD. As the arm moves up and down the rubber twists radially. All the motion is in the rubber shearing, not the most precise system, but it works quite well for street cars, and the rubber lasts a good long time. The downside is sideways deflection under cornering loads.

A polyurethane bushing works in a different manner altogether. The center steel sleeve is still locked in place, so it doesn't move. The OD is allegedly fit tight enough so the poly material doesn't move either. So all the up and down motion causes the poly to rotate around the steel sleeve. So in effect the sleeve is a bearing and the poly outer is the race. Given the physical characteristics of poly, and the realities of making it press fit into the control arm, yet still have a perfectly round hole to act as a bearing race, there are two conditions that are usually achieved.
When first installed the sleeve fits very tightly in the poly outer, which prevents lateral deflection under cornering. However, it also binds the arm so badly that it is virtually impossible to move it up and down, this is called stiction, and results in odd, undesirable handling characteristics. This can be somewhat alleviated with a special lube. After being installed for a while the sleeves typically machine a larger hole..someplace in this process is a "sweet spot" where they actually work okay for a little while. However, as they continue to work, and pick up all sort of lovely "grinding paste" from the outside environment the holes continue to get larger, usually taking on an oblong shape. This, of course, results in a load of lateral deflection when cornering. At some point the outer poly gets loose enough that it starts moving around in the arm itself. After a while this begins to enlarge the hole in the arm-not good.