Body Bushings

Ten years ago I bought a fabulous 1996 Roadmaster sedan with the DynaRide suspension. Its ride was very mushy with lots of body lean. Venerated auto parts man Dal Slabaugh recommended and sold me a set of body bushings which, along with the addition of used SS Impala sway bars fixed it right up.

I am now the proud owner of a sweet 1996 Roadmaster wagon. It has the Grand Touring Suspension and I have no complaints. My question is this: Do body bushings ever need replaced? How does one know and what should they be replaced with?

Thanks,

Russ

On your standard car that lasts 10-15 years and 150,00 miles, no, not generally, but these old B body's are going on 20 years old, and rubber does brakes down even in good conditions. So a quick inspection of all the bushing might be a good idea at this point. You're going to look for major cracking, or split in the rubber. Dried out rubber, rotted inner bushing sleeves (look for deformed bushings).

At this point GM doesn't have many factory replacement parts left, so you will have to go to the aftermarket for new bushings, maybe someone else can direct you to rubber replacements, all I know about are the poly replacements, and those may be too harsh for what you are looking for.

I replaced all my body bushings on my '94 Buick Roadmaster about 5 years ago with GM factory replacement mixture for my wagon, and a police Caprice car (9C1) the bushing set made a huge improvement.

Can anyone direct me to rubber body bushings?

Thanks,

Russ

rjathon wrote:

Ten years ago I bought a fabulous 1996 Roadmaster sedan with the DynaRide suspension. Its ride was very mushy with lots of body lean. Venerated auto parts man Dal Slabaugh recommended and sold me a set of body bushings which, along with the addition of used SS Impala sway bars fixed it right up.

I am now the proud owner of a sweet 1996 Roadmaster wagon. It has the Grand Touring Suspension and I have no complaints. My question is this: Do body bushings ever need replaced?  How does one know and what should they be replaced with?

Thanks,

Russ

Russ,
Did Dal have you replace the body mount bushings or sway bar and end link bushings?
From your comments, it sounds like you did sway bar and end link bushings.
Along with the SS bars, that would completely transform the handling.

Dal sold me new body bushings. I bought the Impala SS sway bars from a guy who put even bigger aftermarket sway bars on his car. The combination improved handling a lot yet the ride is still very nice.

My wagon seems ok but since it is so old I wonder if new rubber bushings might improve the ride.

The last I knew Dal no longer sells parts. I miss him.

Russ

I agree with 200OZ.
With the age of these vehicles, all the body mount bushings are probably overdue for replacement.

It's interesting that there was a big handling improvement with the body mount changes.
Looks like another project for my 1988 Estate!

i used a energy suspension kit and then ordered the couple missing bushings to make it like a 9c1 kit. they make a 9c1 kit but it is harder bushings and the regular car kit is suppose to be not as hard but missing the bushings the 9c1 kit has. here are some links to impala forum that have info. also if you go to remove the body bolts spay them a couple days ahead of time with pb blaster. you can get new bolts at dealer all except 2 of the bolts. the 2 shortest can not get anymore

http://www.impalassforum.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=255855

i can double check the missing bushing part # if u get a kit from energy suspension. i put there kit on my car worked great

I gleaned this from the Impala SS thread: http://www.energysuspensionparts.com/proddetail.asp?prod=3.4145#

I've emailed them about using them in our wagons and will let you know what they say.

Russ

Wondering if there's an update on a source for body isolation bushings for a Roadmaster Wagon? Thanks for any reply!