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Energy Suspension Polyurethane Bushings On Project CrossTime Miata
By
Shawn Brereton February 13, 2020Whether you have a new or old car, there is one change you can make to help your vehicle handle better on the street or track. We’re talking about upgrading old, worn-out rubber bushings to performance polyurethane. With 189,000 miles on our
Project CrossTime Miata, it was time to make the switch.
No matter the type of driving you are doing, consistency and predictability are vital to safety and making good lap times. If the suspension isn’t up to the task, you are leaving a lot on the table. We turned to
Energy Suspension, the world’s largest manufacturer of performance and polyurethane automotive components for this upgrade. Follow along as we take you through the highlights of making the change on CrossTime.
We won’t sugarcoat it; this is not an easy process. Those old bushings will probably fight you every step of the way. The good news is, once you get the old ones out, the Energy Suspension bushings are easy to install.
CrossTime goes under the knife to get performance polyurethane bushings installed.
Gaining Some Energy
So, why Energy? You don’t become an expert at something by trying to do everything. Instead, you concentrate on one thing and become the best at it. More than 30 years ago, Energy Suspension decided to specialize in only polyurethane. Today, it sits as the leader in the industry. Manufacturing everything in-house in San Clemente, California, the engineers at Energy pride themselves on continually innovating, developing, and formulating new applications to fit the most popular models, both import and domestic.
We chose to use Energy Suspension for this upgrade because we really like the kit it offers for our NA (1996) Miata. The
Hyper-Flex Master Kit (P/N: 11.18102R) includes every bushing we needed to upgrade our project car. Hyper-Flex is Energy Suspension’s unique and technically advanced chemical formulation performance polyurethane. Performance is the keyword here — there are other replacement bushings on the market that don’t stand up to the years of abuse Hyper-Flex bushings are designed to take.
We ordered the Energy Suspension Hyper-Flex Master Kit, which includes all of the polyurethane suspension bushings for our 1996 Miata project car. The bushings come in your choice of red or black.
If your rubber bushings have any years on them, chances are they’ve given up, and your alignment is changing on the fly. Not good in any situation — but especially bad in a race situation. But why does this happen? We asked Energy Suspension Marketing Manager, Kyle Martin, for his insight.