I have to replace the rear bushes on my Mk-4, apparently a common fault. I’ve been advised by some to go with Poly Bushes and others not too. Having done some research a company called Performance Bushes come recommended. Does anyone have experience using these?
I got the dreaded knock and went with the performance bushes around 15 months ago. My mechanic charged £75 labour and was extremely complimentary of the quality and of the tool that came with the kit.
Zero issues. No qualms at all with recommending.
Many thanks that’s good to know. Sounds like you have a very good value mechanic too, my local garage has quoted 2 hrs - £250. Seems everything is double these days though. Thanks for sharing, I’ll go ahead with them.
Still though, all things considered, in total far better than Mazda’s 2K + or so job for both sides!!
Too true 
Only a few years back they were about £700 a side inc labour. Now about 2.5K for both, even more. I mean, come on. At 1.4K all in, granted that’s a lot of money, but if you’re an ‘OEM man’, and given they are apparently sorted post 2022, you might think ok, I’ll do the Mazda ones. But £2.5K+, silly money for essentially a set of bushes!
Just curious about which bushes in the hub you are describing that knock? The rubber bonded ones, or the bearing covered ones. And what are the changes after 2022? Going to ‘clock’mine when the suspension arrives
The spherical bearing ones. An improved part was apparently done in '22
I did this job yesterday using the Performance bushes kit. A quick drive around the local roads afterwards I can’t hear the rattling I had before. Not a definite test as to whether these bushes have fixed that, a longer test drive needed.
Easy enough to do, follow the video x 2 (upper and lower bush removal/fitting) once you’ve done one side the other is a breeze. The lower bush is more time consuming to get at, follow the video for that.
Are my original bushes goosed, I can’t tell they have a good deal of movement in them (so have the new ones) and I can’t see any splits or perishing. Time will tell of course but at over 10 years old it seemed a worthwhile job to tackle.
These are all the old original bushes.
When I replaced the bushes on my car the original top bushes were less worn than the bottom ones. However it would have been foolish to just replace the bottom ones whilst the car is apart and the old top ones could well wear more rapidly when new bottom ones have been fitted.
Just to provide a little more info on the Performance Bushes kit….
A short test drive the other day after fitting wasn’t really enough to tell if they have fixed the problem. I had rattling from the rear when going over rutted road surfaces. Whether the boot was full or empty it didn’t matter as I thought it was related to being light on the rear end.
Well new bushes fitted we went on a trip up to the Peak District today, gave it a good workout. It’s like driving a different car, a new car even, so smooth over the rougher roads, no knocking or rattles from the rear, success 
i’m in the market for a new bushing set. saw these in the flesh at the weekend. i think i’m overdue a set.
question, which may be obvious, theres about 20 bushngs across the front and rear hubs. why are the performance bushing kit only a set of 4?
Why would i not get myself a set of polybushing from mx5parts, for example? as that seems to be the full set.
The 4 spherical bushings (in the kit) are the ones that prematurely wear out on the ND1, hence just replace those from Performance bushes. As far as I know the other bushings don’t give trouble, I suppose they could on higher mileage cars.
If you search on YouTube you’ll find a video on replacing the bushes similar to the OEM ones, you have the same amount of movement, poly bushes not so much but I’ve never fitted poly bushings to anything.
I bought a fully polybushed RS Turbo once. The rear tailgate hinges actually tore the roof and I had to keep taking the door cards off to put the windows back on the runners. The vibration was extreme so I sold it after a fortnight. A mate spent £600 putting them on a Bora and took them straight back off after a 5 mile test drive.
They have their uses on the anti roll bars but never go full polly
Does that sound like the Aston Martin Honda problem in F1?
I haven’t been following this season after last years circus but if their suspension seems like it’s made of solid concrete and bits of body kit fall off over potholes then yes.
i still dont understand then? i am probably missing something really obvious?
so if theres about 20 bushing on the ND which are oem rubber, why only relace 4 rear ones with ‘good ones’ (performance bushings for examle) but not use polly for the other 16? that would mean they get relaced with oem (((faulty)rubber again?
Think of rubber flexing as a spring rate. 650lbs is good for Silverstone but way too much for a trip to the supermarket, some parts can benefit from race bushes but others are better with fast road.
And the same as oil, Fresh OEM is better than worn out premium.
Only the 4, which are ‘spherical’ bearings, are giving problems. All the others are ‘rubber’ and appear to be standing up very well to normal use.
Most users will only need to replace the ‘spherical’ ones but you can replace any or all of them with standard or ‘performance’ ones if you feel the need.
I’m not an expert on anything like bushes or suspension but the OEM bushing on the mentioned 4 spherical bushes on the ND1 were apparently at first poorly manufactured hence premature wear. From what I’ve read with the ND, the ND2 has improved bushings to those 4.
As mentioned before there’s a great deal of movement in those bushes, there has to be I guess even from new, the performance bushes have this movement too.