Learn Me: Polyurethane bushings

My personal experience with poly bushings has been very positive. Had it on the front lower control arms of my old Maxima and my Spec-V. They both saw Canadian winter DD duty and autocross duty in the summer. Kept the Maxima two years and the Sentra three years. They never made any noise and I never re-greased them. Both were still in great shape when I sold them and made a negligible effect on NVH but a great effect on turn-in.

I think if you respect the recommendation and use the recommended grease (Lithium grease if I remember correctly), they can be fine.

YMMV

Thanks for all the input.  Been thinking about it and while the ball joints were good when last checked 2+ years ago when the springs and struts went in, that time hasn't been kind to them (pretty sure they are OEM, so 26+ years of mileage on them at this point) i'm thinking it's a good idea to just go with new control arms, which include the ball joint, and staying with the rubber for now. 

When I had polyurethane bushings, I got PST's Polygraphite bushings, which are marketed as graphite impregnated polyurethane.  They never seemed to get squeaky. 

The main problem I've had with the PSTs and the Global West Del-A-Lum bushings I have now was that the center tube was too short, and tightening them to spec resulted in squeezing the mount around the bushing, causing a ton of friction, or locking the arm in place. Loosening the bolt caused the holes to become oblong. On the GW pieces, I ended up adding weld to the ends of the tubes so that the car would clamp the tube instead of the bushing. My front LCAs now fall to vertical under their own weight. 

I just replaced the F & R poly endlink and main chassis mount bushings on my 96 civic with aftermarket anti sway bars/springs/dampers/sticky tires for the third time in 100k.  I thought I was going to grease the things and I did a couple times total- but life happens.  They were in need of replacing and bone dry every time.  I used good silicone yada yada yada.

I just replaced all the 21 year old OEM 'rubber' bushings (second set of OEM lower control arm bushings) at 220 K and the rubber (except for the lower control arm bushings) looked remarkably good if hard and distorted.

My evidence shows me good rubber on a daily hands down.

BTW removing the old and pressing in the Hardrace bushings is (as widely reported in the Honda world) a pain in the butt.  I eventually figured out pulling them together along the sleeve axis with allthread and nuts/washers works better than pressing.  The bushing find it much more compelling.