Steeda Adjustable Differential Bushing Review

[MustangCollector]

was just about to order these but gear whine def annoys me on a daily driven street car so i think il just pass on these

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[DIB2015]

I only heard it on the highway and its barely audible. Around town I didn't hear it. I only have axlebacks also. Don't let gear wine stop your purchase

 

[MustangCollector]

i use my car daily and take long commutes throughout the day on the phone so whine on the highway will annoy the heck out of me.

 

[DIB2015]

Are you stock exhaust?

 

[Gibbo205]

I installed the red bushings and do have some gear whine. Steeda's claim of zero NVH isn't entirely accurate IMO. The gear whine isn't terrible but I do notice it when lightly apply throttle and cruising, especially in 5th or 6th gear at speeds of 40mph+. The whine probably varies by car and by how sensitive you are to your own car's noises (I know I am). The bushings definitely helped tighten up the rear end and I can tell the differential isn't moving around nearly as much. It also seems that my gear thud is gone from around the transmission area and now I can hear more drivetrain noises behind me when changing gears.

I only notice it at 1200rpm in 1st gear with very gentle throttle, well I say notice it, now I no longer notice it so it has either gone or I adapted to it, but it was so minor passengers did not notice.

I get no whine or NVH at highway speeds, it is a great modification.

 

[David@Steeda]

I only notice it at 1200rpm in 1st gear with very gentle throttle, well I say notice it, now I no longer notice it so it has either gone or I adapted to it, but it was so minor passengers did not notice.

I get no whine or NVH at highway speeds, it is a great modification.

Glad you're liking the diff. bushing inserts! :cheers:

 

[BC]

Worked on the Steeda Differential Bushings today. I did the rear bushings first leaving the front IRS frame bolts tight. I did not want to get an alignment at this time so my plan was leave the front IRS frame bolts torqued down, loosen the rear IRS bolts and put in the rear differential bushings.

Next I torqued down the rear IRS bolts and removed the front IRS bolts. The front frame did not droop down enough to easily get the front bushings with short bolt in. I saw a video where they tried prying the gas tank shield but I was sure I’d damage it because I needed almost ½” additional clearance in my case.

Directions say if you need more room to loosen the rear IRS bolts. If you do that then all 4 are loose and you would most assuredly need an alignment after doing that

So at this time I decided to just do the rear bushings. I also bought the Steeda alignment sleeves so when I am ready to do an alignment I will loosen all 4, remove the front IRS bolts, install the front
differential bushings, install the alignment sleeves and then get an alignment.

Actually now that I have been under the car working on this, it looks to me that the rear bushings are really the key part in this set, since the rear bolts are torqued down to 129 spec while passing through the Delrin (I used the RED ones).

In the front the main bolts which are torqued down to 129 are still screwing directly into the differential, metal to metal. The short bolt that passes through the Delrin on the other side is only torqued down to 35 so really its just kind of additional damping. I think the rear bushings are what does most of the intended work. (My opinion just by looking at the setup.)

First thing I noticed (which I was hoping for) is the clunk is virtually gone now (manual trans with thud noise when shifting). This really made a difference…maybe there is a tiny bit from first to second but I would have to strain to hear it. Nothing in the other gears. Also many times when pulling to a stop, putting it in neutral, letting clutch out and then clutch in, back to first, I would always get the dreaded clunk sound. No more of that!

The trade-off is that I get a little gear whine now. I really do not hear it at speeds below 60 mph. But once I get up to 60 and beyond (mainly 60-80) I hear it, just a bit of high pitched whine. With the windows down can’t hear it. I have Borla S Type too so that probably helps drown it out.

I was only able to do a short WOT on a ramp today to test wheel spin. First impression was good. Had some wheel hop but it seemed like very short tightly spaced jumps and seemed to get traction quicker.
I wasn’t expecting a huge improvement on this until I get my Steeda IRS braces next week. I would imagine as others have stated that the Differential Bushings along with IRS brace will be a big improvement.

One final thing. I have read some posts where people have stripped out their IRS frame bolt threads when raising and lowering the IRS frame. Probably everyone knows this but I wanted to mention it here. Jacking up the IRS frame to where it makes contact with the body is critical to getting the IRS bolts started back squarely into their holes. If you have for example the rear bolts tight and the fronts removed, then the frame is drooping and it is at an angle to the hole where it needs to screw back in, not perfectly perpendicular. I tested this because I had the front frame drooped and began screwing in the IRS bolt by hand to get it started. It felt tight and did not feel right. I got a smaller jack and jacked up the front frame where it was making contact with the body again and then the screw went in easily using my just my fingers. I could almost screw it all the way up. Then I tightened with socket and torqued it down.

Just a bit of advice…do not use the IRS screw to draw the frame up to the body. Jack up the frame where it makes contact. Then the screw will go in straight and easy.

Very happy with the Differential Bushing kit and looking forward to the IRS Brace.

 

[David@Steeda]

Worked on the Steeda Differential Bushings today. I did the rear bushings first leaving the front IRS frame bolts tight. I did not want to get an alignment at this time so my plan was leave the front IRS frame bolts torqued down, loosen the rear IRS bolts and put in the rear differential bushings.

Next I torqued down the rear IRS bolts and removed the front IRS bolts. The front frame did not droop down enough to easily get the front bushings with short bolt in. I saw a video where they tried prying the gas tank shield but I was sure I’d damage it because I needed almost ½” additional clearance in my case.

Directions say if you need more room to loosen the rear IRS bolts. If you do that then all 4 are loose and you would most assuredly need an alignment after doing that

So at this time I decided to just do the rear bushings. I also bought the Steeda alignment sleeves so when I am ready to do an alignment I will loosen all 4, remove the front IRS bolts, install the front
differential bushings, install the alignment sleeves and then get an alignment.

Actually now that I have been under the car working on this, it looks to me that the rear bushings are really the key part in this set, since the rear bolts are torqued down to 129 spec while passing through the Delrin (I used the RED ones).

In the front the main bolts which are torqued down to 129 are still screwing directly into the differential, metal to metal. The short bolt that passes through the Delrin on the other side is only torqued down to 35 so really its just kind of additional damping. I think the rear bushings are what does most of the intended work. (My opinion just by looking at the setup.)

First thing I noticed (which I was hoping for) is the clunk is virtually gone now (manual trans with thud noise when shifting). This really made a difference…maybe there is a tiny bit from first to second but I would have to strain to hear it. Nothing in the other gears. Also many times when pulling to a stop, putting it in neutral, letting clutch out and then clutch in, back to first, I would always get the dreaded clunk sound. No more of that!

The trade-off is that I get a little gear whine now. I really do not hear it at speeds below 60 mph. But once I get up to 60 and beyond (mainly 60-80) I hear it, just a bit of high pitched whine. With the windows down can’t hear it. I have Borla S Type too so that probably helps drown it out.

I was only able to do a short WOT on a ramp today to test wheel spin. First impression was good. Had some wheel hop but it seemed like very short tightly spaced jumps and seemed to get traction quicker.
I wasn’t expecting a huge improvement on this until I get my Steeda IRS braces next week. I would imagine as others have stated that the Differential Bushings along with IRS brace will be a big improvement.

One final thing. I have read some posts where people have stripped out their IRS frame bolt threads when raising and lowering the IRS frame. Probably everyone knows this but I wanted to mention it here. Jacking up the IRS frame to where it makes contact with the body is critical to getting the IRS bolts started back squarely into their holes. If you have for example the rear bolts tight and the fronts removed, then the frame is drooping and it is at an angle to the hole where it needs to screw back in, not perfectly perpendicular. I tested this because I had the front frame drooped and began screwing in the IRS bolt by hand to get it started. It felt tight and did not feel right. I got a smaller jack and jacked up the front frame where it was making contact with the body again and then the screw went in easily using my just my fingers. I could almost screw it all the way up. Then I tightened with socket and torqued it down.

Just a bit of advice…do not use the IRS screw to draw the frame up to the body. Jack up the frame where it makes contact. Then the screw will go in straight and easy.

Very happy with the Differential Bushing kit and looking forward to the IRS Brace.

Nice, keep us posted once you get the braces installed!

 

[BC]

Nice, keep us posted once you get the braces installed!

I was prepared to wrestle with the IRS braces but they went in amazingly easy. I must be one of the lucky ones that has their cradle aligned square from the factory.
I timed the install. After I got the car up on 4 jack stands it took 27 minutes to get both sides in.

The drivers side went in perfect. The passengers side took an extra few minutes to slightly pry the bar into position for the last bolt at rear of brace. But still...just 27 minutes!

BTW...as was suggested by someone else on the forum I started with the middle bolt that attaches to sub frame support bracket and left it loose.
This made a leverage point to swing the ends into position, starting all screws and leaving them loose. Once they were all in location just tighten and torque.

I drove it around a little just to make sure no clunk sounds and everything good...no issues. Great fit and a well made product!
After work today I will take it for a spin.

Thanks David and Steeda!

 

[Jonspeed]

Is an alignment required after this?

 

[David@Steeda]

Is an alignment required after this?

If you do one side at a time, no alignment needed.

 

[Bullitt78]

I installed the red bushings and do have some gear whine. Steeda's claim of zero NVH isn't entirely accurate IMO. The gear whine isn't terrible but I do notice it when lightly apply throttle and cruising, especially in 5th or 6th gear at speeds of 40mph+. The whine probably varies by car and by how sensitive you are to your own car's noises (I know I am). The bushings definitely helped tighten up the rear end and I can tell the differential isn't moving around nearly as much. It also seems that my gear thud is gone from around the transmission area and now I can hear more drivetrain noises behind me when changing gears.

I know this is an older thread but I installed the red bushing recently and the NVH is immediately noticeable. To the point I’m loosing it since I’m very sensitive to sound. I’m thinking of removing just the rear to see if that helps.

 

[tj@steeda]

Please send me your contact info to [email protected] - let me have our tech team review your order.

Have a great night.

TJ

 

[shogun32]

I know this is an older thread but I installed the red bushing recently and the NVH is immediately noticeable. To the point I’m loosing it since I’m very sensitive to sound. I’m thinking of removing just the rear to see if that helps.

Whiteline for a low-grade/background growl. The Steeda/BMR's puck solutions howl when they hit resonance frequencies.
The only 'fix' that stays "silent" is using the upgraded diff hardware kit's tubular inserts.

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