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I'll believe it when I see it. Engineering this kind of stuff and having it made is what I do for a living (everything from prototype / low volume, to mass production), and I have an entire machine shop of my own in the garage. Most/many shops make their own tooling, so that's not really...

Something just doesn't add up. If they are running it on an automated machine, you're going to pay tens of thousands of dollars for a machined metal mold, but then part cost goes down to material cost basically (because there is so little labor to work the press, besides a few hours @ $100/hr...

I explained all this in a previous post, and came up with similar, but higher, ROM numbers. Now you're seeing why my bushings are priced the way they are, even without make much/"any" profit on them. Though I think your numbers are overly optimistic. There's really no way to cheat/shortcut...

It's not just the UV, though that does accelerate things. (In their installed location, I doubt they are taking much beating from UV.) Elastic materials don't like to be held long term in a compressed or elongated state. Think about rubber bands that you have left stretched around something...

Correct, the OEM are Shore 80A. Most "performance" bushings are harder (e.g. 90A), both to further limit movement but also to get increased mechanical properties (e.g. tensile strength). Solid bushings are not advisable. The rubber bushings provide tolerance and movement between the major...

There are a number of factors at play, including the Shore A hardness. Generally, the harder materials have higher tensile strengths, so they should resist splitting and tearing under pressure better. Aftermarket polyurethane bushings that are marketed as "high performance" typically use...

If you're doing Shore 80A hardness, I recommend PMC-780. https://www.smooth-on.com/products/pmc-780-dry/ These thick urethane rubbers, and to lesser extent the silicone rubber, really trap a lot of air bubbles. Ideally, you need a vacuum chamber to degas them. You might be able to make do by...

If you're not going to make too many of them (e.g. <12), a cheaper tin-cure silicone mold rubber will do. Be careful not to tear the mold while taking the castings out, as the tin-cure silicone is not as stretchy and resilient as the platinum-cure (which costs significantly more). You'll...

It's totally doable, and needing several takes some of the sting out of the cost, though I recommend against the "squish mold" approach. The squishing action means you are always putting stress on the mold and casting, resulting it parts that are often deformed, as well as trapping bubbles...

Yes, you can. I make the sway bar bushings that way. However, it's not cheap or easy. You have to buy a bushing to get measurements (I don't cast directly from an OEM one, because both the mold silicone and polyurethane castings shrink, so you have to compensate), as well as get a vacuum...

The bushings aren't made of rubber - they are polyurethane. Unfortunately there isn't much you can do for them. The polymers break down over time, and the material degrades. The way the bushings are used, with a lot of weight squeezing the bushing and requiring it to have a lot of tensile...