This is what is left of my orange front tie rod bushes. The car has not been on the road for many years but they have disintegrated away.

quality....

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

Rats and Mice?

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"Show me the Mini!"

Red poly crumbles under load, my tiebar bushes did the same. It's too hard & brittle.
I went back to rubber.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Would this also apply to the life expectancy of the Nolathane red hex bush replacement for the original felt steering rack damper?

I have had the same problem in my mini and ford, but i found them to fall apart with age. I did what drmini did go back to rubber but superpro ones are very good i have fitted a few.
Cheers Rob

No. Because it is lubricated, usually with 140 gear oil. And there's hardly any compression stress on it.
Also, although these are also red, they are far softer than tie bar or steady bar bushes.
I've pulled some racks down that had them in and they were still perfect. But I changed them due to rebuild.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Thanks for that answer.

You should not put a polly bush where it appears it might have been in the photo...

The tie rod moves up and down and the joint needs to be able to flex. (I missed the lamp post by thiiiiis much after a tie rod end failed. If the joint can't flex, the rod does...)

Movement at the tie rod end under heavy braking (as the front bush deforms) causes caster changes which affect stability. This is why you use a polly bush in front to maintain stability under braking and a rubber bush behind where it doesn't have much of an effect on acceleration but allows flexibility over bumps...

My (front) polly bushes have been there for years.

Cheers, Ian