reflexion

Ok guys. Ofcourse I would buy oem if I could afford it, but I'm on a low income and my car is just a beater anyways. And besides I think moog and mevotech both have lifetime warranty on their parts? Are there others?

I've heard that moog's quality has dropped the last couple years and mevotech has gotten better.

What manufactuer/brand have you had good experience with RECENTLY, not 3 years ago?

I'm thinking of just replacing my lower control arms instead of buying new bushings and paying to have them pressed in

Does any of these aftermarket brands have good rubber bushings in their suspension/steering parts?

I'm planning on replacing all tierods, ball joints, and bushings/arms. But want to spend as little as reasonably possible, without buying parts that will need replacing again 2 yrs later...

It seems like everyone has a different opinion on the matter

GagnarTheUnruly

iTrader: (3)

There is no way to make a bushing overhaul cheap unless you are willing to 100% DIY it. I would say:

1) I would only trust OEM LCAs with few exceptions
2) The above is especially true when talking about arms with urethane bushings
3) At the cost of OEM you may be better off paying a shop to press bushings into your existing arms
4) Removing the arms will either be costly or time consuming, and you will almost certainly run into stuck bolts
5) The first time I overhauled my suspension my car was on jackstands for 15 months. Don't be like me.

While I advocate rubber bushings, urethane bushings can be cheaper because they are easier to install (and they are cheaper than rubber anyways). Just stuff to consider.

reflexion

Ive read poly is much easier to install, but I'm worried that poly bushings will ride too rough for me. The roads here are bad

Plus I've read that poly shouldn't be used in parts of the lca's and that they're noisy in cold weather.

I just wasn't sure what the quality of these aftermarket parts store brands, and how they hold up on a daily driver.

Getting all the bushings pressed in and out is pretty expensive in itself. Then the price of bushings...

Which aftermarket lca's do u trust?

1998GsRIntegra

That rules out poly bushings.

Let me ask you something. Are the lca bushings bad? Is there play in all of the tie rods? Is there play in all of the ball joints? Are all of the other bushings you want to replace bad? Or do you just want to replace them to replace them. If funds are tight don't waste money replacing things that don't need to be replaced. I certainly wouldn't bother with a bushing overhaul on a "daily beater" unless the bushings were completely shot.

reflexion

Good advice..

The bushings are all original, And all cracked and/or torn. The steering boots are torn, and I feel and hear play in the passenger side inner tierod where it connects to the rack. It rattles when hitting even the smallest bumps, and at highway speeds it gets pretty spine rattling. I can't stand it anymore

I done a ton of reading and searching google and a few popular forums, and ofcourse everyone had different opinions. The best i could gather, Based on the advice of service techs, is that raybestos pro(and moog) are pretty reliable, although moogs quality is more questionable as of recently. beck arnley supposedly has good qc, and is one of the better ones, especially for ball joints and tie rods. This is just based on the opinions of a few different experienced service techs and what they have to replace on a regular basis(and what holds up)


Anyways, after reading all that and looking at my options. i was leaning towards just taking a chance on beck arnley or raybestos front lca for 45 each to avoid the hassle of removing and replacing bushings without a shop press.

then i ran across some oem front and rear lca's with brand new energy suspension bushings for 75 bucks...
everything ive read said poly is way less comfortable than oem rubber, and comfort is my main concern by far...But at that price I had to jump on them since im on a such tight budget

Even though I would much prefer oem rubber bushings, I hope it will still improve the ride comfort/harshness significantly

As for their durability goes, From what I've read, aslong as you lube them generously before installing, they don't squeak or wear out so fast, but they do require some regular maintenance with a can of spray lube every once in a while to keepthem from drying out.
Sometimes I have to drive through a lot of mud, water, and some dirt roads..so I'm still somewhat concerned how theyll hold up since I've read those conditions can cause premature wear. I'll see how it goes I guess...

Regardless, I'm going to replace that inner tie rod, the torn boots, and possibly ball joints , probably with beck or raybestos pro. I'm hoping the rack itself is ok? Oh, and the rta bushings too... I've read that the rta bushings and front lca bushings have the most noticeable effect on ride quality, along with ball joints(springs and shocks too, but I'm good there). So that's the plan right now

This seems like the most cost effective solution that I could come up with, without just throwing on the cheapest parts i can find, and hoping for the best.

Any opinions/advice/comments?

94EG8

The only thing I've ever seen hold up long term for ball joints and tie rod ends is OEM Honda. It really doesn't cost any more when you figure out how long it lasts.

reflexion

What do you consider to be "long term"?

Who has the best prices on oem honda parts?

The ef upper arms/ball joints aren't available as far as I know...

94EG8

100,000+ miles. For what it's worth I've seen the cheaper aftermarket ball joints fail in 3000 miles. Lifetime warranty but it's only good if your time is worth nothing.

Majestic Honda, Autofair Honda, BK Honda, all of these online dealerships have good prices.

The lowers are still available, uppers are discontinued. Tie rod ends are still available.

reflexion

Which brands of upper bj/control arm would you suggest?

And Yeah Ofcourse you cant expect oem honda quality/durability for 1/3 the price
But i was hoping to atleast get 2-3 years of solid driving out of something much less expensive if possible, as a temporary solution anyways
I see people getting a year or more out of the dirt cheap eBay suspension/steering kits before the ball joints start to go bad.
I don't want to go that cheap, especially on the suspension, and my daily driver at that.. So I wondered if there could be some sort of worthwhile comprimise between oem honda and cheap Chinese junk with no qc/quality standards

I guess there's no real definite answer, though. And buying anything other than oem is taking a chance.

dc4teg95

Op look into hard race bushings. You can also get OE spec inner/outer tie rods from them as well but they are hardened. Don't get the super spec those are spherical. Good site is www.buyhardrace.com some have gone thus route as it comes out cheaper then oem bushings ride is the same as oem. They are still rubber and have to be pressed in but they are hardened rubber. Just another option for you to look at

KevinEF7

I personally love beck arnley stuff. Moog problem solver is good but they dont make all part, beck arnley is an oem manufacturer and alot of times is just rebaged oem. Never go wrong with a beck arnley part

reflexion

I just decided to go with o'reilly house brand(mpc) ball joints for the lifetime warranty and convenient customer service. I replaced an upper ball joint almost 2 years ago with mpc and its still holding up well. I have a beck arnley inner tie rod that I'll be swapping in aswell

But I would definitely go with beck arnley and raybestos pro otherwise.
I bought oem control arms with new ES poly bushings for cheap until I can have rubber pressed into my original lca's

sxysweed

Mevotech is crap. We use it at work and it sucks.

Cheap ball joints will cost you. Get Moog or OEM.

reflexion

Good to know. Thanks for sharing

But the o'reilly's master pro chassis ball joint has served me just fine so far
Plus when it does finally go out, I can just drive a few minutes and get a free replacement. That alone is worth a lot to me


Supposedly Moog has went downhill, I read that they're manufactured somewhere else now. Plus anything with grease inserts will fail. Moisture and grit will find a way inside, unless you're strictly a city driver. I live in a rural area an drive down dirt and gravel roads regularly

KevinEF7

Moog quality did not go down hill. They simply came out with the R series of parts, which are geared more towards the budget minded. They still have there regular line which is just as good if not better than oem

reflexion

Thanks for setting me straight and sharing your experiences and opinion guys.

aw614

the moog UCAs i got for my integra were made in Japan, quality seems alright, but Ive only had them for a year