Farquea

My rear trailing arm bushings are shot where i get this squeaking sound when I go over bumps. I think my suspension in general front and back is probably in need of a change, pretty sure they have never been changed in the 30 years and 130km the car has done. I think i'd like to combine this with a small lowering of the car. I'm a noob at this so specifically what would I need to achieve this? Also would the size of my tires (205/50/15) be a problem, or would I need to roll the fenders?

scelestus

Suggest you start with the getting the suspension in order first. If you want to lower a lot then you will need toe adjusters, and the originals are probably corroded to the point they won't be easy to pry apart. Google that process first to see what you're getting into. If you choose to skip this step, the lower you go the more you will rip up your tires, so pick your poison. I would recommend urethane bushings for the struts and control arms, but not for the large trailing arm bushing- stick with rubber for that. There's a lot of argument about urethane and deflection if you want to decide for yourself, found this link that explains it somewhat- imho the "benefit" prevents the trailing arm from moving the way it was designed to.
https://www.speeddirect.com/index.ph...hane-vs-rubber

If you lower more than an inch and a half you might rub slightly. This will depend on the offset of the wheels, camber, and possibly suspension travel. What's your offset?

Any idea what setup you're interested in? How far you want to lower? These are all pretty important if you want to do this properly.

Farquea

My priority is to just firstly fix the suspension, but I'm not sure what that actually entails, which parts make up the whole thing and if I need to replace them all. I know the rear trailing arm bushings need replacing but would there also be control arms and struts? anything else? On the front is it the same collection of parts and should I be replacing them all? As for the drop part, it's just something I might like to do very subtly, very minor if I was replacing parts that would allow me to enable this provided it wasn't an extreme extra cost. As i said, I'm very much in the dark with suspension make up and to get it fixed I'd want to buy the parts I need and then have a mechanic do the work.

scelestus

Definitely make sure your mechanic is willing to install parts you provide. Some of them refuse to do this, as parts mark up is a big chunk of their margin.

Trailing arm bushings are probably the biggest issue, but if no other work has been done in 130K miles (or is it 130K km? 80K miles still) then I would plan to replace everything. Would only recommend Energy Suspension on the strut bushings and sway bar end links, due to the deflection issue you may not like the effect from changing control arm bushings. Using OEM spec rubber will increase initial cost, but will require less maintenance- urethane must be checked and lubricated periodically, especially in harsher climates.

To drop the car and maintain ride quality you're going to need to spend some money. The cheapest route I could recommend would still be 450-500 dollars just for struts and springs. You can do this much cheaper (e-bay!), but ride quality will noticeably suffer.

Farquea

Thanks for the quick reply, I have a Honda dealer garage that surprisingly are always prepared to do the work with me providing the parts and have been a lot cheaper than other independents round here. The car has done 130k km. So if I'm going to buy parts, let say on Rock Auto is my shopping list something like this:

- struts
- control arms
- trailing arm bushings

Is that right and is it the same for fronts and rears, same list just corresponding parts?

scelestus

I'm just talking about bushings. So strut bushings, control arm bushings. This applies to front and rear. However, the upper REAR control arm must be replaced in whole as the bushings are molded in to the arm.

At your mileage there is a good chance the actual struts are gone/going, but what you choose there may depend on how the car feels once the bushings are replaced and everything's tightened up, so I'd wait unless you can get a better deal on labor.

When you get to the front you have ball joints to consider, I would have the shop check those first - wouldn't replace unless it's necessary.

Tyson

its likely that everything needs to get replaced.

i recommend changing out all the control arms (rear upper, rear lower, front toe link) with OE (or equivalent if dealer parts arent available, likely) and with RUBBER bushings already bonded in. the trailing arm bushing you can replace individually.

its far better to just get a new arm than change out each bushing.

i dont recommend polyurethane, pretty much anywhere.

Farquea

OK so if I'm buying parts, are the rear trailing arms the same as/covered by me buying rear upper and rear lowers control arms? For the front too i'd want upper and lower front and rights? I can't find a front toe link on RockAuto and honestly have never heard of this, does it go by a different name? In addition to any of this should I be looking at any other new parts while having all this work done, i'm thinking struts, coil springs?

Thanks.

scelestus

The trailing arm is connected to the car by the upper and lower control arms, and the toe link. Front toe adjustment is handled by the tie rod assembly, which is what connects to your steering rack. Therefore there is no part for the front toe link.

This will probably sound more combative than I intend, but I would highly recommend spending some time familiarizing yourself with the design and technologies of your car. This is due both to my personal opinion that drivers of cars this old should be more self-sufficient, and because I don't trust most mechanics to be truthful when they know their customer doesn't understand. The simplest way (imho) would be to pick up a Haynes or Chilton manual. These are far inferior to a true shop manual, but they do explain most of the workings of the car with diagrams and pictures. More expensive than Google, but much less time consuming.

kraquepype

Unless you plan on swapping out trailing arms for disc brakes later, you'll want to replace the trailing arm bushings. You can press them out without removing the arm completely but it takes a special tool. There are a few how-to threads about it you'll want to read if doing it yourself.

The toe link on the rear suspension is also called a "compensator arm".

X2 on learning the car, find a FSM (factory service manual) or other manual and learn how the suspension is laid out. If you plan on keeping the car for a while its invaluable.