I'm about to begin building a custom suspension setup for my car, and i'm debating puting in solid susupension (no bushings - just heim joints for the inner mounting points). I'm thinking of doing this so i'll have adjustability in both the upper and lower control arms - as the car will see track time, but will also see just as much - if not more road time.

I have driven cars with rubber bushings, and poly bushings, but never a solid suspension setup. I've heard it may be loud? Will it be bumpy on the road? Will it be overkill for road use? Should I just go with a poly bushing instead?

 

if you like your car dont do it. honda dosnt put that on their cars for a reason. it will beat the crap out of you suspension and unibody. those bushings say for track use only, for a good reason. there are no speed bumps or potholes at the race track. if you do it then expect lets of new creaks and groans after a few hundred miles because you are vibrating the crap out of your car. thats why race cars have crews of dudes working on them. the rule of thumb with any car modification is generally the more exotic the parts the more maintenance it will require.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 89crxhf &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">if you like your car dont do it. honda dosnt put that on their cars for a reason. it will beat the crap out of you suspension and unibody. those bushings say for track use only, for a good reason. there are no speed bumps or potholes at the race track. if you do it then expect lets of new creaks and groans after a few hundred miles because you are vibrating the crap out of your car. thats why race cars have crews of dudes working on them. the rule of thumb with any car modification is generally the more exotic the parts the more maintenance it will require. </TD></TR></TABLE>

there may not be pot holes and speed bumps but there are "gators" and "offs" ... places that have repeat offs can have deep ruts that make Washington D.C. pot holes look tame!! I dont know about the EG boys but the setup for a EF is poly rear control arm bushings with OEM rubber on the rest. i doubt i would go solid anything, even motor mounts in a car that ever say street time.

 

A lot of 240SX owners use heim jointed front tension rods and rear upper control arms for adjustability. Combined with rubber or poly in the rest of the suspension, it's still very streetable, with the main drawback being maintenance. Heim joints will wear out much more quickly than a bushing, and get really noisy when they do. I had some who knows how old used pillowball upper mounts/camber plates on my 240SX and they were rattly as hell.

I'd go with heim joints for a few particular adjustable pieces, but not for every arm and link. Dealing with the shock and replacing them all on a regular basis would get severely annoying.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by AKADriver &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">AI'd go with heim joints for a few particular adjustable pieces, but not for every arm and link</TD></TR></TABLE>



And I would not do it on a street car unless you could seal the bushings in some way to keep dirt/grime/muck/water out. Orijin Motorsports sells some pretty trick front LCA bearing kits and you can get rear trailing arm sphericals from JHP USA. Those two, w/ fresh rubber (OEM or Mugen) everywhere else should make a big difference.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .RJ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

And I would not do it on a street car unless you could seal the bushings in some way to keep dirt/grime/muck/water out. Orijin Motorsports sells some pretty trick front LCA bearing kits and you can get rear trailing arm sphericals from JHP USA. Those two, w/ fresh rubber (OEM or Mugen) everywhere else should make a big difference.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I am running this exact setup on my street car and I love it.
I drive it 300-500 miles per week going to work and my girlfriend's house which is 70 miles away...

 

thanks for the input guys!

I'm actually fabbing up a set of custom conrtol arms to run honda kunckles on a non-honda car. A friend of mine tried to convince me to go solid suspension, but i was spectical at first about using it on the street, but you guys have re-enforced my original thoughs.

I'll be sure to post pics of the project as it progresses in the next couple of months!