I'm replacing the bushings in my front LCA and trying to decide between OEM and Mugen. The price difference is only about $20, so that's not a concern.

The car is daily driven and sees about 8-10 HPDEs per year. Would I really notice any difference in handling between the two, and is it worth the compromise in ride quality? Will the OEM bushings last any longer or vice versa?

 

I would be curious of the actual difference in durometer of the Mugen and OEM bushings.

Does anyone know for sure that the Mugen bushings have a higher durometer than OEM?

 

ive seen the Mugen front lca bushings. theyre pretty damn stiff. i just got my inner bushing changed in a spare LCA with OEM bushing. its stiff, but not as stiff. i havent installed it yet. i plan on putting a ES poly bushing at the shock.

as for what the difference will be, who knows. anyone?

makes me wonder why i didnt bother using the mugen bushing myself. guess i didnt care for the difference, but thinking about it again, $20 more really isnt much. the stock bushing was pretty cheap anyway.

 

I have mugen bushings in the front compliance arm (DC2 chassis) and it was pretty stiff - spherical bearing in the other end.

 

Tyson,

I would stay away from any poly bushing. Used them and was very dissapointed when found them to be completely apart in only 3 race weekends. This is on the front LCA bushings. Inner and shock part.

 

thanks for the warning. i figure the shock bushing should be ok. theres not much motion there, no way for it to bind. ive got the bushings laying around from a long time ago.

i definately didnt want to use poly for the inner bushing.

 

Tyson, I am not familiar with the CRX front suspension. Are you talking about the shock upper bushing? If so, I've been using poly on a DC2 for a couple years and have had no problem, I guess precisely because of what you say, not too much motion.

 

no, talking about the lower shock fork bushing in the middle of the control arm.

i have integra metal bonded bushings ready for the top mounts

 

i'm using the mugen front compliance bushing as well. noticeable improvement over both the 110k oem ones and my 30k oem ones.

nate

 

I've got the DC5R aluminum LCA's and mugen bushings on my EM2. It's much stiffer and the steering and feel is much more precise than OE. I also cracked 3 sets of OE bushings in 30K miles autocrossing and daily driving with the occasional HPDE. 20K on the mugens with even more autocross and track usage and they're just dusty.

 

hey quick q, but where is a good place to buy the mugen front/lca bushigns? [or other bushings (delrin, spherical etc. I know of orijin motorsports)]

I just bought a whole set of oe rubber bushings for my front lca, including the radius bushings for my 94 civic ex. I also got the upper control arm inner bushigns. The chassis has 130k on them, and the bushigns are visually shot with tears.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by chrisw85 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">hey quick q, but where is a good place to buy the mugen front/lca bushigns</TD></TR></TABLE>

http://www.kingmotorsports.com
http://www.ipsracing.com

 

I had Energy poly bushings in every hole on the lower control arms on My Civic. No issues whatsoever in 3 years and alot of races. I'm putting the same bushings in the CRX.

There are 2 tricks to Energy bushings...
1. Use the grease.
2. Do not tighten anything until the car is sitting static on its tires. I snug everything up, set the car down on blocks, then crawl under it and tighten things up. Same technique as a swaybar install.

As I said, no issues.
No binding. No bushing destruction.

Scott, who prefers sperical bearings but notes that they are very expensive and are illegal for STS.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Catch 22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Scott, who prefers sperical bearings but notes that they are very expensive</TD></TR></TABLE>

Sure they're more expensive than poly, but they arent that bad. I think I spent $800 to do everything but rear LCA's, which were new OEM.

 

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

I think I spent $800 to do everything but rear LCA's, which were new OEM.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Which is about 8 times what I spent on the ITC car.
I've spent $16 on CRX bushings, but I admit that was a rare score.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Catch 22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Which is about 8 times what I spent on the ITC car.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Sure, but looking at the build on aggregate, $800 isnt that much coin on something that makes a significant improvement in the car.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .RJ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
$800 isnt that much coin on something that makes a significant improvement in the car.</TD></TR></TABLE>

True, but I don't think its as much of an improvement over poly as many think it is. But both are a HUGE improvement over stock.

The rap on poly is binding and tearing, but that doesn't seem to happen if its properly installed.
&lt;shrug&gt;

 

the mugen bling is just a harder rubber (ie, not poly), correct?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Catch 22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
The rap on poly is binding and tearing, but that doesn't seem to happen if its properly installed.
&lt;shrug&gt;</TD></TR></TABLE>

No problems with my ES polys after two seasons.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Catch 22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
The rap on poly is binding and tearing, but that doesn't seem to happen if its properly installed.
&lt;shrug&gt;</TD></TR></TABLE>

i guess its too late to not make this into another poly bushing thread, i would have really liked more input on mugen bushings.

anyway, i think this picture pretty much illustrates how the poly bushings can cause binding. this is the rear lca.

http://www.crxsi.com/resources...9.jpg


i dont think its about how its installed. its how the poly bushings have that extra meat around the outside that restricts the natural movement of the control arm.

on a shock bushing, its not that big a deal.
http://www.crxsi.com/resources...2.jpg

and because the upper control arm uses two concentric bushings, the movement is already restricted to 1 degree of rotation, this is actually perfect for something like poly bushings. (except for the fact that for an IT car, youd be using eccentric bushings here anyway)

http://www.crxsi.com/resources...1.jpg

im not saying your suspension isnt going to work with poly bushings. im just saying you have to recognize that some of the bushings no longer function like the OEM rubber ones were designed to.


Modified by Tyson at 11:42 AM 12/7/2005

 

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

im just saying you have to recognize that some of the bushings no longer function like the OEM rubber ones were designed to.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I totally agree.
I'll also point out that with a stiffer race setup, the suspension is not travelling as much as it did on the factory setup. I would imagine that poly bushings with an otherwise stock suspension might be kind of a disaster.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mstewar &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the mugen bling is just a harder rubber (ie, not poly), correct?</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

Correct.

 

What are you guys using for the upper control arm bushings? The Mugens are pretty pricey at $130 and the OEM ones aren't sold seperately...

 

I got black poly Energy Susp bushings up there. No probs.