Does anyone have information on hardrace products? I am going to be replacing my bushings and did not want or should say i am not going to be using urethane at all. I was going ot either use mugen or factory. Not looking for the delrin or anyhting of that nature. Wanted to know if u have used them what was your experience , were they too stiff, too harsh of a ride or any info would be great!

 

If you have any concerns at all about ride quality, you probably don't want or need anything more than stock rubber.

 

def good to know...To me my suspension needs an overhaul and seems to be quite sloppy. Would the hardrace bushings be comperable to the mugen bushings?

 

That's a tough question to answer. The Hardrace products look reasonably well made, genuine Mugen products tend to be extremely good quality. I would feel comfortable using Hardrace's bushings, just keep an eye on cracks and abnormal wear. These look to be much stiffer then OEM products though.
dan

 

slop in the suspension could come from a few sources, but bushings are definitely the top suspect most of the time, especially on older Hondas. Check your balljoints and wheel bearings as well, all are considered wear items on these cars and at some point will need to be replaced. You'd be amazed how well you FEEL the car handles when going from busted bushings and balljoints to new OEM.

 

my car only has 64k on it but has been lowered on nuespeed race springs and stock struts i bought the car that way. So its pretty well slammed and kind of sloppy and seems there is def slack in the whole suspension system. It def needs an overhaul!Just wanted to make sure i get the best possible products

 

would there be a quality in construction on the hard race products, and after this many miles and my suspension is slop i need to change and upgrade. Also i have heard of people switching out only certain bushings for the hard rubber ones? any truth to that?

 

The purpose of bushings in your suspension is to allow movement of various suspension components in such a way that they all move freely and without binding in an intended range of motion, while preserving ride quality. Rubber does a great job of absorbing and isolating impacts from the road, and allowing the suspension to do it's job. It's also long-lasting, low maintenance, and OEM supplied.

The reasoning behind going to harder rubber or poyurethane or spherical bearings is that each will successively reduce minute, unwanted changes in suspension geometry (called deflection) that in turn cause changes in the alignment settings of camber, toe and caster during suspension travel.

All have their benefits and disadvantages, but of the 3 polyurethane is the most maligned because of claims that it causes binding of the suspension when used in some locations, specifically the rear LCA inboard and outboard bushings and rear trailing arm bushings. Binding means your suspension isn't allowed to travel in its full, intended range of motion and handling is negatively impacted. Most will agree that binding outweighs the benefits of decreased deflection. The bushings are cheap though, and can be pressed in and out easily.

When it comes to reducing deflection, spherical bearings do that the best, and can theoretically be used in any location that uses OEM rubber with the only negative being relatively high costs, maintenance and increased NVH. Spherical bearings are metal on metal, a bearing in a race, so for all intents and purposes there is no deflection (a teflon-lined race will have some immeasurable amount of deflection I guess...). Designed correctly to allow the proper range of motion and mimicking the stock suspension travel, spherical bearings would provide the best performance for a track car.

Inspect your bushings and see where the problem bushings are located. You might only need to replace a few. When in doubt, go with OEM. worry about p/u and sphericals when it becomes a race car. Heck lots of race cars use OEM I bet, because its simple, reliable, it fits, and it gets the job done.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PIC Performance &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Heck lots of race cars use OEM I bet, because its simple, reliable, it fits, and it gets the job done. </TD></TR></TABLE>


Yep A TON of race cars use OEM, for those reasons up there.


I highly doubt that the 'slop' you are feeling is due to bushings. Maybe if yours are really busted. But on race cars that use springs 2 to 3 times stiff than you run, there is no 'slop'.

 

For me i have had the impression by most people including a large number on here that oem is not "good enough" but even under spirited conditions, or even racing conditions oem is more then enough. Are there any weak points on a civics suspension that might wear out faster or have given people problems?