Last July I spent over $200 on the full set of HardRace bushings for my Integra. Most of the bushings on my car are fairly dry rotted, and the trailing arm bushings are TOTALLY shot.

I've been putting it off and putting it off (no time or money) but today I finally got a chance to take a day off and take all the parts off the car, and take them to my friend's shop. He's working on them today and tomorrow morning and should be ready before noon tomorrow. I CAN'T WAIT to feel and report the difference between 16-year old 289K mile rubber bushings and brand spankin' new fresh bushings.

I'm getting the front lower arms, trailing arm bushing, rear upper arms, and compensator arm bushings replaced.

I have rear lower arm bushings, but I have the F7's so I'll just do those later if needed. I also have front upper arm bushings, but I just installed brand new OEM UCA's up front which came with new ball joints and bushings, so no need to mess with those right now.

A few pics from today, will post more tomorrow after I pick up the parts.







Yes we park on carpet in the garage. Had some large scraps from a recent construction project so I threw a couple pieces on each side of the garage. Much nicer to work on than bare concrete that's for sure.


omgzors mad toe-in dAwg!!!!11!

 

Finally!!!!!!!!! Just like me, I will be honest I am just too lazy to go and do it. I think I got my kit about 2 weeks after you got yours.

 

heh yah guy is doing the stuff I listed for $120, which is expensive enough already. That's why I opted not to get the OEM rear LCA's done now.

I also discovered my front sway bar end links and bushings are pretty shot, but it costs about $90!!!! for 2 new end links - the type with ball joint on the sway bar and 2 bushings on each side with the LCA sandwiched in between. I mean damn, that's more than the stock ITR rear sway bar!

 

In for the results because ive been wanting to do this too.

 

Hell yes, finally a thread about this... i've been waiting

 

yea yea waiting on the call this morning

I just hope the difference is readily apparent in ride quality, and not just something that helps keep alignment in check in the long term (which I'm hoping for too of course).

 

Woohoo going to pick up the parts now! Unfortunately I'll have to wait until Monday to get it aligned.

 

I'm going to be replacing my bushings (with SONEMs) in a couple of weeks. Looking forward to hearing driving impressions.

 

I'm doing the same to my eg hatch, although I'm attempting to do it myself with a HF 20 ton press. I have a gift card and coupon which makes buying the press cheaper than taking it anywhere local. Plus I'll be able to to wheel bearings, studs, etc. with the press. Anywho I'll make sure to post the process in here. Thanks for the post, looking forward to hearing the results.

 

Well here are the parts with new bushings installed. Gotta wait till my wife gets back home in a bit since I'm with the baby right now.

My buddy who installed them said the only issue was the left rear upper control arm's inner bushing, the one with the bar through it, had an eccentric-shaped hole on the arm for some reason, and the bushing wouldn't stay in like it should. So he put a few tack weldsaround the bushing to help hold it. He said his dad's shop may have some of those arms laying around that I could get from him. We'll see.













Had to get a little weld on this one

 

keep us posted. i'm intersted to see how these bushings feel overall. i may have to get these after my energy suspension ones go bad.

 

I see the slight "clock " in the RTA

 

my plan as well




edit: thats interesting you had to have one welded in, I wonder if anyone else has had this prob. could it have possibly been the arm?

 

Yes I could see the bushing bore in the left rear upper arm looked warped a bit. The guy said the old bushing just came out really easily.

So I finally got it all done about 6 this evening, over 4 hours after I started. Man I'm exhausted. Preliminary impression: car rides MUCH better than before. However I only went for a quick spin around the neighborhood, so I definitely haven't pushed it much yet. Will report further later on.

 

Few more pics from finishing up yesterday.

Loading the suspension up to ride height before torquing all bolts to spec. Sway bar is disconnected here so I was able to get the knuckle up to true ride height, about 12.25" from hub center to fender edge.




Out of curiosity, I thought I'd check my UCA clearance under the shock tower at that ride height. It's about 3" clearance at static ride height. Guess that's okay. No dents in the shock towers yet.




Tie rods angle up, but not too badly.




Axle is oriented nearly parallel to the ground -- which means it's angled DOWN at stock ride height -- which ALSO means that having it angled up when lowered does NOT cause extra stress on the axles. To a point of course.





I thought about driving it to dinner last night, but we ended up taking my wife's car instead because it's easier to get the baby in and out. GOOD THING because I realized in the middle of the night last night that I totally forgot to tighten the right shock fork pinch bolt. I pulled the tire off this morning, and sure enough that bolt was about read to fall out! Oh man, if we had driven the car last night, a few well-placed bumps in the road could have been bad news for us!

Anyway, went for a bit longer drive today, and boy does it feel great. Can't wait to get it aligned on Monday morning. I have full confidence that having all new bushings will help keep my alignment in check and help reduce some of the toe wear I've been getting (despite previous alignments).

 

This makes me want to hurry up and do mine.

 

Lol dooooo eeeeeeet! Do work son!

I'll say this: the RTA's are a PITA to put back on by yourself with no lift. So dang heavy. Oh yeah, make sure you orient both washers on each side of the compliance bushings correctly, with the FR stamp facing forwards on both washers. I had to dissassemble part of the left front after I ha everything on because of this. Wasted 1/2 hour or more because of that.

 

your kidding about this right? they weigh like 25 lbs lol

also, its quite possible that the welding bushings will have problems. It was hard to tell from your pic but it looked like the rubber started to melt. I made some simple adjustable arms by welding angle iron directly to the bushing and then welding bolts to that, and on one bushing i put too much heat into it and after 10,000 miles the rubber inside has mostly all pulled away from the metal. I was very careful when welding them and only welded like 4 - 1/4" tacks around the outside. however all the other bushings i did this way are still mint so maybe you'll be ok.

I noticed a pretty good difference in the rear. MUCH less deflection, slightly more noise and slightly rougher ride, however the ride felt better to me im not sure if rougher is the right word.

 

I haven't noticed any more noise. If anything it's quieter because my old RTA bushing were pretty much completely torn apart.

And yes the trailing arms feel heavy as crap when you're trying to lift them up at an awkward angle and hold it up in place long enough to get a bolt started.

 

^ i agree trailing arms are a pain by your self.

 

I'm not too worried about this as my car will on the lift and I won't remove my RTA, I bought a brand spanking new Matco bushing X-tractor that has been holding down some very important paper for about a year now! haha. Do you know how long it took the shop to press out everything?

 

when i had my RTAs replaced with OEM ones it took an hour total to get the old ones out and the new ones in. The cut the middles out and air hammered the old pieces out and put the mew ones in the freezer than they slid right in. Car rides great now

 

Good idea Slow! i'm gonna try this since no body want to buy my honda gen's, I might as well throw them in until I get the Pic's...

 

Oh dang I didn't even think about the freezer idea! I'm going to try it on one of my OE rear LCA's. I got one of those bushings out myself (cut out middle, hacksawed out the metal sleeve), but I didn't get the new ones installed in those since I already have F7's and install price was already expensive.

 

yeah give it a try. I guess when your dad works at a shop with guys that have about 4 teeth that those old rednecks are kinda smart after all. The thought never crossed my mind to do that and when he was like **** boy i have em done for ya in an hour i was like how and he told me that i was like well damn, thats pretty smart. But, i also have access to a free press of any size. I took machine shop in high school and am good friends with the teacher still. I call him tell him i need this he says come in and i pay him in Reese Cups :D