Hey guys, just picked up a 01 gs-r with 151k on the clock. Engine's mostly sorted (routine maintenance, timing belt, etc.) but that's for another thread.

Currently it's riding on stock everything suspension-wise, and with 150k miles it's showing its age. Ride is very floaty/sloshy.

I've settled on H&R OE Sport springs because I'm not looking for much of a drop (0.75" will hopefully make it look ITR-esque) and Koni STR.T's for the shocks. I thought about koni yellows, but I can't justify the added expense for adjustability considering this will be a 95% commuter car with a little light spirited driving on the weekends. No Track, no AutoX.

My question is while I'm down there, should I replace anything else? I'm sure most of the bushings are probably shot, but which ones should I target first? And rubber or polyurethane? I'm not trying to make this a race car, just tighten up this tired old girl.

 

Check the rubber bits at the top of the shock/spring assemblies, sway bar bushings, sway bar end links, bump stops.

For bushings I'd go with rubber, since it's a commuter poly will be pretty darn stiff and squeak if you don't lubricate them regularly. The Hard Race kit has been pretty good in my experience, but removing/installing new suspension bushings on these cars is not an easy task, you either need a big press or to pay a machine shop to do the press work, I ended up paying something like $10/bushing to have a shop press them so it totaled around $300 for just the press work. Since it has 150k miles you can probably keep going on the stock bushings for a while, but make sure to check the trailing arm bushings at minimum as they will make a big difference if they're worn out.

 

I have a poly kit on my car. I'll admit, it's a bit harsh on bad roads. I've only had slight creaking in cold weather. Honestly I recommend poly for sway bars and maybe LCA bushings since oil and other lubricants can "eat" rubber bushings. Otherwise make sure u buy high quality such as moog. Cheap stuff usually fails after only a couple years.

 

Yeah, I'm probably just going to go with hardrace or OEM, don't think I'm going to go poly because i'm still trying to maintain a decent amount of comfort since it's my daily. Gonna at least do the sway bars front & back and anything else that's falling apart....rear trailing arms for one. Ugh.

 

I got my rear trailing arm bushings from a company called "Whiteline". They are a happy medium between poly and rubber. One of the best purchases I made! They're claim is they are durable like poly, and more comfortable like rubber.