Hi All,

I am going to re-do all the bushings for my suspension and was wondering what brands are good to get and what brands to stay away from. Should I do all OEM or should I get the aftermarket stuff?

Thanks!
Piyu

 

Good question, I'm also keen to hear what people think. Spoon do a set which I imagine is close to OEM, although it's not cheap. Haven't priced up the same from Honda.

https://www.spoonsports.eu/spoon-pro...9-dca-000.html

 

As a general rule, what's better than OEM? If I had an R and the $$ I'd definitely go OEM, it's backed by years and $$$$ of Honda R&D....

That being said, I'm told polyurethane/spherical bushings are better for track use, although they might be a bit noisier, which detracts from their daily/streetable appeal.

I've also heard good things about replacement bushings from HardRace. They're hardened rubber, so you get the benefit of being stiffer than stock but none of the negatives of being poly.
Hardrace Suspension Bushing Kit 97-01 Integra Type R - 6107-DC2-R - BuyHardRace.com

 

Pricey! Wow, spoon stuff is no joke.

 

Interesting.

 

I've been pretty happy with the the HardRace bushings in my non-R Integra.

 

Just bought some Hard Race today, yay!

 

Can you post back when you have them installed? I'm curious how they go for a street car in terms of noise and harshness etc. Rubber is probably pretty good I assume.

 

Will do, I'm taking the r to a friends shop next Monday to get them installed. I'll update you folks then.

 

I re-did my suspension last yearand i've put about 1500 miles since then on the PIC bushing set and I like them a lot. If you are doing all of them yourself, take your time pressing them in. Also with the lower control arms, when pressing the bushings back in, put something like a oversized socket on the underside of the lower control arm. they can bend inward if nothing is there to support the gap on underside. I had to buy a new lower control arms because of that.

 

Thanks!

 

From a longevity standpoint for a street car there is nothing better than OEM. OEM is going to be more expensive for sure over hard race or any big box part stores bushings.
I would say next level of stiffness would be mugen ( much pricier than OEM and harder to find a complete set) and hard race.

I have OEM replacement parts for the rear end of my ITR. For the front of the ITR I have Mugen compliance bushing, AC delco perfessional grade lower control arms. I have not ordered the rest of the front end parts but they will be OEM Honda. I bought aftermarket front lower control arms because the OEM pieces were quite a bit more than every other outlet. I may swap in the hard race front lower control arms down the line if I don't like the AC delco's

 

I have a few friends and my brother recommend Energy bushings. My bro did it on his 01 db8 and my friends on their eks and eg's and I can speak for my bros car it drives great. I bought the energy kit for my own integra sedan but haven't put it on yet

 

hardrace or suja1/pic. both are excellent

 

IMHO. No way would I run poly. Not for street applications anyway. And rose joints on the road would be only for those of a sadomasochist bent. Hey whatever floats your boat, but physiotherapists and dentists are expensive. Polys are grand in some old cars where the original bushes were made from marshmallows and prayer, but not a Teggie R(or GSR for that matter. I'd run R bits and bobs there).

Above all, the one bush I'd always go OEM is the rear trailing arm bush. From another forum across the pond(bloody great one too and a resource I'd highly recommend for any questions you may have, but like so many forums all too quiet these days ), a qualified chappie on the matter(ex Lotus and pro motorsport guy IIRC).

"The rear suspension on the DC2 (and a lot of other Honda's) is quite special.

The trailing arm bush is designed so the wheel can move backward or forward - that's why there's so much play in it.

The trailing arm is controlled by 3 arms. Simplifying slightly:

The lower control arm takes the main side loads.
The upper control arm controls camber.
The front control arm controls toe.

The special bit comes in when you brake. When you're braking, the tyre as it grips wants to move slower than the car currently is. That pulls the wheel backwards compared to the car.

Now, the trailing arm bush is specifically designed to allow the wheel to move back like this under braking. You're probably thinking that's useless and bonkers. Not so. Look at the lower control arm, and the front control arm. When the trailing arm moves back, it's held by both of those arms which limit where it can move. The front control arm is a lot shorter than the lower control arm. So when the trailing arm moves backward under the braking load, the front arm will angle more than the lower arm simply because it's shorter. That means the front of the trailing arm has to move inwards. Adding toe in.

To put it simpler, the trailing arm bush is designed to be soft so that the arm moves back under braking, causing the front control arm to pull the front of the trailing arm in, adding toe in, stabalising the back end under braking.

Even more clever is the way the amount of toe it added is purely related to how far back the wheel is pulled, which is related to how hard you're braking and how much grip that wheel has. So if one wheel loses grip compared to the other, the toe of the two wheels will differ, helping stabalise the rear end. Really cool, and clever.

Honda has several patents on it.

If you put a much harder bushing in place of the standard trailing arm bush, you stop the backward movement under braking which stops the toe change under braking. Whether you want that or not, is up to you. But if you do it, you should consider what toe to run at the back as it's effectively static after the bush change. You can set the car up to work well either way - I'm just making the point that removing this cool toe change under braking behaviour without considering the overall handling effects isn't necessarily a good thing for everyone. I've certainly seen enough people who've probably been saved from a spin by the standard behaviour when they end up braking too deep into a corner to consider it worthless.

Just thought people might find that of interest... handling is a lot more subtle that you'd think



-Brian."

What he said.

Beyond that bush and just in my humble, the Hardrace stuff is good quality and similar to OEM in the rubber ranges. Mugen and Spoon are high quality too, but lube up and bend over when you ask for a price. It'll still hurt. Or maybe that's me being the cheapskate I am..

The only poly I'd consider would be the gear shifter link bushes. I found them very nice and a step up over OEM, or at least the well fecked by age OEM that was on mine. Maybe the engine mounts too? Though I've heard they can make the vibrations from the already "revving in your lap" of OEM a lot more noticeable. Lady drivers of R's reading this may take a different view.

 

I run Kingpin compliance in front and OEM every where else.

 

Update: Just finished doing all the bushings with Hardrace bushings and they seem to be pretty good. Quality of the bushings seemed good and the ride a little stiffer than stock. You will notice the stiffness.