Pretty much any sort of lowering on a Honda, or any front lip, makes ramps impossible to use.

 

You have to be inventive...there are shallow ramps with extension available for lowered cars. And if that doesn't work place a 2x6 about 1/3 the way up each ramp. Once the car is on the 2x6 it is another 1.5" - 1.75" above the ramp. Once the tire leaves the 2x6 the bumper should clear the lip around the flat part of the ramp.

I performed this operation many, many times. If your car is super low, I agree, not much will help...other than the above mentioned alignment rack.

Length of over hang makes a difference here...

 

^, staggered 2x6 makes a great lowered car ramp. cut various lengths that walk the car up and bang them together with 16d's

 

Or if you have a jack that will lift high enough, lift up the car and then lower it onto the ramps. Worked for me.

 

concrete blocks

 

NEVER put your car on concrete blocks turned on their side with the flat sides facing up and the holes facing sideways. Those blocks aren't meant to support weight in that direction.

 

Concrete block have killed a shocking number of weekend warriors! As a unit they are not designed for a point load anywhere near 850lbs...about what one front corner of a 2,600lb car might weigh.

A concrete block is a modular building unit.

 

To be honest I only trust jack stands. The plastic ramps just don't sit too well with me. On a side note I just dropped $400 on OEM engine parts for my GSR and should be ordering my Hardrace bushings, F7 LCAs and camber kits soon since my bday is coming up fast (3 weeks).

 

Most CMU blocks are at least 2,000 psi concrete. They would be okay in the correct orientation (holes oriented top and bottom, with solid sides all around). Just NEVER use them laying sideways with the solid portions on top and bottom.

Then again I would never use more than one block high, either. That IS a good way to get hurt or killed.

Or just stay away from them altogether for supporting cars and use actual jackstands.

 

I have like 4 of the I think 2 Ton metal jack stands. There are several horror stories with plastic ramps breaking and the car just crushing them. Read up on them and its pretty scary they are actually sold to put a car up on them. When I am working under the car I keep the hydraulic jack under it, put the metal jack stands, and then these super thick heavy duty cinder blocks just in case. If I dont have those and the car wheels are off I put them under so if it does fall it will hit the wheel and atleast I have some room underneath lol. You can never be too cautious when that much weight is above you.

 

But one must displace 2,000lbs (1,700 - 1,900) evenly over the entire block, referred to as net area. When they reach thier yield point, however, they crack or crumble...they completely fail. So does steel, but block is not meant for that application...not rated for such in ASTM literature I am sure. Wood can be much more useful; it begins to deflect before it reaches its yield point giving us a wee bit of warning...and then, it normally won't fail completely.

Metal ramps!

 

Not to mention I don't want to be caught under the car when a 6.0+ quake hits. I usually use 6. 2 front, 2 rear and 2 on the rear subframe. Overkill, but well worth it

 

dont get poly for the rear camber kit. make sure to use rubber unless the bushings come apart that you buy. i had my car re-aligned saturday and my skunk2 bushings not even a year old are going bad. i have play in the arm already. they are coming out soon.

 

I am going to have to disagree. I have had Skunk 2 camber kits with the poly bushings for almost 3 years or so now and they have the same bushings in them, no play, they just got squeaky and needed to be greased up. I disassembled them and greased them up and checked everything out, there's no sign of wear. Poly lasts extremely long. I think the ones that have trouble are in colder temperatures and salted roads?

 

the rears aren't greaseable. i have front nad rears. my fronts are lubed and fine. the rears hav side to side play in them already. i live in MD which is mainly salt and not TOO cold but cold enough

 

Yes they are! You take off 1 circlip on each one and everything slides out. There are grooves in the poly that the sleeve slides in. I know because I literally just did this 2 weeks ago. I used the grease that comes with the Energy Suspension Bushings since I have like a tub of it lol.

 

oh my gosh, i would never park my car on concrete that wasn't reinforced with steel bar. concrete has near zero tinsel strength and can crumble if it shifts and something moves.

 

My friend is runing the PIC hard rubber bushings. I think they are about $255, He absoluty loves them. His dad was so impressed he just orderd a kit today for his DD.

I dont think you can go wrong with the hardrace bushings, although i have never had them im sure they are basicly the same as PIC just 5 bucks cheeper.

I dont trust anything but jack stands, i dont even like rotating the tires without stands under the car. My dads freind had a van come down on top of his knee's, so i was always yelled at, "put stands under that F'ing thing!"

But what I would do if i was tightening bolts is, jack the car up, and slide my dad's ramps under the wheels. It gives me enough room to do what i need to do. Sure it's a pain in the ***, but it beats having a 2k+ pound car come down on you.

 

So what's the recommendation on camber kits then? I thought SPC made a good setup, but if anyone else knows of a better combo

 

Poly works in a single axis application, otherwise it will bind.

The large trailing arm bushing should never have poly and not for the reason above; poly will not allow this bushing to work properly and as such affects proper toe control.

 

Uh no, polyurethane does NOT last extremely long. They last a very short time compared to rubber bushings.

I had poly shifter bushings for about 4 years, and I tossed them because they were extremely dry rotted and crumbling, and had tons of play. These were non-rotating, non-load bearing bushings, too. They looked MUCH worse than my original rubber shifter bushings did at 7-8 years old. Hell they looked worse than my original suspension bushings at 15 years old! And I live in the South, where it rarely goes below freezing, and we might have a bit of salt or sand on the road for a couple days out of the year.

I have ES sway bar bushings on my ITR rear bar, and I'll probably eventually chuck those for OEM ITR bushings.

Would you seriously want something on your car that looks like this after only 4 years?

 

any clue what cause was? i just looked over all my suspension bushings the other day. 45k miles later they all look new.

 

People also forget that usually performance oriented things need to be replaced more often. If I need to do my bushings in 5 years vs the 15+ years of the stock bushings so be it. The handling benefit is worth it.

 

Well my car is primarily a daily driver, so it's not worth it to me.

I'm pretty sure the cause of my shifter bushing deterioration is just that polyurethane sucks as a bushing material. Just used for a normal daily driver, normal shifting, in normal southern climate.

There are other threads on here that show poly bushings after only 1 or 2 years of use with massive freeplay in the metal sleeves. They were properly lubed and everything. No thanks.

 

all true, however, myself for example has 3+ years and 45k miles on ES bushings everywhere but the shifter. no slop, no play, no problems. what i've been curious about is what creates the shortened life for other folks