emr88

The trailing arm bushings are completely shot on my GSR. I'm seriously considering the Energy Suspension polyurethane bushings as they are ~$20. Prothane also makes this bushing, but it comes complete with outer shell but it goes for ~$120. Anyone have experience with either one of these? Is the Prothane bushing worth the extra $100?
Also, any advice for installing these?

I plan to remove the trailing arms myself, then take them to a shop to have the bushings pressed in.

dwolsten

I'd like to hear some input on this as well. Anyone?
The trailing arm bushings on my '94 Integra are looking pretty bad. Also, does anyone know why these bushings fail so early, and what factors affect their lifespan? Will these polyurethane bushings also fail eventually due to these same factors? emr88's Integra is only 5 years old, which doesn't seem like a long time for suspension components, but these trailing arm bushings seem to be a common problem on Hondas.

Tweakmeister

both are fine.

the bushings do go bad rather quickly. ofcourse this is true for most of the rubber bushings in the suspension. it's just a limitation of the material when so much stress is induced on it.

dwolsten

So how do the ES bushings compare to the Prothane (esp. given the huge price difference)? Are the ES much harder to install? Also, what kind of lifetime could we expect? I'd like to have bushings that I don't have to bother replacing again.

Along this vein, what other bushings should we keep on eye on as our cars age? It seems like the motor mounts also fall apart fairly quickly.

Anyone know how much one should expect to pay to have the trailing arm bushings replaced if you take the trailing arms off yourself?

emr88

I IM'ed Driven, who has experience with the ES bushings. I saw his post in this thread
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=163813 Hopefully, he'll provide some more input.

The thread above also has ES instructions for replacing this bushing. From what I can tell the Prothane bushing comes complete with cross pin and outer shell. The ES bushing does not.

For what it's worth, my car spent it's early years in the desert and the hot, harsh environment really dried out this particular bushing.

sauceman

I've seen on other threads that prothane have stiffer bushings than ES. This may be good if your trailing arms induce so much stress they cause the stock bushings to wear out early. Personally, I don't know, I have prothane and I think they're fine, but I never tried out the ES as my prothane kit hasn't shown signs of weariness after 100,000 miles.

Driven

ah, yes... the ES vs Prothane choice. Simple pro/con format:

Energy Suspension Bushings:
Pros
- Cheaper
- Softer than the Prothanes

Cons
- Pain in the *** to install
- Softer than the Prothanes

Prothanes:
Pros
- Complete unit
- Stiffer than ES
- far easier to install

Cons
- Price
- Stiffer than ES


The install process for the ES is somewhat like this:
- remove wheels
- disconnect the trailing arm from car
- get your torch and spend the next hour burning the rubber out of the trailing arm.
- retain the metal bar and hammer in the ES bushings
- reinstall

The installation process for the Prothanes:
- remove wheels
- disconnect trailing arm
- Measure the depth the bushing resides in the arm
- HAMMER out the bushing (takes 5-10 whacks with a rubber mallet)
- install the Prothane unit as a whole, installing it to the same depth as the stock unit.
- install trailing arm.


I have the prothane units on my car and love them. They allow a good degree of toe adjustment over stock. The ES bushings retains the metal bar...which doesn't allow much adjustment over stock.

The only reason i can understand anyone choosing the ES bushings over the Prothanes is because they don't have to install them and are cheapskates. The ES bushings are something like $30 as opposed to the Prothanes $140 (from lightningmotorsports.com).



As you can see, the Prothane unit is a solid piece. I've had mine for about 4 years and they still look perfect. this is on a crx that is autocrossed and time trialed as much as possible.



hope this helps

hondaeg5

whats prothanes web address?

dwolsten

Umm... http://www.prothane.com

Driven: how is the ride with the Prothane bushings? Can you tell a difference? Thanks for the great info btw.

Also, http://www.philsinc.com has these bushings for $129 for anyone interested.

smokin rubber

Can you explain this? I'm confused and still have to install my rear prothane bushings.

Driven

on the stock RTA bushing, you have a metal bar that is in the middle of the rubber bushing. This metal bar bolts to the chassis and has a limited amount of "adjustment". when i mean limited, i mean very very limited.

with the Prothanes, they provide an entire unit. The metal bar is slotted to allow more adjustment.

Ricky Rojales

I'm using the Prothane. But, either brand will suffice.

CivicSD

is it true that polyurethane bushings are too stiff for rear trailing arms?

some people say that these solid bushings cause binding & limited suspension travel, and that bushing is supposed to have *some* play on its axis...

what do you guys think of this and do you know if the mugen RTA bushings are any good?

http://www.jhpusa.com/store/pc/viewP...idproduct=4323

OddityDX

Way to go and revive a 8 year old thread.. Get stock you cant beat it.

CivicSD

8 year old thread but the info is still relevant.


im stuck, dont know whether to get Prothane, hardrace, or mugen. (Mugen is hardened version of stock)

Some people say get spherical bearings but i want something that will last forever with minimum maintenance/problems.

98civdx

Why not PIC?
It is hard rubber, and quite a bit cheaper then Mugen.

But hardrace is cheaper and I have heard good things about those as well.

darkenedsol

ES are pretty good. Have two cars with them. Pain in the a$$ to install, but nice upgrade for the price, and they don't tear like the OEM rubbers. Just my .02