andrewhake

Funny you should mention that, I was just having a chat with av8ter over PM and I think he convinced me to do exactly that. Fresh bushings and then do compliance sphericals. I think that could work very well. Replacing what is essentially the largest rubber bushing in the suspension with sphericals, which should theoretically decrease some of the dynamic toe?

The only reason I am considering just doing all new arms is the time and cost of having a shop do all the work of replacing the bushings, the definite possibility of some of arms being out of spec, and being able to get a good deal through my friend who has pretty much been the source of all the brand new parts on my car.

andrewhake

I am going to mount my front emblem today as well as redoing the adhesive on my rear duckbill. My duckbill is bolted down as per the factory install instructions, but the adhesive/seal has started slip out of alignment due to the airflow. If I were to guess I would say that that seal is probably costing me about .001mph top speed right now.

Hopefully the front emblem doesn't add too much additional drag.

av8ter

Would be expensive to go with new OEM for sure. Close to $900 for the front arms alone, another $1100+ for the rear. And yes, dynamic toe can eat a dick.

andrewhake

Almost forgot to mention. I had quite the scare last night. It has been quite windy in the mountains lately. I did a quick run downhill on a short fun section, and no later than 30 seconds later on my way back up hill, and large branch had fallen from a tree with no real way for me to stop before it. Luckily I was able to find the right line and drive over part of it just barely to avoid any issues. That combined with the rest of the night having to dodge other little branches in the road definitely made for an interesting challenge.

I think I can say for sure now that I absolutely notice a difference in front downforce with the bumper and hood. Really interesting the effect it has on the car.

andrewhake

Yeah I may just end up doing the front arms. Which I can get for quite a lot less than that luckily. It seems like the fronts would take the most abuse.

afzan

I was in a similar predicament (2005 with 80k and autox/track use) - My compliance bushings were beat up and the passenger side caster adjuster was seized

I had a hard time deciding what to do. In the end I ended up getting only the Mugen compliance bushings and had a shop replace it for me. I think it took around them ~1 hours max (with the arms on the car) to complete both sides. While I was at it I replaced all the bolts/sleeves/cams/etc on the lower arms

I think it's a great option and it won't break the bank and it gives you time to decide if you want to go full sphericals

BTW - Another option would be to just replace the lower arms only, the bushings in the upper arms don't wear as fast as the ones in the lowers

andrewhake

Yeah good point, the front upper arms and the rear arms have fairly small and simple bushings, while the front lower arms seem to wear faster.

av8ter

Was wondering if this was doable but decided it wasn't worth the hassle. Can't imagine trying to push the bushings out any other way than on a press.

grubinski

I ran spherical bearings on my old Datsun 510, years ago. I think one of the major benefits is the lack of binding. You wouldn't get that benefit unless you ran all of them. Mugen or Spoon bushings would be *worse* than stock in that regard.

andrewhake

Why would they be "worse"? They are rubber the same as OEM.