'04 to '08 front lower control arm bushing failure - please read and look

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Old 06-12-2009, 08:18 AM
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Old 06-12-2009, 08:51 AM
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lol heeltoe ur right its def nothing compared to the 2g issues with those trannies.... I just dont want the suspension slowly deteriorating or even breaking down in such a short amount of time... mine break down faster like 6months because i drive in the city. I brought this up to my mechanic at acura and he gave me a look like dude i can do this with my eyes closed, thats how many times hes replaced the arms on this car. y does honda have the part get replaced when its a simple press out, press in situation...they know the piece is junk and couldve n shouldve made it better by now n said something about it so people can get it replaced for a price.
I look at it as, if its not broken dont fix it but if theres an advancement...make it. lol
Old 06-12-2009, 09:01 AM
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wait i forgot about job security....sorry
Old 06-12-2009, 09:52 AM
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Originally Posted by Tripnbeats
lol heeltoe ur right its def nothing compared to the 2g issues with those trannies.... I just dont want the suspension slowly deteriorating or even breaking down in such a short amount of time... mine break down faster like 6months because i drive in the city. I brought this up to my mechanic at acura and he gave me a look like dude i can do this with my eyes closed, thats how many times hes replaced the arms on this car. y does honda have the part get replaced when its a simple press out, press in situation...they know the piece is junk and couldve n shouldve made it better by now n said something about it so people can get it replaced for a price.
I look at it as, if its not broken dont fix it but if theres an advancement...make it. lol

I'm trying to remember, you tried the type s and it broke too, right?
Old 06-12-2009, 09:53 AM
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yea same story after a month.
Old 06-12-2009, 10:03 AM
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Originally Posted by Tripnbeats
yea same story after a month.

That's what I thought. I want to replace mine and I have access to a hydraulic press but not sure I want to waste the time and money if it's just going to do it again in a month.
Old 06-12-2009, 10:12 AM
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i htought it was worth it because its 35 bucks just to see what happens. and they broke. lol. i cant wait to get the compound to pour in there.
Old 06-12-2009, 11:30 AM
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Please keep us posted, this may explain the mysterious side to side shimmy i've experienced. It's been a lot more noticeable since I lowered the car. I had the driver side half shaft replaced, had alignments and balance, had the motor mounts checked. Nobody can tell me what it is. I've lowered a few cars prior to this one and this is the ONLY one that does this. It's only really felt at low rpm/speed and kind of disappears when I get up to normal cruising speed. Almost like a "vibration" point.
Old 06-12-2009, 02:30 PM
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I haven't looked at those bushings up close but, here are some urethane parts of a symmetrical shape:

http://www.goturethane.com/RunScript...p=ASP\Pg45.asp

http://www.polyprod.com/wheels.html
Old 06-12-2009, 05:35 PM
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I'd be interested in sending 'Go Urethane' an OEM replacement bushing and a control arm and seeing what they come up with.
Old 06-12-2009, 05:55 PM
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Ok, I dont know if I got the pic of the right thing, but it looks like I have the same problem too. I have an 06 with 49,7XX miles and am trying to get everything done before warranty runs out..
Left side.
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Right side
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Old 06-12-2009, 06:25 PM
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Originally Posted by NedShneebly
I think its time for Acura/Honda to learn the hard way and make better bushings. Someone as anal as I am just can't comprehend something failing on purpose.

The are not failing on purpose man, lol. Honda knows how to make bushings just fine! A few ones go bad, yeah there is room for improvement. In the grand scheme of things I don't think this is a serious issue. Haha, maybe it is a possible new Fastline product tho! I know people at Energy Suspension...hmmmm
Old 06-12-2009, 08:06 PM
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^pnoi521,

join the 'race the warranty' crew! 48,500-ish on my 06. my dealer's service department slipped up and pretty much told me why they won't warranty mine; it seams that my dealership stopped stamping new bushings in a while back. They just replace the whole control arm, so it's a $$$ thing.
Old 06-12-2009, 10:08 PM
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Originally Posted by NedShneebly
^pnoi521,

join the 'race the warranty' crew! 48,500-ish on my 06. my dealer's service department slipped up and pretty much told me why they won't warranty mine; it seams that my dealership stopped stamping new bushings in a while back. They just replace the whole control arm, so it's a $$$ thing.
So did they replace anything?
Old 06-12-2009, 10:43 PM
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nope. gave me a number to corporate and said if they give the go ahead, then they would do the service.
Old 06-13-2009, 02:59 PM
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Ok...so what does everyone think is the permanent solution here? Do you guys think my symptom described might be fixed with this?

Here are mine
Passenger side

driver side


To me the passenger side looks busted!
Old 06-13-2009, 05:47 PM
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I had a type s in here today that was just starting to go on teh driver side...there must be something we can do here. But making a poly bushing is going to make it pretty firm. It might be better to do a spherical bearing. But that can get pretty expensive.
Old 06-13-2009, 07:50 PM
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Rockstar, I think I see a small crack on the left rim of your passenger side photo but a better shot, like the one of the driver side would help.
Old 06-13-2009, 09:46 PM
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I don't think a 60A - 65A urethane bushing would be as bad as some make it out to be...

For engine mounts, they're noticeable, but for this, you probably couldn't even tell.
Old 06-15-2009, 09:34 AM
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Thanks for taking the time to check it out...I took a few more pics of the passenger side so I'll resize and post them. It has grease around it, like a CV boot rip or somehing, which is what made me think it probably is busted.

Old 06-15-2009, 09:55 AM
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Originally Posted by MrHeeltoe
I had a type s in here today that was just starting to go on teh driver side...there must be something we can do here. But making a poly bushing is going to make it pretty firm. It might be better to do a spherical bearing. But that can get pretty expensive.
I don't think it's the hardness exactly but rather the potential for more NVH or binding. I think ride quality will remain exactly the same. If one was made I would gladly test it out. I know the car very well and how it handles at the limits. I have places wide enough to test it that even if I encountered problems there would be no damage to the car.

Besides, I can install it for free doing it myself.
Old 06-15-2009, 10:47 AM
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this is what the poly would look like after one time going up down and it wont return to its form...this is my innovative mount before sending it out to replace. This is the reason i wouldnt go with poly for these applications.
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and rock..the rip/tear occcurs on the top of the bushings...u took the pics of the wrong location. pnoi has the cracks if u take a close look, cant see them on yours clearly...on the passenger side it looks like a tiny tear occured. cant really see it though.
Old 06-15-2009, 10:50 AM
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im looking into vulcanized rubber (weather proof) and silicon rubber compounds.
Old 06-15-2009, 10:56 AM
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Meaning I took the picture from too horizontally, it's still the correct bushing I'm taking a picture of, right?! Want to make sure I got this right.

So just take a pic of the same thing from above?
Old 06-15-2009, 11:02 AM
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correct.
Old 06-15-2009, 11:09 AM
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Originally Posted by Tripnbeats
this is what the poly would look like after one time going up down and it wont return to its form...this is my innovative mount before sending it out to replace. This is the reason i wouldnt go with poly for these applications.


and rock..the rip/tear occcurs on the top of the bushings...u took the pics of the wrong location. pnoi has the cracks if u take a close look, cant see them on yours clearly...on the passenger side it looks like a tiny tear occured. cant really see it though.
I really have to wonder if that's not from heat.

I've been running poly in my driver's side engine mount and every suspension bushing is poly on the GN and I've never seen anything like that. I'm sure there aer different grades of poly, maybe these are cheap.
Old 06-15-2009, 11:13 AM
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hmmm...I had taken multiple pics when I did...this one was probably the "highest" one. Looks damaged to me. Do they have a grease inside of them that would come out if busted? Reason I ask is cause the passenger side one was dirty and driver side was pretty much clean.
Old 06-15-2009, 11:18 AM
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nah no grease....that possibly came out of your power steering reservoir....mine looked the same this weekend
Old 06-15-2009, 11:22 AM
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Thank you. And yes, I had the recall done so it probably dripped down onto it.
What about the symptom I described. Something I've never felt on any of my lowered cars. Some would say get a camber kit, but I don't have uneven wear and I dont' think it's camber related. I had the driver side half axle changed and it might not have even been the problem (that was at the recommendation of the acura shop foreman). It seemed to have gotten better but maybe it was only because I dropped 200 bucks on it...so it got better in my head.

This sounds like it could be a viable problem and the solution to my shimmy.

This was what I wrote above
"Anyway, I'm wondering if this is why I feel that shimmy when accelerating. I didn't own the car long enough before lowering it to remember if it happened once lowered, but that's when I noticed it. I had the driver side axle replaced already and it's still there. Not too bad, but kind of annoying. I did get used to it though. If mine are torn, that would make sense as to why they shimmy because that would give it the horizontal "play" it needs to make the car wiggle. "

It's like a slight vibration at low rpms and speed...once speed pics up it goes away and drives perfect well. Motor mounts are ok too...had that checked. It's a faint vibration that feels like the car is wiggling slightly and then disappears as speed pics up. Probably from about 1500 rpms to 2500 or so.

Last edited by rockstar143; 06-15-2009 at 11:25 AM.
Old 06-15-2009, 12:23 PM
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Those are the innovative mounts broooo. that happened because the top bolt of the rear motor mount came loose and broke all the mounts, probably over a period of 2 days or so. I didnt use loctite. Then i finally had time to put the car up n look... 3 or 4 days later.
I brought it home, stood the motor up on the oem jack . took it all apart n sent it back to replace. those are 60A btw.
Now my reasoning behind saying no to poly is because if the stock rubber ones are failing the way that they are (because of odd ups n downs and flexing back n forth) the poly would be waaaay too stiff and the ride would be ruined with poly and flex and stay the way that mine stayed..... if i can find a good complement between good tear factor, strength and vibration absorbtion in the mixes i ordered and the ride quality is still there (to a degree, because its going to be stiffer).... id make them and if people liked em...make more.

Last edited by Tripnbeats; 06-15-2009 at 12:27 PM.
Old 06-15-2009, 12:30 PM
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another pic.
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and thats the side one...only one of the bushings flexed n froze in position.

now everything is fine...innovative doesnt ask questions .. 15$ for shipping n ur good to go.. and I used loctite this time =)
Old 06-15-2009, 12:31 PM
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heat is a factor for sure especially in this car.
Old 06-15-2009, 01:44 PM
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^ I'll be checking mine later...

I still think poly is worth a try b/c these two parts are under completely different weight loads and heat environments...

The engine mounts are arguably the most stressed components that are not internal.
Old 06-15-2009, 01:55 PM
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yea but the stress your putting on the suspension is constant once on the ground and the constant ups n downs n side to side motions are worse than the rocking of the engine n tranny in one place. plus with poly mounts the engine isnt even rocking anymore. you have to have the part return to an original state...once the poly flexes it stays warped....but again it depends on the type used. also poly is a much more rigid material than rubber.
i want to keep it as close to stock as possible without making the change noticable when looked at by anyone....ESPECIALLY the dealer. if rubber doesnt work... ill try poly...i have 2part poly but its too hard i need to find something a lil below 60a with a high resistance to tearing under load.
Old 06-15-2009, 01:57 PM
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the environment is almost the same.... u still get a lot of heat from the sides of the motor.
one sides got the cooling system which is super hot the other sides got the tranny... agaain, super hot.
Old 06-15-2009, 02:07 PM
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So could having torn bushings cause any damage?
Old 06-15-2009, 02:40 PM
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if they were extremely torn yes if not it wont make a huge difference.
Old 06-15-2009, 03:07 PM
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I'm not enough of an expert to know what the bushings reaching failure does to the suspension but, what I think we all agree it ain't kosher.

and the response from my dealer is unnacceptable: "They're just stress cracks. It's happened on all the Acura's I've owned. It doesn't effect handling."! WTF, Over?

I'm not saying my handling issues are directly related to my cracked mounts but I've had no luck tracing via all other suspension tests (alignment x2, balance x2, and new struts/springs)
Old 06-15-2009, 03:51 PM
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I'm going in tomorrow to have the last of my warranty work done, and they said they'll look at my bushings, hopefully I'll get a better response than what everyone else has been getting
Old 06-15-2009, 07:27 PM
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Please keep us posted. If this fixes the issue, I'll be a happy man. That little shimmy is the only quam I have with this car. Other than that, I feel like it's perfection.


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