After the cracked bushing incident, I thought my bushing problems were behind me. Well, apparently not so...

About two weeks ago I started to hear a muffled thump from the rear of the car over certain bumps or in low speed turns. I thought one of the bolts had loosened off again so last weekend I retorqued everything but nothing was really loose. The thump persisted throughout the week so I decided to do some troubleshooting to figure out what was causing it.

After 2 hours of crawling under the car I found the source of the problem: One of the bushings is worn out!

There's a good 0.020"-0.030" of play on the ID of the bushing. It looks like the bushing material is too soft and the bar has extruded the material outwards.

Anyhow, it's not a hard fix, but it's kind of disappointing considering I've probably only put 8000km/5000mi on the car since I installed the bar. I'm definitely going to use harder replacement bushings this time.

Does anyone know a good place to get some polyurethane bushings?

 

I got mine about a few weeks ago, have yet to put them on, but Im thinking of doing it tonight.

Check here, post #8

 

www.summitracing.com

They sell the energy suspension polyurethane ones. Highly recommended. Get the "greaseable" ones. They have a zerk fitting on the outside so that you can grease the bushings down with a grease gun without having to take the bushings off.
Yes, you need to grease the polyurethane bushings or they will squeek like hell.

 

Ok cool, I'll check them out next week. What did they set you back?

 

Poly bushings for 5K miles, not one squeek so far. I;m glad i went with the progress bar now.

 

I'm actually pretty sure that the Comptech bushigns are poly too but maybe just a softer compound.

 

This is older stuff, but i remember Jtso saying they are rubber...check this thread out

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...rubber+bushing

 

Sorry to hear that Dan. Yeah, if I recall correctly, the Comptechs are rubber. Definately go with polyurethane this time around...

 

I installed my comptech RSB last week, I certainly hope I don't have this problem... However, I must add this mod is definetly worth all the hype that everybody has been talking about.

 

which part #?

 

They weren't that expensive, i think front and back on my 4runner cost me $30. But you will only need the rears... so maybe $15? they are worth it.

 

Just go onto the website and purchase the bushings according to your swaybar size. Since i dont know what size swaybar you are running it's hard to tell. But just get the generic swaybar bushings by energy suspension that are greaseable. Then go to homedepot or walmart and pickup a greasegun.

You won't be sorry. It may be hard to find the bushings based on the TSX. But the generic ones should fit you ok taken you get the size of the swaybar right.

 

One more suggestion when you get the bushings. They have two colors, red and black. I recommend getting the black ones because they are "graphite impregnated" meaning there's graphite in the bushing material itself to further reduce squeeking. The red's can't have graphite in there otherwise they will turn a dull black red.

 

Here... as a quick search. The link to summitracing.com that has the energy suspension bushings for the comptech RSB size is here.

http://store.summitracing.com/defaul...h.asp&N=400008

Before you order, just be sure to check out the measurements before you hit order since it was a quick search. But i'm pretty sure those are it.

 

Is this the right part # for Summitracing.com?

ENS-9-5158G

 

If I'm going to pay 115 for a comptech plus 15 bucks for poly bushings, I mind as well get the Progress RSB for 140 shipped...

 

Progress all the way....

 

Definitely has to be rubber. Polyurethane wouldn't extrude itself out of the sockets like it seems to do in your case, unless it were subjected to considerably higher loads.

 

Considering what we see here I'd say the bushings HAVE been subjected to considerably higher loads.

 

Well, if you look at the bushings I suggested, they grease fittings, something the Progress doesn't have, but it does sound as if the Progress bar is a little better.

 

I think Comptech has shipped two different types of bushings, rubber and poly. I did't feel any difference after switching to a set of poly bushings. I later took a closer look at the Comptech bushings that I replaced and they were hard, not soft like rubber bushings. I also noticed one local member has a set of soft Comptech swaybar bushings during a suspension installation. They were so soft you can pinch it with your fingers.

 

Dan, do you have a picture of the worn bushing? I am experiencing a low thump noise on low speed turns as well.

I am not too sure what bushing material my CT sway bar came with. Mine was fairly hard, not soft as described by Jtso above. i didn't put any grease on the bushing, but i don't hear any squeaking noise.

 

I have the comptech bar with poly bushing since the beginning, and had over 7k mile on them.. no thumping, no extruded bushings. I got mine from Energy Suspension

 

Hey guys, I'm posting from someone else's machine so I'll have to reply to everyone later. I'm 99% sure the bushings that came with my swaybar are not rubber. I don't know who makes them, or what they're made from, but it definitely feels like a plastic. I'll take some pics when I uninstall the bar, right now it's still on the car.

 

 

 

Yep, that looks right to me. Before you order it, just be sure to check the measurements. But it looks ok to me.

 

Do you think you'll order a set from SumitRacing like I posted or you going the warranty route for the moment?

 

Just wanted to add... if anyone is looking to purchase the Energy Suspension 22mm polyurethane bushings, they're also available at Pep Boys and Strauss Auto. Save yourself some shipping. The part number is 95158G for the black, greaseable type.

 

Actually I'm going to check a couple local shops to see if they have the part. I can't be bothered to unistall the bar, ship the bushings across the border to comptech, and wait for them to ship new ones back. If nobody local has them, I'll order them online.

 

Dan let us know what you find and which store and cost...


also which type of grease do you guys use and where can I get it?

 

So I called around all the Pep Boys and Strauss Autos within 50 miles of my house, and all of them are out of stock, or told me that the item must be special ordered. Ok - fine. The average time is 5 business days, which is reasonable, but I figured that if I had to wait for them, I might as well get them shipped directly to my house. So then I decided to go to www. summitracing.com to order them, only to find out that they charge a handling fee of $8.95 per order? Charging handling on larger orders is one thing because the "effect" of the cost is minimal, but on a pair of poly bushings for ~$14? You gotta be kidding me... that's more than 60% of what the part retails. One person should volunteer to buy the bushings for everyone interested (everyone prepays)... pay the $8.95 handling charge ONCE... and then mail out the sets after receiving them. Sheesh!

I guess I'll just special order mine from PepBoys... they charge ~$17, but it's still cheaper than Summit.

 

Dan,
Please include me if your ordering as I have the same problem. If I'm too late then please let me know where/$/ etc.

Thanks