Having now 125k miles, and having bought the car used, I've gotten to thinking about replacing some bushings that might tighten the suspension/steering. Are there any key components to look into replacing? I've glanced and most bushings themselves are relatively cheap, just would need to get them installed.

 

Is it a 6MT or 5AT? Most people will suggest a Progress rear sway bar, its a pretty major upgrade in terms of making the car handle stiffer and with all around less body roll. A good set of coilovers and a functional drop will go a long way as well.

In terms of bushings, you want to make sure that your front compliance bushings are not torn on the lower control arms - that's the usual part that fails on a lot of these cars, and it begins to cause all kinds of havoc and torque steer, at least in most people's experience. You can look at the PCI compliance bearings that Heeltoe sells as a replacement part for those bushings - a number of people have had a lot of success with them, but at 300$, they don't come cheap.

Other than that, its just a matter of making sure all your bushings in the rear and front are not torn or warped, and if they are, replacing accordingly.

 

It's a 5AT.
I've heard about this front compliance bushing, I need to gather part numbers for this. You mentioned checking bushings in the rear, am I just to look into lower arms or something? Time to look into parts diagrams I guess...

 

On these TL's, if you want to tighten it up, you pretty much have to replace everything.. it needs to be a little lower, it needs to have some heavier duty shocks, and it needs fatter anti-sway bars. But its a major job replacing the front sway bar because the rack & pinion has to come out unless you feel comfortable about dropping the front sub-frame.. It's really wedged in there.. And the steering rack ratio is pretty slow on the base TL. So, if you replace that FSB, you might as well replace the Rack too.. that's what I would do.. So basically.. Everything.. haha good luck buddy!




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Im going to look into replacing the arms, and seeing what links and bushings that can be replaced that will have an effect on things.

 

most of those part numbers you need are in my thread. Info is in the signature.

 

Thanks!! I'm going to look at this more

 

Took the list you made and copied it. Have some questions,
I should replace the Compliance bushings, then the front lower arm bushing (2) which is 2 per lower arm or 1 per each lower arm side?

The for the rear lower arm bushings there is 2 per side? or 4 per side?

The price for them isnt too pricy, I dont know how much getting them changed out would be though. I know at now 127k miles, the car isnt as tight as it was originally. I just want to replace what I can, to help restore it.

Bushings seem like it would be whats needed, just not sure which ones if any additional to these.

 

Definitely look into some front upper arms, maybe from Skunk2:
Skunk2 Pro-Series Camber Kit - Front - Excelerate Performance - Japanese and European Performance Specialists!!

Rear Lower Ingalls arms with new bushings:
Ingalls Alignment Kit - Excelerate Performance - Japanese and European Performance Specialists!!

And a nice 24mm Progress Rear Sway Bar to really stiffen things up:
Progress Anti-Sway Bar - Excelerate Performance - Japanese and European Performance Specialists!!

This setup would offer a lot of adjustability and tighten up your suspension.

 

If im not currently lowered, why would a camber kit be needed?

 

because vendors make money by selling parts


RSB, replace all your rubber bushings (maybe PCI LCA if you're ballsy) and you should feel pretty tight.

My progress RSB on my bone stock 08 Type S makes everything much tighter

 

It probably wouldn't be needed, but if you're looking to replace all of your suspension bushings, might as well go aftermarket and have some adjustability.

 

The type s RSB is already on the list. As for replacing the rubber bushings, thats what im researching, exactly which can be and should be replaced. So Im asking so many questions..

 

I just replaced my front sway-bar links in an effort to isolate some clunking noise, and while it did not stop the clunking noise, the wallop my car had since day 1 is gone! So, it was definitely worth the $40 I spent on the links and the 3 hours I spent installing them. My car has only 76k miles and them things were bad like at least 20k miles ago. Anyway! when I removed the oem links, they didn't really feel bad. I thought I might be wasting my time.. but nope! It was well worth it! And I only bought the ones from autozone. Like duralast. lifetime warranty. They were available this weekend.. So, I used them. The "wallop" was felt mostly at highway speeds just driving down the highway. But I can tell even as I turn it feels more planted and doesn't lean as much. On the highway is much more stabile. I guess that's why they call it a stabilizer bar. but ya, those endlinks may or may not be making any noise, I cannot tell, but it made a big difference even with having the eibachs and koni shocks already installed, like I do.


by the way, to do the end links, you need to grind down an allen wrench on the short side. Because the bottom of the shock mounting fork is in the way. You can't put the allen wrench on the bolt unless you grind it down like half way.




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Back researching this matter- got a little sidetracked on doing car things but looking to get back to it since Im not getting rid of it.
So far on my list I have the following:
Front:
51394-SEP-A01 - BUSH ASSY., FR. COMPLIANCE - $27.71 - x2

51393-SEP-A01 - BUSH, FR. ARM (LOWER) - $21.87 - x2

51810-SDA-A01 - BUSH, FR. SHOCK ABSORBER - $20.63 - x2

Rear:
52380-SEP-A02 - ARM, RR. LEADING - $53.16 -X2

52375-SEP-A02 - ARM, L. RR. TRAILING - $52.20 - X1

52370-SEP-A02 - ARM, R. RR. TRAILING - $52.20 - X1

52365-SM4-004 - BUSH A, RR. ARM (LOWER) (YAMASHITA) - $11.96 - x4

52360-SEP-A01 - ARM, RR. CONTROL - $73.37 - X2

52350-SEP-A00 - ARM, RR. LOWER - $70.07 - X2

Anything look to be missing from this?