I have a 2004 Acura TL and as I was doing my brakes last night and swapping winter rims/tire for my summer set, I noticed how bad my bushings have gotten as of lately.
They look worse than these, but you get the idea:
Who can press these out and press the new ones back in? I have been reading a lot on the failure of these and the clunk I have been hearing is due to this I’m sure.
I have a 12 ton shop press. Be at my shop Saturday. Might as well come down. Everyone else is
I had a similar issue on my Integra when I had it, the clunk was pretty noticeable and annoying. I ordered after market bushings and it didn’t come with the metal ring that sits between the bushing and control arm itself. Needless to say it was a pita trying to find the proper part especially with ordering parts online you had to wait til it came in to see if it was the right part, so just keep that in mind when ordering new ones. Contact John Donovan, he should be able to help you out, I know he has a press.
Yeah I have been reading a lot over on Acurazine about these bushings and what to replace them with. Seems like OEM is the best way to go since even the expensive ones were taking a beating and being replaced as well. I plan to drop a set of coilovers in there soon and I would rather have all the loose ends tied up in the suspension before that.
Shop Party! I should find something to blast haha
I put the Energy bushings on mine and they worked well, but then again that was a ~2400lb Integra and not a TL. OEM should work fine, after all when mine finally went when the car had 210k + on it.
At least your bushing is still there, mine had vanished along with the metal ring, haha.
I have been trying to find the Super Pro kit, but I am having no luck. There is a girl over on Acurazine who installed them on hers, but she hasn’t gotten back to anyone yet on how to get them or what size she used. I’m learning as I go, but I have never changed these out before.
I just replaced control arm bushing with Haenszel last weekend, mine were bad, similar idea, some were in 2 pieces. The difference is unreal once you replace them
Pull the arms and go to someone that has a press. It’s fairly straight forward
Also, I had John Donavan do the control arm bushings (a long with a bunch of other stuff) on my civic. I would highly recommend him if you don’t want to do it yourself. I replaced them with energy suspension stuff, but that was in a gutted civic with no power steering haha. You may want to go the OEM route in a TL
Just came across these guys:
Looks to solve the long term issue, but they are $300 for both sides.
I may end up scooping these up since they look to be very durable and I am sure autozone will rent the DIY press in tool.
The compliance bushings in later model Acura and Honda vehicles were part of an innovative design to handle suspension movement. Despite being unconventional, the system worked well at softening road inputs while effectively keeping the control arm attached to the car. Unfortunately the compliance bushings wear prematurely and crack, causing sloppy handling and excess vibration. The issue plagues TSX and TL divers alike, with many TL drivers reporting failures within 60,000 miles.
Pro Car Innovations has an awesome solution for replacing these bushings with a more durable spherical bearing. The bearing is a rigid mounting point rather than a flexy rubber one, which has the promise not only of longer life, but also of greatly enhanced road feel. Fastline Performance was quick to adopt this part as one of their own, recognizing the great benefit for performance and longevity that is so direly needed, especially on the 04-08 TL chassis.
We took the opportunity to install a set of these bearings in our very own HTSpec TSX last weekend. Getting the arm out of the car is not as difficult as one might think. There is a 14mm nut holding the sway bar link on, then a ball joint where the steering upright attaches, and three other attachment points with conventional bolts. While it can be tricky to get the right tool to fit the locations and do the removal, nothing really special is required to remove the arm.
The bushings in our TSX were not in especially bad condition, but they are well worn after 120,000 miles and a couple track days and sprited road trips.
The first step in changing the bushings is removing the arm from the car. This is actually a pretty simple task. With only 3-4 main fasteners to have to deal with, which are all straightforward except the ball joint. Rather than put it in words, check out this very fast and simple method for removing the ball joint painlessly!
Once the arm is out, the bushing/bearing swap needs to happen. What has the initial impression of being a bit of a pain to do (the bushings must be pressed out and the bearings pressed in) it turned out to be quite a simple job. Part of the reason for this was using a special tool for pressing the parts in and out by hand. Coupled with a trusty electric impact gun, the job was a breeze.
The kit comes with two compliance bearings with mounting spacers, as well as two other bearings which fit in the rearward subframe mounting locations. We elected to only install the compliance bearings at this time for two reasons: 1) The stock bushings at the rearward lower control arm mounting location were still in good condition, and 2) while we had a great tool for the larger bushing we had no such arrangement for the other bushing. So, we will do this one later understanding that the compliance bearing was the most major part of the job here.
Some install notes that were brought up by some early responders to online discussions. With regard to binding, there is no such concern. We found that the arms reach a limit of travel from the chassis mounting well before the bearings find a travel limit. Bearings can be noisy, however we have found these bearings to be of very high quality and are play- and noise-free, at least in their new state.
The largest concern seems to be about corrosion. These are in an area susceptible to corrosive elements, however we do need to cite that 95% or more of the component is not ferrous and therefore will not rust. The one item where rust can happen is the bearing race itself which if ever needs to be replaced is fairly simple and inexpensive to accomplish. While acknowledging there could be a concern down the road, corrosion is bad for cars PERIOD and we anticipate there being a greater issue removing the rest of the suspension bolts to do such a job than the need for the job really coming up in the first place. Of course the best defense is offense, so we recommend liberally lubing the bearing from time to time to create a protective layer against the elements.
With the bearing in the arms and the arms in the car, I set off on a test drive. I was unable to feel much of a difference at low speeds in the neighborhood. Partly because our roads are fairly smooth here but mostly for the reason that the Innovate Mounts holding the engine in place transmit much vibration of their own. Initially, the system feels pretty standard.
Down the road a bit, some bumps were encountered with did send a noticeable shock through the front end. Botts dots and possibly small animals will be felt more than before. I imagine if you live in an area with rougher roads, you will need to be understanding that there is a tradeoff of more road input. It depends largely on the quality of roads, your quality of experience. Then again if you make a sport of avoiding such road imperfections, your skills will be greatly enhanced with the bearings in place.
Off to higher speed turns! Traveling at speeds in excess of 50-60 mph can make turning a little nervous feeling. With the standard car there is a certain amount of smoothness needed to confidently turn the car, since there is a little delay between when you turn the wheel and when the car turns. This is due to the compliance bushings flexing under load. With the FLP/PCI bearings installed there is no such flex. Nor is there a disconcerting wiggle the nose does when hitting a bump mid-corner. The control is greatly enhanced as you can almost feel the tread-blocks taking up the stress of hanging on for dear life.
I must say, this upgrade, if it is one you might be putting off for fear that it will be one that makes you unhappy for any reason, I think you are possibly cheating yourself out of a great experience. I shudder to think of those who will appreciate the benefits of the Fastline Performance Compliance Bearings yet will never realize them due to risk aversion. These parts are innovative, durable, functional, and fully backed by Heeltoe Automotive. What more could you ask for?
Update 11/12/12: After spending some more time driving with these bearings in, my love for them has only grown. There is a very direct feel from my fingers to the road. When you are on the verge of breaking traction you can almost feel the tires gripping the road, and you can modulate the power very finely. This of course is enhanced with the Innovative Mounts. however I am finding the negative feedback from bumps was really overstated in the original writing above. While there are bumps that come up and jolt the front end, I am starting to think this has more to do with my suspension than the bearings. I am considering changing my suspension out soon to experiment with this.
your bushings, if all like in the pic, are good enough that you could fill them 3M windo-weld and get better performance without having to press anything.
I am pretty sure that mine are totally torn, like in 3 pieces. I have been putting it off for a while now, because it really doesn’t hinder much, but just give it a better ride.
You can get that insurance policy together and bring that control arm over ill knock that bushing out real fast
If you don’t want to rip your car apart and then catch a ride to take the arms somewhere, I usually use a balljoint press (giant C-clamp type tool) and I have one if you want to borrow it.
That might be my best option. Once I end up doing this job, I may ask for someone to stop by my garage just for an extra hand. I have a fridge full of beer in case the thought of wrenching on a Japanese rice burner isn’t your idea of a good time. Just throwing it out there if anyone wants to lend a hand.
we do these hockey puck bushings 2-3 times a week at work on multiple cars, chevys are the most frequent though.
remove control arm, drive old bushing out with air hammer, hammer new bushing in, install control arm.
shouldn’t take you longer than 45-60 min if you do it the way i just described. the air hammer is the most vital part to getting these done though. if you’ve got an air hammer and a compressor id have no issue lending a hand getting these done quickly. shoot me a PM if you’d like.
These are a common failure on lexus gs’s and most guys end up just changing the entire control arm, is it that much more to just replace the entire thing?
Feel free to hit me up!
Almost $400 per control arm preloaded with OEM bushings that will fail after 10k miles. No thanks.
I know for a fact that laks acura has the press to press the bushing out of the control arm. When I had mine replaced I think it was $250 or so for the whole job (pass side) but id have to check. Sure beats paying for a new control arm. My car has well over 200k miles and ive only replaced 1.
Maybe you should ask one of your friends for help. Maybe one that hasnt seen your house yet. Maybe one who has a girlfriend that will keep your girlfriend occupied while the two of you get this done.
