I am redoing the bushing in the front control arms and all I could find was the whole lower arms which cost around 1,000$. if I could only replace the bushing, it would be great.

I'd appreciate any help with this!

 

check out Whiteline and SuperPro. I think between them all 3 are covered. both are equally good in my experience.

 

yeah, whiteline has all 3 available. Their roll center kit replaces the outer bushing and is nice if you are going to lower the vehicle relative to stock.

The rear front inner bushing can be had offset to increase caster. I'd recommend that.

 

thanks for you help guys, I checked them out but a set would cost me around 500-600

now I'm having second thought whether they are worthed or no

 

if you need to replace them, they're better than oem and cheaper than buying a new control arm (since you can't buy just the bushings), so yes, worth it

 

whiteline RCk is a waste of money from a performance perspective and nearly equal to OEM.

Super pro is slightly better. With 285 tires, i wore out upgraded poly bushings within 3-4 track weekends. Solid sphericals are really the only way to go if you like to push your car.

 

which bushings and what brand?

I had superpro's in my rsx in the lower front control arm (same basic design as the evo's) for 5-6 track days, only 235 tires, but I was pulling a sustained 1.2 corner g's... bushings were as tight as the day they went in...

my sister had a bunch of whiteline bushings in her sti for about 150k, including a bunch of autox's (no track time though), and they were still fine when we sold the car...

but I can see it wearing out on a heavy car like the evo with huge tires...

 

The bushings will still work with 285's and more than 4 trackdays on them, but the toe won't be consistent and will wander up to a 1/2 degree + or - in static conditions. Under hard cornering/braking it'll be much more dramatic. But its not something you can tell unless you push the car. Stock bushings did this, as are the poly bushings now. Superpro and whiteline are pretty much identical in durometer, so there's no difference in the front LCA bushing, just in the other stuff they make.

 

yeah, thats why I upgraded from stock. SuperPro didn't wear for me, but my car was a good 6-800lb lighter on a smaller tire, so its understandable that it'd wear out on your car and not mine...

any chance you can post pics of your worn out bushings? also, don't both whiteline and superpro carry a lifetime warranty? I know superpro does

 

What on earth...

 

No pics because there was no visible damage. The super pro bushings when new had a super solid static alignment, with toe varying less than a tenth of a degree at static height. Then they opened up after that 4th trackday. Static toe varied by up to .3 degrees + or - , but that's not the worst part. The worst part is the front right bushing was so smashed in from taking so many left turns (mainly left turn tracks in TX), that under braking the front right wheel would smash the bushing, the LCA would angle outward, and i'd get crazy toe out on the right corner forcing the front left to dive as it begun to take most of the braking force. Hard braking zones were sketchy, and right turns became difficult to predict. Turn in was awesome going right due to the inside toe out generated under braking, but it really killed confidence and it was impossible to have a balanced chassis on turn in.

In the quest for spherical bushings i got frustrated and forked over cash for the race fab LCA's. I since learned that hardrace makes a spherical front inside LCA bushing.

In retrospect, the stock bushing seemed to last just as long under abuse as the super pro. I guess rubbers/urethanes just aren't meant for this much grip with such a heavy car But if i had less than a 285, or if i didn't track the car at all, or rarely, i'd have no problems sticking to the stock or whiteline/superpro bushings. But of course i'm biased against whiteline products in general so i'd prefer the super pro

 

my butt dyno is super sensitive. Apparently i'm also the first person on earth to realize the stock rear eccentrics can't handle track forces without getting out of alignment. Or at least it seems like i'm the first person on earth cause when i brought it up on the forums people made fun of me. Come to find this is a common problem with corvettes and they weigh less than an evo.

The change isn't much, but its enough to force a neutral chassis into understeer.

 

What exactly do you mean by "static toe varies by .3*"? Like you can move your wheel .3 degrees with the steering wheel not moving while the car was at rest? Also, you check your alignment at the track between sessions?

 

Yea that was my question, how did you find out your toe varies by .3 and how did you did you know the car would toe out under right corner force?

Slight tangent. Do you have any track videos? Would love to see them!

 

Haven't taken any vids in a while.... can't see myself spending 400+ on go pro just for kicks when i can spend it on fuel/tires. I do need a video soon though.

I measure my alignment before/after the track weekend. From track weekend to track weekend, my rear toe is SPOT on. I use the string method with fishing wire and calipers so i can measure my toe down to the .001 inch. In measuring my front toe with the poly bushings after they went out, i would get readings of + or - .3 from each reading. It doesn't really wander much with DD driving and its super solid if you tug like a gorilla on the arm with the car in the air, its the forces of track driving that squish the bushing and it'll settle slightly off, causing a slight variance in toe.

As far as the car pulling and diving onto the front left corner, it was super obvious. Can't keep the car straight under braking. All bushings up front at this point were solid sphericals except for the front lca bushing.