jeffl

Okay, it's a long post...sorry. I had a bad control arm bushing on one side of my '90 LS a few months ago so I ordered a bushing kit from Daizen and replaced the bushings on both sides. It was a great, big, fat, hairy, sucky job (IMO) because the damn bushings would absolutely NOT fit into the control arms...PERIOD! (Yes, I greased them thoroughly with the provided grease.) After working on just one side of the car for a little over 2 1/2 hours, I finally trimmed 1/16" off the inside edge of each bushing half using my band saw. after that, I was able to force them in and get the thing together. I REALLY didn't want to do that as I was sure they would probably loosen up over time which would, of course, suck. Unfortunately, there was just absolutely no freakin' other way. (I actually wondered if they had sent me the wrong kit or something!) Anyway, it now drives and handles wonderfully--just like a brand-new car and the whole front end is nice and tight. And I mean, tighter than...well, tighter than a lot of things. I really should have done it a year ago! Anyway, to the question: Included in the kit were bushings for the upper control arms as well but after putting the lower bushings in, I checked the upper ones and everything was nice and tight--no play at all, so I didn't bother to put them in. Okay, I realize that the Daizen bushings are a harder material than OEM (polyurethane, I think) so I am now wondering whether I should bother putting the upper bushings in. I really don't want to mess with it unless I am going to be able to notice a clear difference in handling. Any comments? Thanks.

xirforever

Hey, i did just the opposite of what you did, i only put in the upper control arm bushings, and i can tell you for sure i could tell a difference, its worth it man, do it.

Good luck,
nick

damon

What condition were your upper ball joints in?

xirforever

damon, if your directing that to me... well to be honest i have no real idea, i guess some normal wear, but nothing critical, i dont see how it matters though as the upper ball joins arent the topic of discussion and i never changed them... If you wanted new upper ball joints youd have to buy new controll arms from Lexus.

LexLS

YES, finish the job and put the upper bushings in. They go in much easier than the lower bushings BTW. Full instructions here: http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/suspe...daizenkit.html

It sounds like you went through the same thing I did...it's a tough job to say the least.