Can anyone who has installed the Daizen Control Arm Bushings give me their impressions before and after ? Did it make much of a difference, does the steering or suspension feel "tighter" after they were installed ? Thanks.

 

I have had the bushing in my 92 for almost 3 years now. I def noticed a difference in the way the car performed. To me the suspension felt a little more stiff than stock and wile it wasn't that cushy Lexus ride, it was still very comfortable. I didn't have that "floaty" feeling while pushing it thru corners anymore. Lower the car and it will handle even better.

 

I just installed the upper and lower control arm bushings this past week and they are a night and day difference compared to the old worn out rubber ones that they replaced.


Impression:
I installed mine in 2 stages, the uppers first and the lowers second.

After the uppers were installed the car felt much more stable and the darty feeling that my car had on the highway while making steering inputs during curves was dramatically reduced. Tighter would be a good way to describe it.

Once the lowers were installed in conjunction with the uppers the steering response and steering feel improved even more. Initial turn in is much more crisp and it all but eliminated that darty feeling with highway speed steering inputs. Steering feel and response is greatly improved.


Installation:
One thing I would recommend if you intend on doing the install yourself is to set aside PLENTY of time to do it. I'm an experienced shade-tree mechanic with access to a lift, hydraulic press, plenty of tools, and this install still took me 5+hrs. The most time consuming part of the process is removing the old bushings.


Upper Bushings:
For the uppers you will need to pop the upper ball joint loose, remove the strut/spring assembly, and remove the two bolts that anchor the upper control arm to the chassis in order to remove the upper control arm.
Once it is free from the car you will see that the old bushings have a lip that precludes them from being pressed out easily.
The easiest method for removal that I found was to put the control arm in a vice, take a cold chisel holding it flat against the control arm under the bushing lip, and hammer around the circumference cutting the bushing shell until the lip pops off. Once the lip is removed you will need either a press or a vice and two appropriately sized drifts to press the old bushings out.
Installing the new bushings is a piece of cake, simply follow the directions included in the kit, then install the control arms in the car.


Lower Bushings:
These were a bit of a pain since you must reuse the old outer bushing shell and the inner most aluminum sleeve with the new Daizen bushings.
To remove the bushings the lower control arms must come out so you will need to pop loose the lower ball joints, and unbolt everything attached to them. Make sure to make alignment marks on the camber bolts so that you get them back in the same way they came out so your alignment won't be completely borked.
Once they are out you will need to press out the inner bushing sleeves. I found that this is easily done with a hydraulic press, a propane torch, and appropriately sized drifts. Heat up the control arm on the outside of the bushing until the rubber starts to smoke a little bit, then press the inner sleeve out. Be sure NOT to press out the outer shell! Once you have the inner sleeve(s) removed you will find that there is in fact another steel sleeve in between the outer shell and the aluminum sleeve that you need to keep... get rid of it. Get rid of the remaining rubber on the aluminum sleeve with a wire wheel installed on a bench grinder. You'll need to clean out the remaining rubber from the outer shells still in the control arms as well. I did this with a sanding drum installed on my trusty Dremmel tool.
Now that everything is cleaned up you can install the new bushings and aluminum sleeves into the control arms. Follow the Daizen directions for this step. I used a vice to press in the inner aluminum sleeve.
One thing that I ran into after I installed the Daizen bushings the first time was that they stuck out too far by about 3-4mm and would not fit into the front subframe. I fixed this by trimming a small amount (2-3mm) off the inner end of each bushing. You may run into this and you may not, I don't know, but if you do, now you know how to fix it.
At this point you simply bolt everything back together and drive off.

Good Luck

 

I installed them on my "91 and regret it. I live in Wyoming and am sick of them squeaking whenever it gets cold.

 

you need to grease them.

i would have installed grease fittings on the arms when replacing the bushing.

 

AS would I if the manufacturer of the product indicated such. I know that now after the fact. You shouldn't have to do more than the manufacturer of a product indicates to get it to perform satisfactorily. I didn't know the problem when I installed them but from reading this and other forums it seems to be a common problem the manufacturer should somehow address.

 

Poly bushings will squeak if they aren't greased. It's just the nature of the beast.

I have heard from an old hot rodding buddy that mixing some teflon paste in with the grease can help eliminate the sqeaking.

I'm probably going to use some on my sway bar bushings to experiment.

 

i love the bushings on my 93 sc300. did the steering rack, sway bars, and front lower control arms. made a world of difference. the car is much more sporty feeling without beng uncomfortable at all.

GREASE THEM PROPERLY.
Mine have never squeaked once and have had them for about six months.