er34

Finally went ahead to try the GS-F bushing upgrade on my 2013 F-sport. Got the pair from megazip for $110 shipped from Japan to Canada, while the best local price I found was $120 for one piece pre-tax(F@#$% Canada)... Shipping from Japan took only 5 days which is awesome.




Used my ramps to get the car up, then lifted the wheels just slightly off the ground with the middle jack point.


To my surprise both of the old bushings had hairline cracks in the rubber. Hard to notice unless you put a light on it.




This was a very simple DIY on the GS, even more so than the IS chassis.
​​2x 14mm bolts holding the steel bracket
1x 17mm on the one end of the LCA bracket
1x 22mm on the other end securing both steel and LCA bracket
​​​​1x 22mm NUT on the bushing.

Unlike the IS chassis, there is no nut on the other side of the 17mm bolt, so one less thing to worry about.


Also unlike all the IS350 DIY videos, on the GS there is ZERO prying needed to get clearance, there is plenty of room to simply wiggle the bushing out. You can totally get it out with one hand.


Lubed it up with some silicon lube, threadlocker on the bolts, and poped it back in.


Lastly, lowered the jack to put weight back on the wheels and torqued all the bolts and nuts to spec while under load.

Other notes:
Job took 1.5h as I was taking time taking photos and also checking for underbody rust to spray.

Actual DIY steps are super simple. Positioning yourself in the tight space under and getting enough leverage to break and re-torque the bolts is the hard part. The 22mm is torqued to 111 ft-lb and is at a somewhat awkward angle to get a break bar to fit.

Job is easier with ramp+jack because you need to torque the nut with load on the bushing.

First test drive impressions:
1. Phenomenal difference!!
2. Car holds much more steady and straight under hard braking on uneven pavement(which is everywhere in Canada)
3. Cornering feel is much better, even though I'm on snow tires already, it feels way more solid and planted.
4. No difference in ride quality on normal bumpy roads, just feel it more through the steering(which I like).
5. Regret I didn't do this 5 years ago. If you are still on the fence, trust me, do it! (Looking at my old bushings, if you are driving a pre-facelift model, you are probably due to replace anyway).

kuzumi

On my trek to slowly turn my luxury sport into a track car "hyperbolic statement" I am curious about such upgrades. My GS is a FSPORT with almost 100k miles. (2014) I am currently riding on tanabe lowering springs and eventually getting coilovers.
How much lateral roll change did you notice once changing to these bushings?

er34

Bushing doesn't change body roll(that's the job of struts), it's about the steering feel and less of the center wobbly dead zone. Car feels overall tighter as a result.

Mind you, the more worn your old bushings are, the bigger the difference you should see.

robd88

Can these be removed and replaced while on the ramps with the suspension loaded? Or does it need to be jacked up (no suspension load) for removal and replacement, then torqued under load?

er34

All the videos and guides I watched were done either on lifts or jacked off the ground, so I followed that. As I understand it, the point of torquing under load is to get the bushing into the right orientation with the wheels on the ground under steady state. The bushing isn't actually carrying much(if any) of the weight of the wheel when the car is stationary, so you can technically do it loaded.

Note that the space is very limited because the bushing is inline with the axle, so even with wheels on the ramp, you have not that much clearance. (Less clearance than changing the oil for example)

dilmatik

This is great to see! I just ordered these GSF bushings from local dealer for $227 for both all in. Where about in Canada are you? Im in Toronto.

er34

I'm in sauga.

piedpiper

Is your GS350 an AWD? I think the installation is different between AWD and RWD. I just swapped the LCA bushings on my 2013 GS350 RWD, and the install was 100% like the IS350. I had the bolt with the nut and also had to use a crowbar to pull down the control arm to pull out the bushing. Also need to be careful with the torque settings since they are different between AWD and RWD. That being said, I do agree that the steering is much more stable when braking. I cant really tell the difference besides that.

BMGS

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the insight, I just ordered a set with the positive caster to see if I can also improve steering feel. Do you have the rwd torque specs for all bolts?

I found this from the IS forum, good enough?

piedpiper

Your picture is the 2IS RWD. The link below has settings for the 3IS RWD (probably closer related to the 4GS).

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...a-install.html

However, I also found this forum post mentioning that the longer bolt's torque should be 139, but the 3IS RWD diagram shows 143. I just went with 143, since 139 vs 143 is negligible.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...que-specs.html

NebulaGrey

same here with 13 f sport rwd.

BMGS

iTrader: (1)

Thanks, appreciate it!

GregCanada

Just did mine - took me about 1.5hrs including cleanup of the garage. Impact gun made it quick and easy (worked on every bolt except the horizontal nut). Ordered the parts from Megazip on their labour daysale, and ended up getting the 2 bushings, f-sport shift ****, new shift boot (mine cracked), new updated sunroof seal and cabin filter, with express shipping, for just the price of 2 bushings at my local dealer. About 3 hours to swap it all out. Not bad....

BMGS

iTrader: (1)

Very nice! I took my bushings to a shop since I was doing the front springs, alignment and a few other things I wasn't in the mood to do myself. They said it was a pain and charged me for 3 hours of labor on this. I knew they were full of it since it seems fairly easy.

jgscott

iTrader: (1)

So what's the main advantage of running the GS-F bushing ? What's the difference/advantage in the stock vs the GS F one??