jet864

I've done my research on bushings and have settled on the Daizen poly set. Now, I've been reading and for example this thread gives a price around $500 just for the install, while this thread says it's only $88 to press in the bushing, with even lower prices further down on the page. What gives?? I know the second link is only LCA, but do UCA take THAT much longer, to indicate a price jump of $400? It just seems kind of ridiculous to me that's all.

James

mikeloc24

James, I have no experience with the upper control arms. I was only recently concerned with the lower control arms as they were making that clanky sound. A machine shop near me will charge $5 to press in bushings, but keep in mind that's after I've removed the lower control arm already and walked into the shop with the arms in my hand. They don't charge extra to torch out the old bushes because they have to do that before they press in the new ones anyway. That's where my price comes from. Now if you roll your car up to a shop and ask them to remove the lca's for you and remove old bushes and install new ones you will be looking at upwards of $500, but your car should be fixed in a day, that's the benefit. I try to minimize my labor costs by doing most of the work with a buddy I know. And I do it on weekends so that if in the event we can't finish the job in a day's time I'm not out of the car during the work week.

EUROJulian

Standard in this country to calculate labor cost in auto business is so call flat hour. Most of the decent shops will use the standard labor manual ider from chilton. alldata or such. So the number of flat hour should be similar in Miami and rural Alabama.
Differences are in rate between the shops, from alround $100 at lex dealer to as low as $35 in small indy shops in my area.
Another factor is gray market, when work is done off the books, Those prices are sometimes given next to the legitimate market prices w/o explanation, which is kinda unfair to to people w/o hookup...

jet864

That's a very good point. I'm actually having the master tech at my work (Lexus dealership) check it out for me on saturday to diagnose it. He actually said they don't usually have to deal with the LCAs because they don't fail quickly. He must deal mostly with newer cars because I've read a lot about failed LCAs. Anyways, I'll see what he says and if the control arms must come off, so be it, but I'll do it myself and carry them in to have new bushings pressed in.

Here's something I found while doing my struts which freaked me the hell out. This, where the UCA meets the "hub" I guess you would say, is literally melting. It's all gummy and sticky. I'm gonna have him tell me what to do about this too.





These are just pics of the front, but it's like this front and rear on the right side only. Freakin' weird if you ask me.

James

SCV8

That goo is some sort of sealant, nothing to worry about.

BLK13X

That's not too weird, but what did you drive over dude?

From what I've heard though, it's usually these following bushes that usually get replaced:
- Front LCA bushes
- Steering rack bushes
- Rear UCA and LCA bushes

I guess the front UCA's usually don't have too much movement?


Jose

CleanSC

The job is expensive because it's a b.itch. That of course depends on how many bushings you replace. I just completed the ENTIRE car (front and rear, top and a bottom) with Daizen's full line.

It was not fun. There's a LOT to remove. In my case the rear adjustment bolts were seized and there was NO WAY they were coming out. They laughed at my 10 pound sledge. This required cutting the bolts out and replacing with (pricey) new dealer hardware.

Getting everything back together is the easy part. It's the disassembly that blows. Especially when some parts refuse to come off. It's labor intensive and takes some time so it won't be cheap no matter how you slice it. For the full job that is. Front LCA is a piece of cake. The rear just sucks.

OH and as for that goop... Take a wire brush and some heavy-duty solvent. It comes off and reveals a pretty aluminum cap under it. Oh and SCRUB THOSE ARMS. They shine real bright when cleaned.

jet864

Thanks a bunch for the replies. I talked to Todd from TMengineering and he helped me outline the problems. I'm still waiting for the tech to look at my car and diagnose. If possible, when I don't need my car for a while I'll probably get down there, take it apart as best I can, just take the arms in to get new busings, and save a lot on labor. I was mainly concerned about the black goo being some sort of lubricant for the ball joint, and thinking they might be shot if some of it leaked out, but if you're sure I can just wire brush it off, that helps a lot. I'll make sure to clean out that whole wheel well when I do the job. Putting wheel polish on with a rotary buffer was a bad idea

James

CleanSC

I'm not too sure what that stuff is. It seems to be on all the arms so it's either a sealing goop that was put there on purpose, or some other phenomenon that deposits it on that point. I'm not sure. I do know that I took mine off and haven't had any ill effects yet. Maybe to be safe you can scrub it off and put some silicone around the cap edges.

jet864

Oh man, no, the white stuff is just wheel polish, and I've been to lazy to clean it off. On the pics you can see on the ball joints where it looks like it's melting. That's the part I'm worried about. Sorry.

James

CleanSC

Hehe yeah the black goop on the top of the ball joint is what I was talking about...

Khaos

iTrader: (1)

How much should one expect to pay to have the Daizen camber kit installed (taking into account that new springs and struts are also being installed at the same time)?

CleanSC

If you have a press, this is the easiest set of bushings to replace. Just press out the old ones, and press in the camber shells. The bushings and sleeves can then be installed by hand.

These are real easy. 20 minutes an arm max. You have to half-remove these to remove the shocks anyway so just take off the ball joint on the hub and they are free.

mteele

iTrader: (5)

Hey CleanSC, want to make some money this weekend and install my set of Daizen bushings, along with springs/shocks?

CleanSC

LMAO I'd love to but I'm on a time table to get my own car finished that's weeks behind schedule. I think my girlfriend will leave me soon hehe.

If you have a press you can do it yourself real easy. (camber kit only)