I just changed out my rack bushings a few days ago. My old bushings were shot, and I mean shot. It was probably sitting on just the metal spacer. I did run into a little bit of a problem. First off, I wasn't sure how much to tighten the bushings. I've heard people say 60lbs. of torque, but it seems like my torque wrench just keeps on turning. It just keeps turning and turning, but not that it's obviously lose if you know what I mean. But in any case, I stopped eventually because I was afraid I was only compressing the plastic spacer instead. I sure wish I would have purchased the bushings from Daizen, because they provide metal ones, plus they include the rubber ring bushing for the passenger side of the rack.

But in any case, here are the results of my newly replaced rack bushings. Car definitely drives better without any vibration to the steering wheel. It also depends on how low you drop your ride. If it's extremely low, you'll still feel some vibration, because your car's gripping the road like crazy. Steering response is greatly improved though of course. Now the biggest problem I had was that the front driver side of my car was slightly raised up. If I had replaced the bushing ring on the other end of the rack, both sides should raise up evenly, but just a tad bit. Well, it wasn't as bad for me because I have adjustable coilovers. But for people with reg lowering springs, you'll noticed your car sits a bit higher. But that's only if your old bushings are shot.

Now people always talk about whether they have to do an allighment or not after replacing the rack bushings. The answer is YES! You do need an allighment, because new bushings will change things a bit from what your suspension was doing prior. However, if you're replacing good bushings, maybe you can get a way with it. Why would you though?

 

the fact that your car sits crooked is weird and you should check into that.

the ebay bushing that have the plastic bushings(i assume thats what you bought) are okay but need the metal inner sleeve. you didnt feel it get tighter because you were just crushing the plastic sleeve.

the reason why lowered cars have vibration in the steering is not because "they grip the road like crazy." it is because when you lower the car or change wheel offsets you change the suspension geometry and that causes bump steer.

if you want to understand exactly what im talking about look for info on bump steer and scrub radius.

 

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Bumpsteer is the word. I always thought it was because your car sits too low. But replacing the rack bushings will cause your ride to raise up slightly, ONLY, if your previous bushings are shot. In my case, I only replaced the rack bushings, and not the bushing ring on the other end of the rack. This is the reason why one side sits a tad bit higher. I verified this with a mechanic who did my allighment. He even mentioned that you must do an allighment whenever you change out the rack bushings, regardless of whether your old bushings are bad or not.

Oh, and how do you get rid of bumpsteer by the way? My car's lowered about 3 inches, and I'm running 19's with the rears slightly stretched.

 

Steering rack bushings will have absolutely no effect on ride height on a unequal length double A arm setup.

You need to read a book on suspension design and improve your knowledge on the subject. To minimize bump steer, the steering tie rod should be parallel with the upper A arm. Lowering your car changes this angle.

Give Chassis Engineering by Herb Adams a read. You'll learn a lot and you'll always have it as a reference to go back and look at later.

 

Thanks for the quick info. However, I'd rather stay with what my mechanic says for now, especially over a simple problem like this one. Sure I'll read the book one of these days, but that's when I decide to become an auto mechanic. NOPE! I'm pretty happy making close to 6 figures from the GAP, plus keeping my nails clean. For now, I'm going to stay away from books, not that I haven't read enough throughout college. But good advice though, as if I've never known there were books out there to educate myself about cars, lol... Maybe if everyone did the same thing that you recommended, there would be no auto shops making money off of troubleshooting.

Also, please show me evidence that after replacing new rack bushings, your car will stay at the same height. Which book tells you that? No, seriously though...

 

Problem is you are misinformed. You listen to your mechanic who tells you information that is incorrect. You believe him because he is your trusted mechanic. This is understandable.

But, if you understood the very basics of suspension design you'd know he was incorrect or just telling you what you want to hear.

He could remove your entire steering rack and tie rod ends from the knuckles while all four wheels were sitting on the ground. There would be no perceivable difference in ride height.

Thats why you bought bushings with plastic inserts in the first place. You are undereducated (on this subject/not in general. Don't take this as a personal attack.) and/or misinformed.
We shouldn't be blind consumers... If you read and learn a little extra about various things, it'll broaden your scope. You'll be better off.

This is a major problem we're all facing right now. People think they don't need to know things because someone else should. Here in the United States of Amnesia, most forget everything by Monday morning...

 

Well, I'll tell you this though. This is how I think of it. Even if the mechanic is lying to me, I do understand that there are people from other line of business' who need to make money also. I make my money already, so others have to too. That's fine with me if my uncle decides to rip me off, but I'm sure everybody lies from time to time while doing business.

 

sure. the circle of life.

 

I would have never guessed that new steering rack bushings would force you to have to get an alignment.

 

any time you do anything suspension related you will need an alignment. if you go ahead and replace the rear subframe bushings then you will need get the car realigned because even if the bushings are new and line up well the rear wheel can drive at an angle, even so slightly, with respect to the whole car.

as far as new bushing causing the car to sit crocked it is not true. the rack does not get moved when the new bushings are replaced.

i have machined my own metal bushings for the rack and there was no ride height deviation from prior to install.

 

I thought it would make sense because if your rack is sitting through the jacked-up bushing, and the rack pretty much sitting on nothing but the frame, your car should squat slightly. The bolt going through the bushing would sit lower if no rubber is holding it up. When I removed the bushing, it was so bad that I could easily push it out with my thumb, plus it was split in half too . I just think it would make sense this way. Most people probably don't realize it, because their old bushings were probably not as bad as mine.

Forgot to mention also.., my car was first lowered at 147,000 miles. Before that, it was bone stock. The bushings were probably shot before I lowered my ride.

 

Exactly right!

After installing new bushings and driving it around for a little bit, I've decided to recheck the bushings once again. The results? I overtightened the rear bushing of the rack, the one hardest to get to. It's so overtighthed, the rubber spacer became compressed a bit, and just got fatter. The bushing is also deformed, as part of it is sticking out of the rack. It still drives a lot better than the old beat up bushings, lol.. But anyway, I just made another purchase on the Daizen ones instead, and this time it'll come with metal spacers. I now know to tighten them at 48lbs, so I shouldn't have any more problems. I guess it's just trial-n-error, but at least it didn't cost me my leg. Also, my previous bushings were purchased thorugh Ebay, and back about a yr. in a half ago, I only paid $18.00 for them shipped. Now the bastard has it up to $40.00, trying to charge as much as Daizen, but with plastic spacers. Oh also, it doesn't come with the 3rd bushing that wraps around the rack on the right side. Daizen comes with it. Please, don't even think about purchasing the ones from Ebay.

 

Check this out. The first time I replaced the rack bushings, I was using Ebay ones with the plastic spacer inserts. It resulted in the driver side slightly higher than the passenger side. So I lowered the right side a tad bit just to match up with the passenger side. Then later on, I purchased Daizen rack bushings instead, because I wanted the metal spacer inserts instead. After installing them, the driver side sits slightly higher again. Now I don't have much more thread left to lower the driver side some more. What is the problem here? Is there anyway I can get it to be even once again? Forgot to mention, I jacked up both sides of the car when doing the bushing install. Isn't it just a simple removal and install procedure? What can be the problem here? It doesn't make sense. I'm pretty sure that if I do another rack bushing replacement again, it'll get higher again. Please help..

 

Did you do an alignment after the Daizen install?

 

I installed a set of Daizen steering rack bushings on my car also. I was getting alot of bump steer. Also 60lbs sounds about right for that type of bolt. I had to keep turning and turning because of all the oil in that area. Once the installation was complete I had noticed the big difference from having alot of vibration, wheel shimmy, and bump steer, to having a smooth riding vehicle that handles better. An alignment was necessary.