2014 IS250 FSport is wife's daily driver. She's a spirited driver in that she corners hard without much brake usage. This thing eats front tires like nobody's business due to inner wear on both sides. I've read that a LCA bushing upgrade will improve but not fix the problem??? Twice in four years I've had the front end alignment checked and it's been ok both times so what is the best solution to get more than ~15 months out of a set of front tires?

 

So far the RCF bushings have mitigated the issues almost completely for most of us, but if you want FULL guarantees, you'll need poly bushings which means either Figs or RRRacing. RRRacing a lot of people don't appreciate how stiff those are and most people are more satisfied it seems with the Figs. RRRacing are the stiffest, Figs a little less stiff (they actually have 2 different stiffness bushings I think), and then the RCF ones are the least stuff, but stiffer than the stock IS ones.

 

Upgrading the lower LCA bushings is worth its weight in tires. It will double the life of the front tires. As for which ones, that is personal preference as stated above. I have currently have the RC-F bushing and they are barely noticeable in terms of steering feel, input, NVH, etc. On my 2IS, I had the Figs 90 durometer and loved them. They significantly improved steering feel, eliminated wandering under hard braking or uneven roads and made the front end feel much more connected. Of course that comes at the expensive of increased NVH. Figs also sells an 80 duro bushing, which wasnt an option back when I bought the 90's. The RR Racing bushing will be the stiffest due to the thrust washer and preload design, providing the most improvement in front end feel and the most NVH.

If I had to do it all over again, I would go back to Figs on my 3IS. But not everyone cares about improving the stiffness of the front end for spirited driving. I drive my car hard pretty often, so I enjoyed the feel of those and could tolerate the increased NVH. The 80's may be a good compromise as well. But the price of the RC-F bushings made them an easy sale.

 

@Flash5 @Tungstn-IS Thank you both for taking time to reply and assist. I'll ask you both - since I don't have the proper equipment on hand to properly press out and press in bushings (and typically when I MacGyver things it doesn't go well) , is there a significant costs savings to remove the arms and take them to a machine shop to have this properly done OR should I just go ahead and buy new control arms with the upgraded bushings already installed? Doesn't have to be anything track worthy as again, this is her daily driver and I'm mainly trying to save tires.

I'm inclined to go with RCF bushings as my understanding is that the poly bushings require constant greasing and they possibly can still squeak.

 

You do not have to remove the control arms. The bushings are pressed in a bracket that is easy to remove.

You can buy the Figs bushings by themselves and have them pressed in your brackets or buy them preinstalled in brackets (which drives up the price). The RR Racing and RC-F bushings come pre installed in the brackets.

If you get new bushing already in the brackets it is an easy swap. Removing the brackets is simple, just raise the car, remove a few bolts and use a pry bar to lower the control arm out of the way and they just slip off.

 

@Tungstn-IS is correct. It’s a pretty easy job getting the stock bushings out so you can have a shop press out the old bushings and press in the new ones if you decide to go the figs route and want to save a little money. A shop shouldn’t charge much to do that. If you’re going the RCF route, check out the website MegaZip as they sell genuine Toyota parts and if I remember correctly I got the pair of RCF bushings for like $80 because they had a good sale going on.

 

^^ Agreed. I was checking the price on Megazip just the other day and it was $37 USD per LCA (approx. $75 for the pair)...plus shipping to where your are.
I would say for that price to start with the RCF/GSF bushings and see how that works out.
Worse case you can upgrade to Figs after and not be out of pocket that much to begin with.

 

I did the same thing and bought the RC-F bushings through megazip. I also kept the stock ones in case I decided to go to Figs, I would have a spare set of brackets to put them in.

 

Ok RCF it is. Would you mind linking the exact ones I should buy? I went through the menus on megazip but I'm not familar enough with Lexus/Toyota to know what build codes to select.

 

48075-24010 Bracket
48076-24010 Bracket

 

Another +1 for the RCF bushings from me. I also went with the ones from MegaZip for like $80 for the pair and it comes preinnstalled into the brackets for easy install. A shop should charge ~1 hour of labor to install these (in my experience).

 

Ordered! Thanks to all for the assistance it is very much appreciated.

 

Hey guys the RCF bushings/brackets arrived today. I plan on installing them later this week and am curious if I will need to have an alignment done? Also, any install tips/suggestions are welcomed!

Thanks and God bless......

 

The installation is quite simple. It takes me an hour including gathering the tools, lifting the car and putting everything away.

The only thing I would add is to torque the LCA spindle nut with the suspension preloaded. It's pretty much impossible to do without the car in the air though. I just put it on jackstands and use the jack to load the LCA before torquing that nut. Otherwise it induces extra stress into the bushing leading to increased wear and reduced life. All other bolts can be torqued unloaded.

I would also keep the stock pieces if you think you may ever want to upgrade. Having a spare set of brackets makes it a lot easier if you ever decide to try a Figs bushing.

 

@Tungstn-IS Thanks. Do I actually need to torque the nuts to a specific ft-lb or just crank on them until they are good and tight?