Can anyone help me with orientation of the front bushings on the control arms? I bought OEM as my stock ones almost disintegrated. The new ones from 2nd gen have some notch on the rubber. How am I supposed to orient it - side with notch to front of the car, notch up/down or it doesn't matter at all?

 

pics? I don't recall any notches that would face the front...

 

don't recall any notch on the OEM ones when we did it 6 yrs ago.
just press them in and go.
make sure you fixed your leaks that destroyed the bushings in the first place though.

 

are you talkin about the small bushing in front or the larger one in rear?

the front bushing is the one you get from a 2nd gen. the rear one you buy for a 3 gen and replace just like your old one came off.

 

wait.. what's this about using 2nd gen bushings? the front bushing i have is from the 4th gen ES kit...

 

It is front one (p/n 54590-01E00) and I couldn't get it in for the life of me (using sledge hummer and piece of old outer shell). Cooling it down in the freezer didn't help either. I eventually damaged outer shell on a new bushing . How tight is it supposed to sit there?

To internetautomar: I did fix my PS leak and oil leak about a year ago. It was already too late as it was leaking for years with the previous owners. The rubber on the stock bushing became soft so at least I didn't fight trying to remove it - not much was actually left there.

 

I'm running 2nd gen bushing in the front (the small ones) cuz the Energy suspension ones were garbage, lubed em VERY generously with the ES poly grease and the squeak always came back until I paid 4 bucks for each 2nd gen bushing and problem solved. Pressing them with a vice was not fun lol, broke two table vices. This was on my 4th gen though, for my 3rd gen I just bought both control arms new from Internetautomar(t) for a good price with bushings and ball joints Ball joints lasted about a year but at that price I did not expect them to last forever so I got Moog.


To answer your question, I just cleaned up the spot where they go in with some sandpaper and lubed the metal sleeve and the lca and thats it. No notch to guide or anything.

 

Thank you everybody for the help, I really appreciate it. I'll try to go to the local shop and ask them to press them in for me. This is my DD and I need it back on the road real quick.

 

wow i'm running into the same problem, i need to find a shop tomorrow to press them out. and the new ones in. but mine is a 5th gen!

 

Thats kool cuz I need to do the same to my 5th gen. Actually both 5th & 3rd.

 

Got it done today at a local shop. They also bought a replacement for the one I damaged. While I'm not extremely happy with result - they also damaged the edge of the one I originally bought but it seems it will work. Replacement one looks slightly different and it seems they had no problem getting it in.

All in all I wish I did it this way from the beginning - removed LCAs myself and brought them in. Removing outer shells of the bushing using the way Matt93SE described in his writeup by cutting 2 grooves and then removing the metal piece between them was quite efficient and not so time consuming (~15-20 min each). Besides front and rear LCA bushings I also replaced swaybar links and their bushings. I didn't replace swaybar bushings as they looked fine. Both ball joints were also good.

Results are hard to believe: all squeaks are gone (I was counting 2 or 3 different types, and one definetly from the rear), front highway vibration is gone, strange sound I was hearing from the engine bay after every stop is gone (I thought it was crossmember/motor mount), tire squeal in turns is greately reduced and I haven't done the alignment yet. Overall car feels much more stable now.

Thanks everybody for the valuable information - 2 broken table wises says something about this job .