In an effort to maximize my tire wear and make for a more solid handing car, I've ordered solid thrust bushings for my rear lower control arms.

Does anyone have any tips on whether this is possible as a DIY with arm on car?

Or is this an out of car operation that requires a press?

 

Elephant sells a tool that lets you do it on the car without needing a press....

http://www.elephantracing.com/suspen...ngs.htm#prod_2

 

I have some coming. Do you think I could rig something together with a bolt, nuts, and washers?

 

I did mine in about 5 minutes each corner. I used a properly sized disk on top and a pipe underneath and another larger disk on the other side of the pipe. I used a 1/2" threaded rod through everything. Two nuts on top. Two washers and one nut on the bottom. Turn the bottom nut until the bushing is pulled through. Then just insert the replacements.

 

Thanks guys. Just the info I'm looking for.

Didn't know about elephant racing and their products. Looks like some nice street oriented parts there. I have some Torque Solutions solid bushing coming. I've read they don't add much of any added NVH and hope that's the case.

 

Yup, I've read the same regarding nvh....they are on my to do list.

 

Up front I have the Elephant monoballs in the top strut mounts. I feel some added vibration and much better road feel, some road surfaces can vibrate things a bit. I don't find it harsh but if tires are out of balance you'll know it.

In back I've got Porsche monoball LCA and aftermarket toe links plus the thrust bushings are solid. Top mounts in back are OEM and I've been told monoballs there are pretty harsh so I'm keeping the rubber. 997 trans mount didn't seem to add much but the RSS motor mounts can be felt, it's not objectionable. The heavier duty shift cables added the most objectionable NVH and I need to try and isolate them better for sure!

 

Finally got around to installing this after many moons. Worked out great!

Straight line stability is much improved from what I can tell on my commute. I didn't get crazy but I especially noticed it under rev match braking on a freeway off-ramp as the rear end stayed more true. No real additional NVH to speak of which alleviated much of my concern with the solid bushes.

The stock bushing were definitely worn as they showed to be deformed off center when pulled. I have ~50k miles on my 2003. I can only imagine how much deflection they were inviting under load. Hopefully, tire wear will improve beyond the 8-10k I get per rear pair.



Pulling them on car worked out great with the tool I improvised. Luckily I had a huge 54mm socket. I also made a 54.5mm press die out of 1"x1/4 steel stock to press out the 55mm diameter bushing. And some 1/2" all thread.

 

Does this require an alignment if these are changed? Maybe it could affect caster but I believe that is not adjustable in stock 996tt configuration in the back. If can change these out to help tire wear I am all in. Got about 9k on my first set of rears. I'd like to get more.

 

If anything it might put you back into alignment.

 

My car was aligned his past fall just wanting to know if popping these in would warrant an additional alignment as I think it would only impact caster. I believe this change to the harder bushings allows the suspension not to deflect as much under load so that the vehicle is closer to the static alignment numbers when your driving it.

 

I would say that in general, for any suspension work, you'll generally want an alignment after.

That said, the thrust bushing won't change things much. Idea is they minimize deflection rather than change the alignment. In the rear, there's no caster to speak of. I do have adjustable thrust bushings installed which have the center position offset. I rotated them such it puts the thrust arm back at a neutral position.

I will likely get an alignment soon as it's been several years anyways.

 

I'd like to addend this by saying, make sure the socket or pipe or whatever you use has a greater diameter than the bushing. I know this seems like common sense, but I grabbed a 2'' pipe from home depot, that was a hair too small, and it made for a headache. Heres a pic of my "puller" after I couldn't find a big enough pipe...

 

BTW can anyone confirm torque specs on the new bushing. I read 118 ft/lb elsewhere.

 

You will absolutely 100% need to get an alignment especially if your OEM bushing was squashed off center even just a bit.