Prefered Bushings?

[KA240SX808]

Which bushings would you Prefer, as if a Spherical wasn't an option.
Would you rather use OME/Nismo Type Rubber Bushings that have some kind of "Spring" to it?
Or would you rather use Poly Type bushings that has a lot of Friction and likes to Bind?

I do believe for the FLCA, OEM Type is rec. to allow Axial movement am I correct? As the Poly bushings being stiff and having pretty much no play causing Binding due to Caster correct?

So pretty much what I'm asking is what type of bushing would you prefer in the proper locations?

• Tension Rod - ?

• FLCA - OEM Type?

• RLCA - Poly as they only need Radial Movement correct?

• Upright - ?

• Rear Arm Links (RUCA, Toe & Traction) -

• Rear Sub-Frame - Poly to reduce Sub-Frame movement?

• Diff - Poly ^ Same?

And yes I've searched but got ALOT of controversy between the OEM Type and Poly bushings but nothing was really settled as to what using would be best in what App/Position. And I know Spherical's are pretty much the best solution we have but I'm looking into running STS Calss so I'm only allowed Rubber & Poly.

[Matt93SE]

Personally, I'd go for the NISMO bushings. I have poly in mine and it made the car ride like a truck, even on stock suspension. yeah, there's that much bind in them.

[AceInHole]

I've used polyurethane bushings on the FLCA without problems. Never finished doing the rear (I've only done the arm side, never the spindles), though I intend to with the S13 I'm building.

On the S14 I'm using solid subframe mounts with poly diff bushings, although I'm thinking of swapping the diff to solid mounts. I've been tempted to try making derlin mounts for the subframe on the S13, although I've bought urethane mounts for it already.

[hai1206vn]

I have Nismo bushings in all arms + uprights except tension rods. I used to run SPC tension rods but the rubber there would split every year, perhaps due to so much stress in that location (so they're now spherical).

The ride is very responsive but the rubber still deflects enough - I can move/twist the arms by hand. The great thing about rubber is they're practically maintenance-free. As I had to drive on salted roads for a couple winters (not anymore though), metal bearings were definitely unacceptable. Nismo bushings aren't cheap, but I was really against urethane.

You might get away with urethane in FLCA & other arms depending on how stiff the springs are. Stiff spring = less arm movement = bushings don't have to twist as much.

Subframe & diff are fine with urethane since they aren't supposed to move. I used to have UHMW (like Delrin) subframe bushings but they got crushed with the OEM steel cups (you'd need larger washers instead).

Edit: Front ball joint needs to move toward front of car as it moves up because tension rod length is fixed. At the same time, it also moves toward engine. So both tension rod bushing & FLCA bushing must twist axially.

[KA240SX808]

Springs I'm looking at the Nismo S-Tune set-up with a few other mods to aid in a little more drop w/o touching the spring or shock travel. I have SPC Tension rods right now and they've been fine for just about 8months now. I'm decently low but don't do much hard driving due tithe smash and mis aligned frame. But will be fixing all that so all should be good.

I was thinking about Nismo's all around with ES Sub, Diff and RLCA bushings.

[hai1206vn]

Drop? Ha, the Nismo springs won't drop that much at all (1" front, .6" rear). Look at the wheel gap my sig, and that's with Koni yellows, Progress front bar, stock rear bar. But thanks to the minimal drop, I never had to buy adjustable arms. (just camber bolts up front for a bit more negative.)

I might change out my Nismo setup in a few months for stiffer stuff so I can sell you then

[KA240SX808]

I will take that offer and like I said I have somethings I'm gonna due to aid in the drop because the 1.0/0.6" drop isn't quite enough for me. Gonna see if I can add .75" to the Front and .80" to the rear for a tad more drop.

Got my eyes set on some Ohlins And Teins to do this. Along with some other things in mind.

Question: I know you had to assemble the Springs and Struts, in the rear did you need to compress the spring much or was it short enough to just put the top mounts on a tighten?

[hai1206vn]

Both ends still need to be compressed, but by very little, not 1-2" like stock springs.

Remember, the minimal drop is for a few good reasons: travel & geometry, especially up front. I would've kept this setup, but now I have a beater the s14 can get a bit more serious.

[KA240SX808]

Right. Geometry I'm not too worried about as I'm pretty sure a set of Nagisa RCA (15mm?) should suffice? Travel in the front I'm not too worried either as the added drop won't affect that at all. Plus I'm probably going to have a Koni yellow thrown in there so I can add a bit more travel when I get those in the front housings.

I must say we got WAY OT from the original question lmao.

[marcinko]

I've been messing with different types of bushings in different locations on my s14 for a few years. Assuming sphericals are out of the picture NISMO would be best for all the locations besides the subframe and diff. I'd get poly or solid for those depending on how much noise you want in the cabin.

Since the Nismo S14 RLCAs are impossible to find for a reasonable price I'm going with Superpro poly bushings from PDM. I'm hoping the Superpro will have less stiction than the ES crap.

[KA240SX808]

I believe you can find the Nismo RLCA on FRSport. If your talking about the bushings you can try West Covina Nismo.

And that's another thing too. I want to see/know how the Whiteline and SuperPro Poly bushings stood against the ES ones.

[Def]

For the RLCA inner pivots, urethane will probably work fine. I'm using delrin there, they work pretty well.

[eye-5]

I know Megan isn't exactly a quality name but they make some hardened rubber bushings if the Nismo's are hard to find. Does anyone have experience with those?

[marcinko]

^Those are about as much as the Nismo bushings... I imagine the Nismo is better quality but I've never seen the Megans in person.

I tried calling a lot of dealerships/shops in the US that carry Nismo but could not find the s14 rlca or flca bushings. FRsport has the arms for a hefty price but not the bushings. RHDJapan was the cheapest I could find the rlca bushings for $130ish shipped.

I used s13 Nismo flca bushings since they were only 10 bucks each new from the dealer and are interchangeable. Only difference is the thinner inner sleeve.

PDM has the Superpro s14 rlca bushings for $80ish shipped... they supposedly rotate on the inner and outer shells as opposed to just the inners like the ES.

Biggest problem with Energy Suspension is the poly sticks out past the inner sleeve a good amount after it's pressed into the arm so when you torque the bolt it gets sandwiched and creates major stiction.

[KA240SX808]

Yeah the SuperPro/Whitelines have 2 Sleeves:



But Poly is pretty stiff so IDK how it would Rotate/Twist during Compression. You guys think the dbl sleeve design would help with the Sticktion/binding common with the ES bushings with 1 sleeve?