New Suspension With Energy Bushings - Page 2

DrJones · 10-20-2008, 06:21 AM

The Stock bushings should't be easy to "with a pinky". the bushing is vulcanized (spelling) onto the inner sleeve and is not supposed "slide" within the bushing. Yes the adds to the effective spring rate of the suspenssion but it is designed into the vehcile dynamics of the car. This is why you should tighten your suspension bolts when your vehicle is at normal ride height, otherwise the bushings will try to "lift" the vehicle up from their torsional springing effect.

Did the Energy kit come with new sleeves for the LCA bushings?

I orderd and installed the kit early spring this year and they wanted you to use the OE lower sleeves, except to do this I had to burn off the bushing (as it was vulcanized to the sleeve) and then found out that inner sleeve was not a smooth stright tube. it had a bulge in the middle of it

Fix: grind down all 8 lower sleeves.

Next problem:
When i would hit the brakes hard during an auto-x run the control arms would slide back on the bushings. this might not be a problem if you are running street tires, but I am running 315/30R18 wide hoosiers and the increased braking performance was too much for the bushing flange.

Fix: I worked with energy through out the whole instalation (from the non-smooth sleeves to the solution), they made me some custom bushings out of a harder durrometer poly with.
We had a little tolerance stack-up problem at first (see pic).

To fix this they sent me some bushings with un-cut flanges on it that i had to sand down to fit the car.

I'll try to get a picture of the custom fit bushings

But working with Energy Suspenssion was great. they help me/us get through all of this and back on the track. Good company to work with!

Yamatr3 · 10-20-2008, 07:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrJones

The Stock bushings should't be easy to "with a pinky". the bushing is vulcanized (spelling) onto the inner sleeve and is not supposed "slide" within the bushing.

You are correct but the a-arms should not have that much tension on them so they do not move up and down properly, thats the way mine were. Also to note, my car was a very early 2006 in the 1500's.

As for the LCA sleeves, I was not there for that, I will have to check and see what they did. They mentioned having to burn something out, so I am assuming they did what you did. I have to stop by the shop again today so I'll see what the outcome was. Just a note, all my bushings are the red material and look like your last two pics. I am guessing they made changes to their kit based on your install because mine looks like those two pics.

DrJones · 10-20-2008, 07:43 AM

They offered the red or black bushings with the first version of their kit, and don't usualy like the red bushings. the replacements one's were all red though.
same basic material except the newer one's are stiffer.

spiky3480 · 10-20-2008, 01:31 PM

Where can u get this kit?

Yamatr3 · 10-20-2008, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spiky3480

Where can u get this kit?

Look in my first post, there is a link to the product at the Performance Autowerks store, also most of our supporting vendors carry their stuff. Since you have a GXP, you can't order the full kit, you have to order the front A arm kit and the rear A arms kit. You might call energy to see if they have done the bushings for the GXp sway bars yet. If they have, then you can order the full kit. if you do, you won't regret it.

DrJones · 10-22-2008, 08:57 AM

Mine does handle very crisply now (also due to the koni d/a's and race springs).
But mine is also much harsher than stock and probably the standard bushing kit from energy. Oh well, if i wanted it to ride nice i wouldn't be racing it would i? :P

spiky3480 · 10-22-2008, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yamatr3

Look in my first post, there is a link to the product at the Performance Autowerks store, also most of our supporting vendors carry their stuff. Since you have a GXP, you can't order the full kit, you have to order the front A arm kit and the rear A arms kit. You might call energy to see if they have done the bushings for the GXp sway bars yet. If they have, then you can order the full kit. if you do, you won't regret it.

Is the install very difficult? How much would I be looking if I had a shop do it?

Yamatr3 · 10-22-2008, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spiky3480

Is the install very difficult? How much would I be looking if I had a shop do it?

Crisp is a good word to describe it now. It cost me about $1200 total, including labor, parts sway bars etc. I'm glad I did it. If you did it your self, you will need a press and then will have to have it realigned.

DrJones · 10-23-2008, 06:19 AM

The tricky part when i did it was you have to cut a metal washer out of the ride bushings on the lower arms. It molded into the bushing, it's purpose is to keep the control arm from sliding back on the bushings (like the problem i had). you have to be careful with the razor blade (ask how i know

)

You can get by without a press. I made a mechanical press out of 1/2" threaded rod, 3 nuts, a few washers and a piece of scrap steel (this needs to be wider than the larger end on the LCA).

Use 2 nuts at one end of the treaded rod and jam them together.
slide the treaded rod through both LCA bushings with a washer.
Drill a 1/2" hole in the scrap steel and place it over the other end of the threaded rod.
add a washer and thread a nut onto that end.
using two wrenches start tightening the loose nut (not the jam nuts).
Make sure you use penetrating fluid and some heat and the bushings should come out.
Just remember you have to cut out the molded in metal washer or you could damage the LCA.

and an alignment is a must afterwards, luckly I do them myself (otherwise a pay a fortune everytime)

rlhammon · 10-26-2009, 07:21 PM

**BUMP** for a very old thread.

Alex or anyone else... do you have the bearing sizes and are they the same front and rear?

I'm looking to get a set made for my car as I'm trying to stay away from polyurethane as I don't like the use of it on street cars over time (way too noisy for my liking).

Anyway... if anyone is willing to share critical dimensions of these bushings that would be a great help in trying to bring another bushing to market for us.

wspohn · 10-26-2009, 08:08 PM

Funny, my 2009 GXP doesn't have binding suspension. Changed the struts to BC Racing and everything was smooth and movable on it when we unloaded the old shocks.

Do you think it might be an age thing with yours?

snaponbob · 10-27-2009, 08:27 PM

Gonna have to look at mine a bit closer. I have not noticed where any of my control arms have slipped. As for the sleeves, E.S. sent me a bunch of new ones. The problem with the "pregnant" sleeves is that they were NOT on the 06 Sols, and that is what they used as they developed the existing kits. ALL the kits are for 06 Sols, so before you start, make SURE your E.S. sets have enough of the proper sleeves. If there are SIX, it is an OLD set and you'll need to contact E.S. to get the extra ones. Also, even if you get EIGHT of the sleeves, some folks have received the wrong NUMBER of each, so check.

davytudope · 10-30-2009, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snaponbob

some folks have received the wrong NUMBER of each, so check.

like myself