hey guys and gals,
i have a little problem and wanted to know if anyone had any ideas, this is my 3rd and hopefully last fd, and the problem i have seems to be what feels like oversteer when im taking turns, the cars feels kinda loose and wobbily, its a 94 touring with stock suspension and 73000 miles, could it be bushings? or just shocks? and if its bushing where do i start looking for bushings or a bushing kit, appreciate the help, thanks ray

 

At 73k, your rear suspension bushings are definitely getting toasty. Any clunking?

Before you start tearing into things:

*are your tire pressures good? Tires in good condition?
*when's the last time the car had a good 4-wheel alignment?
*check your front sway-bar -- are the mounts ok, is the bar disconnected on one side?

 

PM Jimlab with your problem, the guy is a bushing guru. AND he fabricates his own parts.

And/or call Ray Crowe at Malloy Mazda for some good OEM prices.

 

thanks for the help so far guys, yeah i have some clunking, when i go over something like a driveway edge, i just got new tires and just did a 4 wheel alignment, so im thinking bushings too

 

I replaced the infamous 6 pillow ball bushings last month and it cut my clunking noise down by about 70 percent. I recently ordered and recieved the Tow-Link Arm bushings but haven't had time to do the install. I anticipate that ALL the clunking will disappear when they go in.

 

what are good replacement busing and how much?

 

which bushings do you have to replace to get rid of the clunking? do we have to buy the $700 jimlab bushing set or can we get away with changing a few?

 

There's nothing wrong with the stock bushings IMO, other than they only last 50k miles (if that).

You need to get the car on a lift and see for yourself which bushings are bad. It could be the trailing arm, toe link, either of the three bushings in each control arm, etc.

 

I have clunking with the front suspension. bushings as well?

 

Well, that and contributing to wheel hop, but other than that...

 

i like rynberg's comments....

tire pressure is where to start. what are all 4 of your tires at measured cold? pls check and post.

alignment. i believe you said you had an alignment. what is the toe and the camber at each wheel currently?
pls check and post.

check your rear shocks for any fluid leakage.

bushings. replace the bushings at each end of your lower longitudinal link. one is cylindrical (at the front of the link) and one is spherical (pillowball/mazda) at the rear of the link located on the lower latitudinal link. replace the spherical bushing/bearing immediately outboard on the latitudinal link also as it carries the entire (well almost) weight of the car. the other bushings in the rear generally fail much later as they merely control suspension movement. ( toe links and upper a arms).

i prefer Jim's nylon type solid bushing for the front of the longitudinal link as it greatly reduces axle gyrations.

rear sway bar check to see it is properly attached at the brackets and at it's ends.

get back to us when you have pressures and alignment specs

howard coleman

 

Curious how much would it cost to replace all your bushing all at once if you chose to do? Parts wise of course. Labor will vary.

 

Today I'm getting my pillow ball bushings replaced. Cost was about $300 for 6 bushings from Ray and additional $100 for labor. I don't want to mess with it on my backyard

Additionally, when we put the car on the lift, we noticed a fair amount of free play in the toe links, so they're the next on the list.

I'll report later how much clunking noise I got rid of. Also I'm experiencing some of the oversteer you are mentioning, so I will take a look at that also, if new bushings helped. But I'm confident that with new toe-links and frehs alignment all will be ok.

I also noticed some people changed trailing arms - are they the rods that connect to the pillowball bushing on the lower rear arms ? I dont know which piece they are. What purpose do they serve ?

Thanks.

 

Ahh... additonally, my car swerves to a side when I let off the throttle. Could worn out bushings contribute to it ? Also - only the right rear toe link has free play...

 

whos that chick in your avatar.. wow she needs to be stuffed...

 

cruiser,

IMO the oem trailing arms (lower latiudinal links) are a work of art... designed on a super computer. very light very strong and real neat when polished.

and a major contibutor to axle hop, and instability under braking and acceleration.... IF

the bushing in the front of the link isn't replaced. it is generally one of the first, if not first, to go. it sounds like people posting above are replacing the rear bushing on the link, a pillow ball, but no mention of the front bushing.

do it.

preferably w nylon to decrease axle bounce on braking and acceleration. jim lab may have them or another source is http://www.suspensioncontrol.com

howard coleman

 

My girlfriend, thankyouverymuch

 

Howard... so you recommend just replacing the upper bushing on the trailing arm ? (on the other side will be a freshly replaced pillowball bushing)

 

Yep... 90% of the clunks is gone, also the car feel waaaaaaay better in corners. But there is still some clunking at right rear where the toelink is shot.

 

wtf are you doing posting here... you should be getting married and having kids. :p

 

shown are the 3 spherical bushings and the several "cilinder/normal" bushings (per side in rear).

* FWIK the three bushings marked with green "*"'s are not replacable in factory form, without replacing the entire toe link and trailing arm respectively.

i believe the front trailing arm "normal" bushing is replaced in jimlabs set though (along with all the other "normal" bushings but for the toe links i think). and many people FWIK replace the toe link bushings with something like "rod ends" or just go for an aftermarket set.

and another think, again, FWIK Jim's great set is pretty hard to come by due to low demand (that actually has the money). also it requires drilling into the metal where the bushings go to mount grease fittings, and regular greasing to avoid binding clunks.

 

Lol, you sound like her

 

Yup, toe-links are the next thing that will be going in my suspension mode. And they will be from rotary-extreme (or Jason).

 

wow, i guess im an idiot, i mean i still probably need bushings and coilovers would be nice, but anyway yeah the tire pressures were off.......by a lot, i reset them all to 32 psi, car handles much better now, i dont have that oversteering problem now, i just bought new bfg gforces when i got the car, so i couldn't understand why it would have such a handling problem. Now i cant figure out if they messed up inflating the tires at the shop or what......i did add air a week ago so maybe i messed up the pressures, but it was handling badly way before i put air in, so i dont think it wa my fault, but anyway dont everyone laugh all at once but when i checked the pressures yesterday with a gauge, one rear tire was at 50psi...................................um yeah, so anyways thanks for all the help people. i know i still need bushings cause there is clunking going into slow turns, but the car handles like an rx7 now.

 

i recommend that you run 3 psi less in the rear. don't run all 4 tires at the same pressure. 32 front, 29 rear is fine. ( i run 30/27) the rear will stick better.
'glad you solved yr problem.

howard coleman