Big project weekend for me and the new FD. Installed boost gauge/water temp gauge, a new R1 front spoiler that I picked up from Malloy on sale (thru the end of this month I believe) and an R1 rear wing I bought from a member here. I also replaced all six pillow ball bushings per the various FAQs out there, with a slight improvement on the "washers and sockets" technique by using some home depot cast iron pipe fittings.

Man what a difference! My car had been clunking on braking or acceleration before, but one of the other problems I hadn't really attributed to the bad pillow ***** was the squirrly nature of the rear end. I thought it was just due to tires or bad suspension. To recap, ever since I got the car a few months ago it would tend to snap oversteer under throttle in a tight turn. Also, when taking my favorite highway off-ramp at high speeds with a fixed steering input and throttle, the rear end would oscillate between oversteer and understeer on it's own.

I guess this was due to the shaft in the bushings flexing in and out -- upon removal there was SUBSTANTIAL play in the shaft, especially the uppermost bushing. Now all those weird handling dynamics that had made me somewhat uncertain driving this car are gone. It feels firm and planted. There's still a lot of body roll on the stock (76kmi) touring suspension but it's definately a lot more linear and controllable now. Clunking is gone too

So yea in short, new pillow ***** good not just for getting rid of the annoying clunking but when they go bad they seem to cause a lot of poor handling characteristics. Anyone else notice this?