Is it necessary to replace any of the other bushings in the rear suspension besides those 6 pillow ball bushings? I was looking through my manual and I think I counted 8 more bushings between the upper control arm and the "I" arm. 4 more per side (8 total)..

Also, how long did it take you guys that changed them yourself? Honestly. And would you ever do it again or would you pay someone next time?? Thanks.

I want my clunking gone, it is annoying as hell..

 

I just replaced the pillowball bushings and it fixed my clunk. Plus I would do it myself again in a heart beat. It was very easy.

 

how long did it take you?

 

Probably 2-3 hours but that included me going to the store to get the correct size socket. It really was easy. Max's method worked great.

 

it is my opinion that the 4 rear A arm bushings generally don't need replacement. in addition, the lower A arm supports the weight of the car and therefore is most likely to change ride comfort if replaced with a stiffer bushing. the rear toe link contains 2 bushings and along w the lower longitudinal link directly controls toe. both links bushings are prone to wear and effect tire wear, axle bounce on drag starts, and braking. neither link supports the verticle weight of the car so they can be replaced with nylon or whatever. i plan to replace my toe link bushings and the front (the rear of the car) lower link bushings w a synthetic material this winter. assuming my guy can do a quality job i will post his name and anyone would be free to order from him. i will have no financial relationship w him. the rear of the longitudinal link needs to be bought from mazda. i understand that all the "spherical" rear bushings are the same and are around $55 each. you should only need to replace the two at the rear of the longitudinal link.
howard coleman

 

Howard, you are probably right about not needing to replace the bushing in the upper control arm. I am going to start with only replacing the two outer pillow ball bushings in the lower "I"arm ( the manual calls them "I" arms) and see if the clunk goes away, if not then I will replace the upper one as well. I know it would be easier to do them all at once but I have the time and I would be interested to know if it is really only the 2 lowers... Possibly the other guys didnt really need to replace the upper bushing.. I will let you guys know..

 

You probably won't need to replace the lower/inner alignment bushings. However if you haven't went with solid toe links and trailing arms, they may be bad too.

I would do all 6 pillow ball and the tl/ta bushings so that they're all new and you won't have to worry about doing it again.