Forgive me forum if I have sinned, it has been a full day of searching off and on for my question to no avail. I am in the process of ordering parts for my new FD build and a full set of upper/lower control arms, trailing arms and toe rods are up for debate. To me switching to the newer, lighter and stiffer parts makes seses in every way if it fits into your budget. The real question is this:

Does switching from a bushing system to a spherical bearing make your ride unbearable? To me I want to enjoy taking my car for a ride since it will be 98% cruise and show 2% legit track time.

I have read many many builds on here over the years but no one has ever really said what they think about the ride quality afterwards (that I have found).

Any experience or general input appreciated. Looking at the full alignment set from parts shop max (bronze color if you Google search) or the standard one from set others have used from Megan Racing.

 

ride quality stays the same, noise transmitted goes up. the rubber bushings are nice because they absorb small impacts, bearings will not, stuff will bend.

on a street car, the lower arms should probably stay rubber, and the same in the rear

 

The aftermarket spherical bearings without dust seals wear out even faster than the stock FD spherical bearings with dust seals, which themselves only last 30-50,000 miles.

Beware Megan Racing quality, friend had those arms on his S2000 and they only lasted a couple thousand miles before the bearings went sloppy.

 

Thank you for this info. Noise is going to be controlled a bit by the addition of Dynamat so if ride quality stays the say I may still be a happy camper.

 

You know I always stayed away from them on other cars I have had but it seemed like a common company to use for these parts. I will go with the much higher priced set from parts shop max instead. Not sure if you have seen these or not: https://store.partsshopmax.com/shop/FC/MultilinkAngle/FDREARSET.html

 

Almost everything in the rear of the FD is sealed spherical bearings stock, with forged Aluminum lower and squeeze cast upper arms.

The real benefit of the PBM rear kit is allows for is radical re-alignment in the pits after an on course incident drifting. The parts are heavier than stock, weaker than stock (they will break at the threaded portion of the rod ends first) and the unsealed spherical bearings will even wear out faster than stock.

If simply you want to eliminate all the bushings in the rear suspension for spherical bearings you can purchase the Super Now rear upper arm pillow ball kit-
https://www.rhdjapan.com/super-now-r...-set-fd3s.html

and the trailing arm set of your choice-
https://www.rhdjapan.com/kts-rear-pi...rx-7-fd3s.html

as the front of the trailing arm and the inner and shock mounting point on the upper arm are the only bushings in the FD rear suspension (rest are sealed spherical bearings).

 

its not noise that is transmitted through the air, its directly transmitted through the chassis. its like a tuning fork

 

My main reason for doing this was for looks/longevity so according to this wonderful I for you have provided, perhaps my best bet is to remove the factory parts and have them media blasted and powder coated. Then I could replace the bushings with upgraded poly over the OEM rubber.

I truly appreciate the great reply, this is why I love a classic car community.

 

Oh that's a good point that I had not thought of. Thank you for clarifying that for me.