Bushings, Bearings, Quality YAs & NAs

[2point]

Carry over of one of my posts from another forum to share here!

It's time to do maintenance on the race car. What are your thoughts about Bushings (polyurethane, OEM, hard rubber), bearings (spherical, Delrin, ?)

I've been beating my head b/c I "thought" I had it all figured out.. . Get my shocks, order Energy Suspension Hyperflex Master kit, fr and rear camber kits and call it good. Well I guess don't have mind settled now b/c I found some information that I didn't like on another forum about Polyurethane Bushings and racing applications.

What I've found out about Poly Bushings
1.) found to crack and deform with serious stresses - racing, AutoX
2.) do not like multi axial movement. Many car bearing/pivot points see predominantly 1 plane of movement, some cars are designed better than others, but putting these poly bushings in multi axis movements wears them out faster and deforms them as well.
3.) they need maintenance (lubed) and should be checked periodically for slop and cracks.
4.)Low elasticity

I need to make up my mind with what I order soon. Currently my car has some bad play in the suspension in place and that needs solved ASAP.

Enough of me talking about what I've read.. . What has your experience been???

[2point]

Thanks for the reply Jerrod as I am looking for other racers experience here.

To be honest "I could care less how harsh the ride is", I don't drive my track car daily but do drive it to the track and when I get ants in my pants for a lil speed here and there.

I want optimal performance with minimal maintenance and resonable expense.

I know of kits for my car and have been putting together senarios/setups that would work. I think that just replacing all key suspension pivot points with solid spherical bearings is not the BEST, however in a the world of perfect roads, it would be.

I'm not going to try and upgrade all my bushings to the BEST, although I would like to, I'm still trying to weigh the benefits compared to price and maintenance and etc.. .

Here are some of my ideas.. .

Main locations/points of Keeping camber and toe street/track car
These need to be a good wearing and solid mount with very low deflection
**Best example: spherical

Main locations of direct up and down motion while being met with forces in other axis on a street/track car
These need to be perhaps the most durable joints and should not be replaced from OEM with materials that are prone to failing, cracking, wearing quickly.
**Best examples - hard rubber, new OEM, spherical with teflon lining (Rose joints)

Locations of mainly rotational motion and do not see high G loads
**In the case of polyurathane or Delrin, as long as these bushing sets have steel or brass collars b/t bolt and the bushing material, these locations should be fine with these lackluster materials.

By evaluating my chasis - Polyurethane has little place in my car from a Racers Perspective.

Critical Locations for Spherical bearings
*Front upper control arm bushings - place of camber adjusters
*Rear Toe arm
*Rear Camber adjuster
*not critical but a place for Spherical to shine - steering rack tie rod to knuckles - very hard to find pre constructed but could be fabbed pretty easy if you have the resources.

Critcal wear points - best for Hard Rubber or new OEM rubber bushings
*Rear trailing arm Bushing - Could also use a spherical setup but would also require other locations to be upgraded to sherical as well.
*Front and rear LCA Lower Shock mounts
*Front and rear Inner and outer bushings
*Front compliance bushing - rear most LCA mounting point

Low importance / low wear points - Polyurathane
*Sway bar bushings
*End links
*upper shock mount bushings
*misc steering rack bushings Althought the outer most bushing connecting tie rod to knuckles is an optimal spot for spherical to shine.

Product Examples
FLCA kit for non Civic EG owners - http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1897855
FLCA teg owners - http://www.mckinneyraceworks.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21_33&products_id=51
FLCA - http://www.orijinmotorsports.com/prodspben.html
RTA - http://www.jhpusa.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=25_427&products_id=1279
End links - http://www.jhpusa.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=25_427&products_id=1431 - http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1800228
rear LCA - http://www.jhpusa.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=25_426&products_id=1119
rear LCA skunk II I think runs hard rubber too - http://www.jhpusa.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=25_426&products_id=1428
Crazy stuff from Japan - searing pinion , Lower & Upper ctrl Arm, camber at Toe - http://www.srr.com.tw/bedrock.asp
- http://www.srr.com.tw/bedrock/images/b_08_fix.jpg
rear LCA USA - http://www.wickedtuning.com/lca.html
rear toe adjuster - http://www.mfactoryhk.com/products.php?category=Rear%20Toe%20Adjuster
rear camber kit - http://www.mfactoryhk.com/products.php?category=Rear%20Camber%20Kit
** M factory is a dealer on Honda Tech so pricing is cheaper through them
I paid $250 shipped for rear toe & rear camber + Magenetic drain plugs for oil pan and tranny
BEST rear LCA for spherical with US support - http://picperformance.com/store/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=80