legacycentral bbs

Last week I got a test set of TiC's new bushings and put them in.




They go in the rear upright where the trailing arm attaches. Here's one compared to the stock bushing:



A piece of pipe, a nut and bolt and some washers made it pretty easy to remove the stock ones:





Then the new ones just press in by hand:








So here's the cool thing I've noticed: there's a pretty good reduction in understeer. I suppose part of this is due to a slight reduction in dynamic toe changes. The other reason is that I have, in effect, increased the total stiffness of the rear suspension. This means the chassis transfers load to the outside rear tire more efficiently.

I wasn't really expecting to notice a big difference, and wasn't sure if I was just imagining things. Then I went around a couple more onramps and found myself having to take out steering angle a few times where I normally would just be riding the edge of understeer. I really need to get this thing out of town somewhere to see how it feels. Another thing I'm noticing is a better overall steering precision out of the whole car.

So now I have to order the rest of the set- lateral link bushings and the front trailing arm bushings. If anyone else is interested in this new bushing option we're doing a group buy on the nasioc and iwsti forums.

I'm in if they fit a 93 legacy l. I've been looking for bushings to replace my old 140k bushings

yep they'll fit everything with rear struts, so pre-08 imprezas and pre-00 legacies.

There have been other bushings on the market from superpro and whiteline etc but a lot of them press in and I don't think anyone has made a split bushing insert for the lateral links.

Whiteline & Superpro I believe are a split design as well.

It's the STi bushings that are press in, and let me be the first to tell you they are a complete BIATCH to install. Without an install tool, you won't be able to get them in. Those bushings look like a breeze to install.

Here's pics of the install & install tool.
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... ol/images/

Okay sweet so anyone got a link to where I can buy these at? Also is there a bushing at the front of the trailing link? Can it be replaced with a bushing similar too?

Legacy777 wrote:Whiteline & Superpro I believe are a split design as well.

It's the STi bushings that are press in, and let me be the first to tell you they are a complete BIATCH to install. Without an install tool, you won't be able to get them in. Those bushings look like a breeze to install.

Here's pics of the install & install tool.
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... ol/images/

You can only get whiteline plus bushings these days, and I'm pretty sure the ones for the trailing arm press in. I don't know if they make them for the lateral links. The superpro bushings are split, but I think these are a little nicer part.

I'd always wanted to do new bushings and just didn't get around to it. Then TiC sent me these and that motivated me.

Those look like the way to go for upgrading the trailing arm bushings. How much increase in nvh did you notice?

Jeff

I didn't notice a change at all, but I have a lot of other parts on the car that contribute to NVH so I'm not sure if others will notice more of a difference.

The stock front trailing arm bushing is still there, and I'm betting I'll notice when I replace that one.

I'd like to replace all the bushings underneath the car. I wish they weren't so expensive. How long do they last? Forever?

I would expect a really long time. The stainless sleeve should prevent anything from seizing and the graphite impregnated urethane improves lubrication and reduces wear. I expect mine to be in perfect condition long after the car is gone.

Very cool. TiC's parts are very nice quality parts!

If I had it to do all over again, I'd definitely go with the split urethane design over the STi harden rubber.

yeah so I went ahead and ordered all the rest of the bushings. Should have them by Monday. Very excited.