Long Term Effects of Busted Bushings??

Allrighty peoples, this is my first thread and somethin i have had on my mind for awhile. Soo for about the past year (that i know of) all of my front bushings have been str8 busted. LIke cracked almost all the way around, and the ride is shit, buut i just here recently purchased the ENERGY SUSPENSIONS HYPERFLEX MASTER BUSHING KIT......sooo thas all of them. My question for yall is if yall know what the consequences would be for delaying replacing the bushings??? Like besides alignment, brakes, n tires gettin goofed up.......

Also can anybody describe a BENCH PRESS for me, i think thas what its called??? Its used to press in balljoints, b/t control arms n what not....

bench press :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


Why don't ya look for a fitness or weaght lifting website.

ya know what asshole, how bout i didnt know wtf it was called till a minute ago soo seriously grow up!! what i meant to say was a hydraulic press, buuut the guy that was talkin about it said bench press soo just get over it!

speaking of bushing, I think if have to replace my bushings too. the car still turn good, but lately, not sure if it caused by the weather, or causd by the bushing, I could feel like the car starts to swirl left then right, left then right, every once in awhile. could it be alignment? or could it be bushings? man, frustration.

**notes: I start to feel that whenever I'm on the freeway, at high speed, could it be bushings or alighment? or tires pressure?

Does it sway like that when you're just trying to drive straight? And how old are your tires?

Mine had the same issue - so bad that the first time I threw it into 5th, I almost lost control - and I was only going about 65 or so --

My suspension is pretty shot to hell, but new tires and alignment helped correct the problem majorly.

Lightly swirls, but nothing too major though, but for some reasons, I just feel like it does swirl. I'm not sure if people could see that or not. I'm not sure if the bushings on the sway bars are worn out, or maybe the tires pressure, don't really know. as for the tires, they are less than a year old. Falken Ziex 225 40 18. could be the bushings, could be the tires pressure, could be the alignment, could be any of the possibility.

check your pressure/balance/alignment first -- it helped for me, anyway

alignment, I just did awhile back, not four-wheel-alignment though, only the alignment in the rear because the mechanic said the alignment on the front is fine.

so i have to check the tires pressure? the tires balance too right?

alignment, I just did awhile back, not four-wheel-alignment though, only the alignment in the rear because the mechanic said the alignment on the front is fine.

so i have to check the tires pressure? the tires balance too right?
I'd be suspicious of a possible hub bearing problem. That can cause them to want to drift and pull as the bearing binds and drifts. Ball joint is a possibility too. Just lift it till the wheel just leaves the ground, then put a long lever under the tire and pull upward. Check for excessive movement at the top of the strut. The grab the bottom and try to move the tire in and out firmly. If you get movement on that axis, the ball joint or lower contorl arm bushings are bad. Then grab both sides and try to "steer" the tire. Any loose slop or "knocking" feeling is likely tie rod problems.

On the other question, bushings are there to keep two metal parts made to move against each other from banging into each other directly. As the bushings go bad, it is felt as slop in the steering and suspension because there is more relative movement allowed. If the bushing fails altogether and migrates out of the cavity, those parts will ride against each other, with noise and rapid wear of the metal resulting. Very quickly the parts will get hogged out to the point that a new bushing wont press-fit in, because the hole for it is egged out. Then you are looking at expensive replacements. Chances are the car would be very difficult/dangerous to drive once the bushing was gone, depending on which it was.

Yeah i'd agree with Jeff if you say your wheels are fine -- like i said before, new tires and alignment corrected most of the prob for me - but it sound like your prob is beyond that

I went to the auto shop earlier, the mechanic test drove it, and he also checked the tires, he said "good alignment", nothing wrong, so far so good, I guess maybe cause of the wind and traveling on the freeway at freeway speed, that's why I felt the car swirls left and right every once in a while. Thanks for your opinions and thoughts you guys, I'd appreciate that, really.

So it would make a lot of noises if the bushings have gone bad? what level would you describe the noise? severe? jeffcoslacker.

If they were deteriorated to the point that parts of them were missing, you'd hear some nice metallic clunks on rebound.

well like i stated my bushings have been busted for the past year+ sooo there is an odd noice at high speeds, nothing i really can describe, buut not too much clanking noices, and i mean the ride is just rough. I am curious as to whether or not the actual parts are going to be screwed, b/c my mechanic thats going to do it didnt say anything about it, and said as long as the ride doesnt feel dangerous i should be fine......???

When he test drove it and "checked" alignment, I guess he didn't actually put it on an alignment rack? There are alignment angles that affect steering and high speed stability that can't be checked by test driving on the street. I'm guessing he was just talking about toe, which is how the tires track. That's what usually makes your car pull to one side (continuously) and the steering wheel to be off-center when driving straight. But you also have camber (top to bottom orientation) which affects wear and handling, as well as caster (orientation of the steering spindle centerline to the road) which is a non-tire wearing angle, but has a huge effect on high speed stability. Improper camber will cause them to "wander", but can't be "eyeballed", it has to be checked and set on an aligment rack.

In addition, FWD in general, and Hondas in particular, have complex rear suspensions with joints and bushings that can cause some wierd effects on handling if worn. All this needs to be checked.