DoubleWhoosh

We just picked up some bushings from a new company, complete front end urethane kit for upper and lower arms, $99.

Please email me directly if anyone is interested...

todd@tmengineering.net

They have direct replacement urethane sway bar bushings on the way also, those will make a huge difference without changing the bar.

Todd Matsubara
TM Engineering LLC

DoubleWhoosh

You get what you pay for...any true Lexus owner know this

pcmw

Well okay,

I agree that is true. So which ones are better? Have you ever looked at the Whiteline bushings? Do you have any additional information other than "some bushings from a new company"

Thanks

MW

AutoCoutureSC

iTrader: (8)

i'd hate to be the geek, but what do the control arm bushings do? where does it go?

ToyLexmods

Ok TM,

So I will bite. You get what you pay for....

Case #1. Your new supplier with a 8 bushing kit. Upper and lower control arm bushings. $99 dollars.

Case #2. Whiteline lower control arm bushings 4 bushing kit. Lower control arm only. $93 dollars.

BTW, does your supplier know there are 2 different bushing diameters for the SC? This is for the upper and lower control arms. Do they make both sizes?

DoubleWhoosh

This is a complete kit, not just the lower arms. We worked closely with this company to develop this kit, so it's not something from some random place trying to make a buck. There was some pretty good thought put into the kit. All of the upper and lower were designed to properly replace each of the stock bushings. These even have the proper grooves to retain the grease around the sleeve area, something that most of the cheaper bushings do not have.

As you all well know, we specialize in Lexus cars, and especially the SC300/400. This new company was started by a couple people from Japan that did hipo aftermarket work before, and we're helping them out with R&D and distribution.

The company that is producing these is called Daizen Sport Tuning, they are coming out with a bunch of Lexus-only parts, starting with a whole line of suspension components. Upgraded sway bars are going to be available soon, $500 for the complete set with custom urethane bushings that retain the stock hardware.

Sway bars for the GS and IS will also be released in the next month or so. Sway bars for the RX and probably SC430 and LS will also be available before the end of the year.

Stock replacement urethane sway bar bushings will be available shortly for $29.

These should be available at quite a few shops around the country soon, but for now we're the exclusive distributor.

This bushing set is designed to retain the stock sleeves. This is a little more work as you have to heat and remove the stock rubber, but overall it's not bad since you don't need a press, and the bushings will sit back into exactly the right place. This is a problem when replacing the complete sleeves.

This is a complete set of actually 12 bushings, the uppers are 2 piece each, for a total of 8, and the lowers are 1 piece for a total of 4. New upper inner metal sleeves are supplied, the lowers are reused due to their unique mounting method.

I think at this price this is very reasonable for what you get, even with the labor you are still better off than with the stock $500/ea arms that will still wear out again.

Here is a picture of them, the production ones are black instead of red like these.

Todd Matsubara
TM Engineering LLC

ToyLexmods

Help, I am confused...these,this,that....I need some help understanding what you are saying.

So, talking about the lower control arm inner bushings. We retain the outer sleeve of each bushing. And we reuse the inner sleeve of each bushing.

Now, on the upper control arm. We retain the outer sleeve of each bushing and are supplied with a new inner sleeve.

Installation involves heating up the rubber and removing the rubber portion of the bushings without disturbing the outer sleeves? Outer sleeves are untouched.

Is there any material left on the outer sleeve after removal of the inner rubber? This method is better than removing the metal sleeve?

You still didnt answer my question about different size diameters on different year SC cars. Upper and lower control arms have different diameters depending on years, right? Do you offer the different sizes?

Chairmnofthbord

$99 for all 8, if you do all the work yourself for a hundred bucks its a good deal. even if you need to replace them every year its still a good deal, and the second time around to replace the bushings its a hell of alot easier, they slide out very easy.

-Xavier Powers-

James

Hi Todd,
It looks like you put some good thought into pulling this design together and I like the fact that we retain the lower control arm sleeves. Tell me how you actually heat the lowers to remove the rubber. Do you actually burn it out or just use a hot knife and cut/scrape it out?

Being a plastics industry guy, I'm always interested to hear how you matched your neoprene/rubber material to the OEM bushing rubber from a hardness/flexibility standpoint. In other words, how much more harsh or soft is the ride going to be?

Cheers,
James

DoubleWhoosh

Well you probably know more than I about rubber composition, but the stock bushings have some sort of fiber or impregnated string crap...basically making them almost impossible to cut or tear.

Removal is most effective when using a propane type torch and heating the shells until the bushings melt out. Then go back with some solvent and a wire brush and clean up the rest until the sleeves are nice and clean. The poly bushings will simply slide in at that point, and the best thing is that they will line up properly since the original sleeve wasn't removed. The inner sleeves simply slide in also with the supplied grease.

The ride won't be significantly harsher, although changing the upper arm bushings is what changes the ride the most. The lowers on these cars are the most prone to failure, so one could just change the lowers and be done with it. That would only increase ride harshness to a minimal degree and still provide a HUGE improvement over the stock pieces.

As far as longevity, there is no reason that these bushings won't outlast the car. The only conceivable problem would be if they needed to be regreased on the face, but that is usually not needed as grease technology is pretty good nowdays, and as mentioned above, there are channels that hold ample grease to alleviate this problem altogether.

I already mentioned before, these are made to fit this car, it is not universal and there is no problem with fit, either upper or lower.

This is definitely not a product that was slapped together to make a fast buck, they were researched and developed specifically to suit this application.

We've sold more stock OE replacement arms than you can imagine, and at $500 a pop I felt really bad, but it was the only alternative until now. If there are any doubters of this product, that's fine don't buy it, nobody is forcing you. If you want to go buy some other brand, that's fine too...just hope they did their homework. I just felt it would benefit the Lexus community as a whole to let everyone know that these are available as a high quality upgrade and/or replacement.

This Daizen Sport Tuning brand/company really wants to cater to the Lexus aftermarket, and I think they are going about it the right way - a highest quality product at a reasonable price. And ONLY for Lexus cars, not for Hondas, Acuras, and everything under the sun. It's about time someone actually stepped up and did something like this, as these Lexus cars really deserve quality parts developed specifically for them.

Even if you bought these and paid $300 for labor, you're ten times better off than with the stock arms (and their inevitable failure).

If there's any other questions feel free to ask. We've already put in 3 sets and the customers have all been grinning ear to ear.

Todd Matsubara
TM Engineering LLC

ToyLexmods

Todd,

I commend the work your doing over there but, have you answered my question yet?

You still didnt answer my question about different size diameters on different year SC cars. Upper and lower control arms have different diameters depending on years, right? Do you offer the different sizes?

If the ride is not significantly harsher.....what accounts for the huge improvement over the stock pieces?

DoubleWhoosh

Why so persistent? I have your answers, but are you asking because you want to buy them? Or because your friend sells competing product and you want to try to poke holes in our credibility?

Your approach doesn't do the retail community any good - it only causes more confusion to the people that are already confused as it is. Asking questions that you already know answers to doesn't do anyone any good.

You obviously know the answers to your questions already...so why don't you answer them yourself.

pcmw

Todd,

I hope I did not seem unreasonable to you. I just wanted you to spill the details on why these bushing are better or just stock replacements. No need to get defensive is there?

ToyLexmods is just trying to HELP you with fitting on these. There is some mixed information on different years and models in terms of the OD of the lower arm bushing. It seems that you have not run into this issue so maybe it is only in the Soarers.

Lastly, I am not sure, but I am quite postive that ToyLexmods does NOT work for the other guy, doesn't get paid to advertise, and just wants to HELP others find a decent replacement for the issue.

I think you are reading into this issue too much and hopefully don't put yourself or your company in a negative light. I would like to do business with you but if this is the way you communicate, then I could not imagine having to correspond with you when those bushing don't fit correctly because of the known differences in years/models. That leaves me with a sick feeling as I imagine my car torn apart on jack stands.

MW

just my .02

GS4Will

well, i am not an expert on the great soarers..BUT, i do know that todd gets quality products and work done at reasonable price for many GS guys here in scal....

like one of the car mags say on its cover about some of todd's work from TM, and i quote....

"...in TODD we trust..."

Lex Luthor

I can second that, Todd knows his ***** and is a stand up guy, and I personally would rather have a product that I knew for a fact had been scienced out for our specific cars and has been installed with positive results, regardless of price.
- Jon