Bon

Soon after getting my '06 I put on some new tires and added wheel spacers to get the look I wanted. Right away I began to get wheel shake at speeds ranging from 50-65 mph. I got alignments and road force balancing but nothing helped. After searching and reading a lot of threads I decided to go with Daizen polyurethane bushings. I did this because I became convinced that the lower control arm #2 (LCA #2) bushing wasn't up to the added stress that the wheel spacers place on the suspension. Initially I was only going to replace LCA #2 bushing but once into the job I decided to go ahead and do them all (along with braided brake lines, rotors and pads).

Well, my LCA #2's didn't look as bad as some of the pictures that I've seen here at Club Lexus but they did have what I would consider very minor, short, hairline cracks at the high-stress points in the rubber bushings. I took pictures but I can't even see the cracks in them.

Anyway, after buttoning things up tonight I went for a test ride and all shake is gone. The front end is precise and stable but not in any way harsh. And all this is before I've even had an alignment. Yeah, I'm pleased.

One more thing, as I assembled the bushings into the upper and lower control arms I noticed that there is a space that remains between each pair of bushings. This gap remains after each pair of bushings are fully inserted. The Daizen instructions don't mention this space but I believe that it is best used as a substantial reservoir for grease and shouldn't be overlooked or left with just a wipe of grease. I adopted (and recommend) the following procedure:

Insert only one side of each bushing into place and then carefully squeeze almost the entire tube of Daizen grease onto the face of the inserted bushing. Now insert the other bushing half and any excess grease will simply squeeze out of the cavity. This excess can now be wiped around the inside hole of the bushing, the sleeve and ends.

With the cavities packed full of grease it should be a long time until the bushings run dry and the squeaks begin. I'd bet money that many problematic installations didn't do this and it isn't very long until they run dry.

TooCoolSC

Congrats Bon. I know you must be overjoyed. There's nothing like a car that drives like it's supposed to, and nothing more frustrating than one that doesn't!

Pearlpower

iTrader: (2)

These fronts ends are prone to shake at higher miles. Worn bushings and ball joints are generally the culprit. The 'space' you are referring to is a bit troublesome though. Never came across something like that.

Pnuge88

iTrader: (1)

I'm noob to the sc430 but i assume this was a common problem? I noticed my car shakes at 70mph and i thought maybe the wheels werent balanced yet. Now i'm thinking maybe i need to replace and upgrade with these daizen bushings? Where did you order them from? Thanks.

Bon

The gap is small, probably only 1cm or so. But any cavity is welcome. The Daizen bushings also have longitudinal channels in the ID of each bushing that both retain a little extra grease and can serve as channels from the "gap" to the entire length of the steel bushing along which the grease can migrate. In addition Daizen tech support tell me that their bushings are made from graphite impregnated polyurethane. The graphite serves as an additional lubricant throughout the life of their product.


I got mine from TM Engineering.http://www.tmengineering.net/suspens...zen/index.html

Pnuge88

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the reply! I'm going to order a set and update the thread with some feedback!

petasheep

iTrader: (8)

Curious if you did the install yourself? How difficult was the install? Do the stock bushing require a press in order to be removed?

Bon

Yes, I did the work myself. This long link and this short link is what I used as my tutorial. Once you read the above links you'll understand how to remove the old bushings.

They are from the GS forum but the suspension is the same. I did use a press to insert the lower control arm #2 bushings. If you don't have access to one it will be quite inexpensive to have a shop do it for you.

I bought a pitman arm ball joint puller to remove the ball joints and tie rods without damage. It was around $15. I also used an impact wrench to loosen up the big nuts and bolts. At one point I had to get out a 4' piece of pipe to get one bolt loose. I also used the 4' pipe to lower the lower control arm down a few inches to get the shock back into place. Don't do this job with anything less than a 1/2" socket set, a breaker bar and a torque wrench. The torque values are on the Daizen instruction sheet.

I did this without help and took my time. My car was laid up for several days as this played out but the time on the job was about 8-12 hours. Just the bushings would be less because I also replaced the outer tie rods, brakes, hoses and rotors in the front and rear.

When I got to the rear to renew the brakes I saw that the rear shocks are weeping a bit so they're gonna need replacing soon.

Poqman

Bon - Is there a reason you elected to replace the OEM bushings versus buying the whole control arm with bushings already installed? Seems like the labor of cutting the bushing out and pressing back in would offset the cost of a new arm...or should the e-Bay aftermarket arms with bushings be avoided? Thanks,

Bon

In my case, I have wheel spacers. 25mm in back and 20 in front. After adding these my front end got the shakes. It's my opinion that the additional road force generated by the spaced out wheels created forces that the lower control arm #2 could not control toe-in with the oem bushings that were too soft and a little bit old. I bought the Daizen bushings mainly for the lca #2 bushings replacement. However, once I was in there I decided to go ahead and replace them all. (especially since I had to buy them all just to get the lca #2 bushings.)

Since I didn't have pay any labor it was just the $100 cost for the bushings installed complete. A single, new, eBay control arm is way more that that. All 6 control arms would be around $1000 if you can find an lca #2 anywhere.

S1 Soarer

I've been looking into doing this bushing replacement. Nothing more annoying than trying to enjoy a cruise down the highway with the steering wheel shaking in your hands. I gotta get it fix soon. Thanks for the info Bon.

Bon

I'm working on my 2001 LS430 UL this weekend. I'm replacing the air springs and shocks with Lexus oem metal springs and oem shocks. It's $1300 versus $4000+ to stay with air. No way.

Anyway, I just have to say that I'm shocked at the incredibly beefier components used in the the LS versus the SC. Surprisingly the SC and LS weight within 150 pounds of one another. If the SC had the beef and engineering of the LS front end we wouldn't be having any of these issues. It's a shame, I'm really quite disappointed in the SC's engineering in this regard. The upper control arms are quite similar but the lower control arms and brakes in the LS blow me away. Vastly beefier in all respects. Shame, really.

Harold57

Any chance that the LS parts will fit the SC?