RR racing or Figs LCA Bushings... Asking members who have had their bushings for 50,000 to 100,000+ miles...

Have the bushings caused any other suspension parts to fail?

Is the lubrication issue manageable over the long-term?

Has chassis noise gotten worse over time (is it a rattle bucket).

Did they actually resolve the tire wear issue?

If you had to replace them, how long did they last?

 

I had the Figs 90 durometer on my 2IS for about 70k miles. I never had any issues with them or any other related components. I only re-greased them once over that time span. They never started squeaking I just went ahead and did while I had the car on stands doing brakes.

They definitely solved my tire wear issue. My first set of front tires lasted 45k miles. After that it started eating tires. I had one go flat at 15k miles on the next set due to the severe inner wear. After swapping bushing it never wore like that again.

 

For what its worth, I have had the RR Racing USRS ones for about 12k miles. Definitely corrected the inner tire wear. Car feels so much more stable and corning is great- I love the product except for one thing. One thing to note is that these poly bushings cause more stress on the other components of the suspension. I have been having a squeak coming from the under the car when going over bumps or dips since they have been installed December 2018. It's definitely louder during the winter as its freezing cold.

Had the dealer take a look at it they pin pointed it down to the bushings since its made of poly and maybe needs to be lubed- everything else seemed fine, including lower control arm. When i went down to RR (was down in PA for work so it worked out), since they did the install. They looked at it claimed their bushings dont squeak and offered to clean it and re-lube the LCA which they believed was causing the squeak(since they had same issue when they had their AWD model) . Wish they took off the USRS cleaned it , re-lubed it and bolted it back on to pin point that the USRS was not the cause but they didn't want to do that- not sure why. Squeak was still there after on the ride home and is still there today. I recently got coil-overs, new sway bar links installed and also had the shop lube up the LCA again and the squeak is still there. Not sure if other AWD owners face this issue or not. Few guys that I know that had the USRS installed have no issues but they also own ISF, RCF, and GSFs which are RWD. Maybe when I am down in PA again they can actually remove the USRS clean it re-lube it and bolt it back on.

 

The USRS bushings I had squeaked really bad as well. I removed, cleaned and relubed them twice, which solved the squeak for a short period of time before the noise came back. I replaced them with Figs 90's and only heard one squeak once on a very cold winter day, and never a peep since. Over a year now and I'm very happy I made the switch. NVH is also much lower. This is on a non-Fsport AWD.

 

Are these the ones you have on now?
https://www.shopfigs.com/v3/G2ISHP-FRLCA-SP3491K-90

 

Surely they are. Those are the same ones I had and the only 90 duro #2 LCA bushings Figs sells for our cars.

That being said, remember that listing is just for the bushings themselves. If you buy that you will have to remove your factory bushings that are installed in aluminum brackets and have them pressed out and the new ones pressed in. I bought them that way because I have a press, but you wont be able to swap them without one or paying someone to do it for you. Just letting you know so you can plan around that or you can just buy them already installed in the brackets.

They are $360 preinstalled in the brackets, but then it's a straight bolt on swap.

 

Great, thanks for the help!

 

Yes. I had them pressed into my OEM brackets by a shop for a half-hour labor charge.

 

at what point do we need to worry about camber issues? Ordered RSR half down springs so i'm hoping I won't chew up my tires too bad....

 

It's not the camber, it's the dynamic toe from turning and braking that causes the inner tire wear. That is why most of us who wanted to mitigate the issue installed the RCF bushings or went with poly bushings.

 

Yea I've noticed black soot / rubber on the rear spats even after a mellow drive. I guess I'll install these eventually.

 

I'm going to bring this back from the grave since it was a topic in the IS500 forum, but wrong thread. for those that have upgraded the LCA bushing, has there been any negative affects? after watching numerous YouTube videos, it was mostly install and reviews right after install. I would like to hear from those who've had them on for a while. I'm leaning more towards the Figs set, not only cause it's cheaper, but don't have to deal w/ load adjustments during install. one of the things that came up was NVH. its it truly a concern after installing the bushings? there were some talk of upgrading to RCF/GSF bushings to keep the "luxury" feel...any feedback on that? to me, it looks like installing these have more pros than cons (if there are any cons at all). any feedback would be truly appreciated.

 

It’s been 3 years and 20K miles since I installed the FIGS LCA bushings. I initially had squeaks on hard left slow turns, which I lived with through that first winter, but then liberally spayed a silicone lubricant on both ends, so it could penetrate in, and haven’t had any issue since.
I didn’t go with the top duro offering that they had, for fear of NVH, and while I might have noticed a bit more ‘V’ through the steering wheel, nothing to complain about, and after a couple weeks I couldn’t tell you there was a difference in feeling from stock.
The big change for me was handling. Hard stops were now straight and true, no more wandering all over the place. I haven’t noticed any odd tire wear, but I change between winter and summer tires, and I recently replaced the summers due to other issues with those tires.
Well worth the upgrade.

 

Echoing kj above.
My alignment guy installed per the Figs site instructions- it comes with a little thing of lubricant. Installed at around 72k miles, now at 90k.
I went with the 90 durometer- definitely an increase in NVH from stock- makes sense when you compare the two side by side (I'm sure you've seen the RR video showing the amount of movement possible on the stock bushings.)
I'm in the bay area where the roads range from "not great" to "potholes everywhere". Those things suck to drive over, stock or otherwise.
I've had no squeaking (been around 15 months since installation) and definitely prefer the car with the bushings installed.
Hard braking, long corners at speed, and rock-solid straight-line tracking on the highway were all improved/gained in exchange for a bit more NVH.

 

thank you guys for the feedback! i think i will be picking up the Figs bushings in the near future.