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Did a search found a lot on replacing trailing arm bushings, mine are blown (stock with 164,000 miles) but I was wondering what else I should replace while doing them. I want to do the control arm bushings but it looks cheaper to just replace the whole arm and since the upper CA bushing is so hard to find I might do that but what do you guys recommend?

 
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You fly blue?
LOL@PS handle
You in Cali?
Yeah, at that mileage the trailing arm bushings are probably torn and bad.
You probably don't have to worry about rusted bolts like I do up in the rust belt here. (They are such a huge hassle when something that old is all rusted up, we might overlook them --- unless someone has a specific problem with them.)
You can probably do the bushings by themselves if you wanted, but they have to be pressed into the arms.
Complete arms probably would be simpler.

Fix any other issues and problems in the rear while it's apart?
May as well do all you can since it needs aligned once you start taking stuff apart.
Get it 4-wheel aligned soon as you got it all back together.


That said, it sure seems like very few people ever want to bother with doing those. Seems like most just ignore the bump noises and stuff or they are completely oblivious to it. (At our shop anyway.) I think we've done like 2 sets that I have seen in the shop, in the last 10 years.

 
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Yeah living in SoCal so the rust isn't that bad. As for flying blue I have no clue as to what your referring to I've got the schley tool so no trouble with the TAB bushings, I'm thinking I should just pick up the Energy Suspension kit because the whole suspension is stock and I'm positive everything is worn out based on sound effects and ride quality. But wow that's surprising only 2 in the last 10 years? It seem like any Honda I've owned needed the trailing bushings replaced. I just never did them till now.

 
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Oh yeah plenty out there have shot bushings, but between the price (dealer shop) and the hassle (rust belt) here, I guess most figure it isn't worth $$$.$$ doing unless it's seriously dangerous.

Plus, we don't really see cars that old much. Even 7th gens are getting scarce in this dealer.
2nd, 3rd, 4th owners aren't usually the ones that go to the dealers shop.

 
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So what I gather from your dealer experience(I'm a bit jealous you have all this experience working at a Honda dealer plus I bet you get good prices on anything you need) is that I don't have to rush to fix these, which is nice because as far as suspension I have no clue as to what I should do. I mean a ES kit sounds price wise smart but my EK is strictly a DD so I'm not sure if I should go with a poly suspension. Any recommendations?

 
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Employee prices at the dealer I work for, and all prior dealers I have worked for (and I assume the majority of dealers of all brands nationwide) isn't all that much better than what you can get on the internet. Similar to College Hills or Majestic.


I can't offer any opinion on aftermarket suspension stuff (unless you have seen me rant about crap quality parts I have encountered), but if this is a simple DD grocery getter, then I wouldn't see any real reason to go with stiffer bushings (I'm old, I like the softer ride of my old Buick, myself). I'd say to use OE.


Opinions are like......

 
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HA HA. Sounds good to me. Thank you so much for your input I really appreciate having someone that knows what their doing giving me advice, I hope one day I can make someone's life a bit easier with my knowledge. Thanks again and enjoy your weekend.