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I have a 2001 Civic with 36K miles. Dealer says my bushings are cracked. Is this a serious problem?

 
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yeah its pretty serious. affects hi speed cornering, can throw off alignment and cause excessive tire wear, it can eventually lead to major problems because those bushings are very weak and can fail at any time. most of us here switch to the ES (energy suspension) poly bushings which are a lifetime part. the bushing is thicker and will not degrade like rubber, but it does tend to make some squeaky sounds in the winter going over bumps. in warm weather, not a sound.

 
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I'm in the same boat. Mine are worn out on my 2001; I can hear the clunking sound when I'm driving. The parts store was selling the Delco brand for 13-15$. That's not too bad. Its the labour that will cost you, unfortunately.

My two questions are:

1) I was told that I should purchase a sway link kit when replacing the LCA bushing. Do you guys think it's necessary?

2) Also, would an alignment be necessary?

I'm getting quotes in the $300 range which seems high for just changing the bushing :S.

 
Rep Power: 235

Those bushings are press fit = labor intensive=$. Lots of flag hours for press fit bushings.

Get links. They help a lot with stability and they could save your life in an emergency maneuver.

An alignment is necessary. Once you take all that stuff apart it is impossible to get it back to where it was without an alignment machine.

 
Rep Power: 812

link kit is only needed if the factory links are broken. sears installed all 4 lca bushings for $150 i believe. im not recommending them, cause you never know what kind of job they do, but i knew most of the techs there at the time.

 
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I went with the honda bushings which were 16$ a piece. I replace the two front lower control arm bushing. The total bill = 200$. The old bushing were completely shot with little rubber left lol. Unfortunately though I still hear a ka-ching ka-ching sound from both front sides of the car when I first begin to drive it in the morning....its so frustrating!!! :S

 
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Could be strut mounts.

 
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I changed these bushings on my car by myself, and lord is it a pain. They are press-fit and needs special tooling so you do not damage it while press-fitting it. I had to warm my LCA so the bushings would go in smooth. I put OEM bushings.

Things to watch out for. Careful on damaging the dust boot on the lower ball joint, if you plan to do it yourself. One more thing, the bolts tend to be rusted out and I did not have big enough impact wrench so I had to cut them...scary. And you do need alignment done once you replace these.