review: 7G complete prothane/urethane bushing kit

[peanotation]

Do your stock bushings look like this?


Even if they don't, the OEM bushings on the 7G are sloppier than my ex-girlfriend bouncing up and down on her new boy-toy right now. As the car encounters bumps, hard turns, and everything else the suspension undergoes, all the dozens of bushings are flexing or bending in some way, transfering energy less efficiently into the shock/spring assembly.

Does this mean your ride will get stiffer after you put the new bushings in? Strictly the opposite. A lot of bounce and swager can directly be attributed to sloppy bushings. With urethane bushings from <span style='color:red'>prothane</span>, unlike the energy urethane bushings, it is almost impossible to flex or bend them at all with your bare hands. I can fold an OEM bushing in half with my hands after a hearty jerk-off session. With efficient suspension that directly sends all "shock" straight into the springs/shocks, the car is "allowed" to absorb all undesirable conditions on the road faster and more effectively. I would also like to point out that the bushings fill in the lateral spaces for every joint, thus furthering the control of deflection. Bottom line, your car is going to ride smoother than your buddy's benz, provided your suspension is respectable.

I never fully understood the seriousness of the OEM bushings and their supreme sloppiness until I went to remove the trailing arm. If you are doing this install yourself, do yourself a favor and grab a hold of that trailing arm while the big end is still bolted in the car. Now flail that puppy around. I could actually touch my sideskirt with the trailing arm being forced laterally. When you put the prothane in, bolt the big end down and try to flail it around again. What's that? You can't even move it side to side? You can thank me later

First, you must remove the OEM bushings. Everyone has their own method, and mine is a result of combining others'. Ideally, if you have a hydralic press then you only have a few hours of work ahead of you. If you don't, the next best step IMO is to create a self-sustaining fire. I used a propane torch.



It takes about 5 minutes with the torch, but once you get it going you can hammer the inner metal sleeve out or twist it out with pliers. Use your judgement to decide when the rubber becomes loose enough.



Now the inner metal sleeve has been removed; there is still a significant amount of rubber (unless you let it all burn away, takes longer) and the outer metal sleeve that holds all this mess together. Using a sawzall, cut from the inside. Make sure to cut just enough for the metal sleeve and not to go over onto the actual suspension component. A little overcutting is OK, but anymore than a credit card thick starts to make this into a ghetto mod. This isn't a hyundai forum...



The inner metal sleeve on left, outer "master" metal sleeve on right.

Now this is the point where energy and prothane bushings differ. For one, energy bushings are black. Prothane bushings come in either black or red, and we all know which color adds more horsepower. In all seriousness, I couldn't find the black prothane bushings anywhere. SBR, RRE, the whole crowd just had them in red.

Energy bushings can be twisted and played around with one hand. If you can get a prothane bushing to contort to the smallest degree with your bare hands, I feel sorry for the next guy that picks a fight with you.

Also, the complete energy bushing kit doesn't replace the rear inner lower control arm bushings. The complete prothane kit does. The energy kit also doesn't supply urethane swaybar bushings. My prothane kit came with rear 17mm, rear 18mm and front 18mm swaybar bushings. This alone convinced me to buy the prothanes before I knew they were 1000x stiffer than the energy bushings. More on this later...

The prothane bushings come in halves. How do you install these? Simple. You apply the supplied grease to the bushing, and slide one half in.



Apply grease to the other half, install. Apply grease to the inner brass rod, install. You should be looking at:



Now how hard are the energy bushings to install? I got a huge headache just thinking about it. Bottom line, the bushings come as a WHOLE. Therefore, you must PRESS the bushing into the suspension component. This requires some motor oil to help slide the bushing in, a vice, a lot of time (too much time IMO), and a lot of energy to shout when the bushings pop off or slide in the wrong direction. It sucks. Bad. Unless you have a hydralic press, then you're golden.

Now for the lower control arms. Almost all the bushings in the prothane kit are just urethane with a metal (brass?) sleeve inserted through the middle. However, the toe control arm and lower control arm (REARS ONLY) uses a slightly different setup.

First, here is the rear lower control arm's inner bushing with the rubber completely burned away. Remaining is the outer metal sleeve:


Sleeve removed:


The prothane kit uses a new metal sleeve, inserted here:


Grease and insert prothane inserts and metal sleeve:


All finished!


After just one corner...


All the rear bushings on display:


From RRE's website, here is a complete list of what the prothane kit replaces:
http://roadraceengineering.com/parts/prothane/

------------------------------------------------

I cannot stress enough how much better the car handles. Even driving in a straight line feels better, if you can even imagine that. I'm not even going to get started on this because I'll be typing for days on the benefits that i'm enjoying, all the while i'm still noticing new ones, even 2 weeks later!

<span style='font-size:25pt;line-height:100%'>IT IS SUPREME.</span>

It is recommended that you get an alignment after this install for the obvious reasons: the rear toe control arms are now misaligned. Also, the bushings are no longer flexing when the car is sitting. And when was the last time you got an alignment anyways?

[DOHCstunr]

sticky this

<span style='font-size:25pt;line-height:100%'>GREAT WRITE UP!!!!!!!!</span>

i cannot fully emphasise the improvement that comes with these bushings. by far one of the BEST mods that can be done to any suspension...
and without a doubt, the very next mod after a set of springs and shocks.
screw braces and bars.
springs/shocks,
bushings
swaybars.
braces.
in that order.
anything else is uncivilized, and unrealized

[krazienluv10]

sounds Great!!!! i still never got around with the other side ill try passing by ur house again...

[sabzi5858]

it also should be noted that the shocks will wear out faster because they will be doing more work now. not that that's a bad thing, they should have been doing the work in the first place.

do you get any squeaking now? that seems to be the big reason to go energy instead or prothane.

[seth98esT]

Great writeup, I really need to make a decision on 4lug vs 5lug and install mine.

[evil-G-nius]

I agree also. Excellent feel and noise free. No squeaks, the car is pretty much point and shoot. Point it in the corner you wanna tackle and hit the gas! Uh...of course that is in conjunction with other suspension upgrades. I wouldnt necessarily recomend you try that with stock setup with new bushings!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(peanotation)</div><div class='quotemain'>sloppier than my ex-girlfriend bouncing up and down on her new boy-toy right now</div> Um...bitter? :laughing:

[jake26]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(seth98esT)</div><div class='quotemain'>Great writeup, I really need to make a decision on 4lug vs 5lug and install mine.</div>

or you can just sell the bushings to me since i know u still have them since the MB meet lol

[Blue Ice]

Great write up! This is one of the last few things i want to get before i start the you know what. Since my car ill be down, i'll just take care of several things at once. So a ? or two.

When i go to look for these, do they make them for Galant or do i need to get 2g Eclipse?

Matt when you got your alignment did the place have a problem because of the body kit? I haven't had mine done in years, and i'm sure it's the reason my tires are ate up.
The reason i haven't been lately is cause i figure they'll give me a hard time cause of the kit.

[sabzi5858]

yeah, nice write-up, i think i'm actually going to install the set i've had sitting here for more than 3 years. just been worried about claims of squeaking. you've convinced me they need to be installed, now.

you would get the set for the 2g eclipse. they are available from www.roadraceengineering.com, i don't know if you can get them cheaper anywhere else.

[peanotation]

no squeeking; the ride is completely silent at all times. to be sure, you should apply grease to everything that's urethane that will be touching anything else. that's the inside and outside of every bushing basically.

slowboy has the whole kit for the $190 + shipping. when i bought them from sbr they had their random free shipping spree and that's all i paid. and yeah it's for a 2g

after some searching, i found a shop that was really cool with the car being kitted and they align me for $45 flat, kit poses no problems for them

[DOHCstunr]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(sabzi5858)</div><div class='quotemain'>yeah, nice write-up, i think i'm actually going to install the set i've had sitting here for more than 3 years. Â*just been worried about claims of squeaking. Â*you've convinced me they need to be installed, now.

you would get the set for the 2g eclipse. Â*they are available from www.roadraceengineering.com, i don't know if you can get them cheaper anywhere else.</div>
Prothane now sells a black bushing kit with the graphite impregnation, just like energy.

but i will say, my rmdsm front and rear sway bar set have prothane bushings.
I made sure to clean the contact surfaces thoroughly with a rag and some brake parts cleaner. so that any dirt/debris wouldn't be in there(on the bar, the subframe, and the bracket) wouldn't create squeaks. then i used lots of lube on every surface.

i think thats a key ingredient in the bushing install, is cleaning all the surfaces before you lube them up. that should ensure that teh grease doesn't get contaminated.

but i will say this,
if you develop a squeak 10k miles down the road with the prothane,
you can EASILY pop that bushings out, clean everything, and relube it.
wheras with my energy bushigns, i would HAVE to press them out.

[Sleepervr-4]

Just finished my install and just have to add if your stock bushings are intact like mine were you could just put the control arms in a vice. Heat up the control arms (not the bushing) with a propane tourch for about 2 min. Then just tap the bushing out sleve and all with a hammer and socket. 11/16 if I'm correct . Then to insert the sleve you just press it with the vice to get it in. Then use a 2x4 to and hammer to get them in the rest of the way.

[bronxbombr]

nice.

[Sleepervr-4]

Just realized I never installed 2 metal bushings in the rear suspension. I can't seem to find out wtf they go. Here is a pic of them

[peanotation]

Just realized I never installed 2 metal bushings in the rear suspension. I can't seem to find out wtf they go. Here is a pic of them

same here, have no idea wtf they're for

[T-double]

hey since I lowered my car I have been hearing that sound coming from the rear some nasty sound I though it was the struts but I guess not... I suppose that the kit is well worth the money.... Is the installation hard.... I had to do a bugs suspention and get the oem bushing out and install the new stuff it took a little time....

[peanotation]

it's not hard, i wouldn't say that, just time consuming

[Kwikfox]

hmph, should have thought about using a torch... I did mine using a hammer, chisle, razor and cement blocks... :-| Although lucky for me several of the bushings were falling apart. The ones on my strut rods just slid off, and a couple on my control arms just fell apart... Oh this was my MR2 by the way. The G is next...

[T-double]

I guess that is on my list of things to do

[T-double]

ok I am going crazy I attempeted to install some of the bushings and I am now mad as hell...... i am on the rear Loower control arm and it sucks.... I am so mad....I have a air chizle and I am getting the old stuff out but it is so horrible I am so mad and I just want to scream.... I love doing suspention work but this is no joke.... This make you or brake you.... Did anyone else have any problems with this part