yeah my tie rods look beat to hell too, it's on my shorthand to do list... second to tb wp tensioner

 

Here is my car's current stance, I hate how high it is, but damn, trying to get through tire wear issues

Besides, in two weeks I'll also have the car loaded down with Dragon Run stuff PLUS be towing a motorcycle and all her related stuff, I'm sure sitting a little higher will help out in that regard

 

I'm at 2 finger gaps on 15s with a 205 tire. Never rub, looks fine, handles fine. Who cares about gap!

 

That is an awesome price for labor on all 4 joints! Definitely worth 90 bucks instead of doing it yourself. I would have done the same thing lol, specially with dragon so close. Car looks great steve!

 

Excellent price for both ends on both sides. All the quotes I got were over $150, so I broke out the big wrenches and did it myself. Honestly, there's nothing complicated about it, but you're right, it is critical, and not having a spare car makes it kinda risky. For future reference, the only issue I had was getting enough muscle behind the wrench to get the inners dislodged. It ended up takend 2 big wrenches, PB Blaster, and a lunch break for it to soak in.

 

So the tie rod install is off the table.... after a little bit of being there they came in an got me and showed me that the front LCA inner bushings are completely shot... wiggling the wheel exposes a good deal of play right here (and this goes for both sides)

I need to get those boots on the tie rods fixed up, but i decided against having them do that work because I can use that money towards whatever i decide to do (and when i am done posting, i may just shop for a new set of LCAs that way they don't even need to be ****ed with...)

I just called K2 and we are going to get these off and do whatever to fix on Friday night, so I'll have something worked out then... so this isn't the end of the world, i'm just super thankful that FINALLY i may have the answer to "why tire wears sucks so bad"



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options I am going to look into right now:

- Find new bushings for the my current LCAs and I suppose we could replace the bushings ourselves (with this kit from AutoZone?... strike that, that's for the upper control arm, what would we need to press lower control arm bushings ourselves?)

- Buy a whole new set of LCAs (i suppose this would be "cost of bushings and pain of install" vs "cost new ones")

- Put stock ones back on (LAST resort, as they'll be coming off again sometime)

 

iirc new lca's aren't terrible expensive - and i'm sure you could recoup some of the cost by selling those old ones - they seem to be in great shape minus the bushings. have you sourced the cost of bushings? from what i remember, it wasn't the removal of the bushings that was difficult, it was the installation of new ones, gotta lube em up good!

 

it's weird, i am having a difficult time finding *any* aftermarket LCAs for my car

to be honest, i'd rather just do that (new aftermarket LCAs with the bushing ready to go) if it's cost effective.... but first i need to find a set first

 

I'd put the stockers back on there, then worry about finding bushings for those OMNI LCAs later.

You may have issue finding something that will work on those omni front LCAs since I believe they are discontinued.

This is the exact reason I don't like to use polyurethane bushings on suspension items. The stuff gets worn out and develops play, which is no bueno.

 

once you get all your front rubbers all squared away head on over here -
http://app.infopia.com/Shop/Control/fp/cat/354944/SFV/32526
get yourself some adjustable upper ball joints, zero the toe and -1.5"-1.8" both sides and be done with tire wear for good

setup -1.5" on mine

 

He's got a camber kit and you can zero the toe with the tie rod adjustment.

 

I think omnipower was the only company to make FRONT ones.

 

dug up my stock LCAs, they are in decent enough shape to put on and use, this is what I'll be doing

 

Alright, I just went to two different shops to see "how much" to install the stock LCAs back in

both told me two hours, which equates to $180

****, think it's worth it that I just take this money and get my own air tank and impact gun? that way I can (1) put these in myself and (2) have air tools for future!

want to help me shop on Harbor Freight (like these) keeping me at that $180-ish price? (i can rent the air gun for the time being to stay in budget)

 

Get an Electric impact. $50 bucks at harbor freight. Save yourself the extra hundred bucks or so and get a set of deep and shallow impact sockets.

I use mine all the time. Well worth it

 

Honestly you can probably do it with just hand tools. I've pulled front LCA's with wrenches before.

Dont forget to SLATHER the bolts in never-sieze before installation.

You ever consider an electric impact? Mmmm milwaukee. Dont forget you need impact sockets too since the impact gun will destroy your nice chromed ones.

 

Honestly you can probably do it with just hand tools. I've pulled front LCA's with wrenches before.

Dont forget to SLATHER the bolts in never-sieze before installation.

You ever consider an electric impact?

Mmmm milwaukee. Dont forget you need impact sockets too since the impact gun will destroy your nice chromed ones.

i have a milwaukee electric impact and it works great.

But i also agree that it can be done with hand tools. it's only 4 bolts and the ball joint that needs to be separated. no power tools need to be used. loosening and removing the 4 bolts can easily be done with a 1/2 ratchet or breaker bar and the 1/2 ratchet method for breaking the ball joint loose works like a charm. should be able to be removed in under 20 minutes. maybe 30 minutes tops if it's your first time.

 

fiddy bux. Do it.

 

Perfect ! I'm going to go scope out if it's in stock at my local store

 

I will never buy another air compressor from harbor freight just because of experience i had. I purchased one and it worked that day and i went to use it the next and it didnt work. Exchanged it for a new one, it worked that day and next day it didnt. Got my money back and went straight to sears for a craftsman one. I do however love my harbor freight impact gun, which i dont even use impact sockets with. Craftsman sockets for free warranty ftw? lol

 

Got the electric impact wrench, it will be a handy thing to have anyways...

so something has been bugging me in the back of my mind:

why did two different shops quote me 2 hours worth of labor to swap out the LCAs? that seems like an awful long time for just 8 bolts.... I've helped my friend Chris change from the stock ones to the Omnis and i don't remember any time-consuming "gotchas" (although we did have the Honda tool to pop off the ball joint, that made things easy)

 

Quoted that way in case stuff was seized.

 

Maybe it includes an alignment?

 

nope... absolutely didn't (because the first shop was trying to sell one to me, the second one didn't have alignment equip)

 

Soooooo

here was the issue.... yeah, ****ed

What causes that? complete and utter bushing failure

Got one side complete, stock LCA back in

Thanks everyone for the tips !!



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What causes it? Hard driving and polyurethane bushings. Poly bushings are kind of a RACE ONLY type part that you inspect regularly because they tend to deform like that over time.

That was a massive design consideration when I decided to use hardened rubber bushings on my GSR rather than polyurethane bushings. It looks like you could probably press out those shot to hell bushings and press in a hardrace rubber set on those arms if they used the factory bore for the bushing.

 

i don't think there is anything to even press out... it was all polyurethane