Whiteline vs. Energy suspension bushings - thoughts?

[MitsoKid]

I just installed my Energy Suspension bushings. I will let you know how they do.

I also solid mounted the rear mount on my front control arm with a solid piece of aluminum.. the Perrin PSRS kit

[Zeus]

Originally Posted by xRoguex

Do any of them offer the continuous lubrication property's that graphite impregnated ES ones would have?

That's why I went with the black ES when I did. Heard the loudness of the yellow WL rear trailing arm bushings on a couple Evos now

However, if WL does make some with graphite or whatever works, I'd be interested as their other products are nice. Matter of fact, might know a few people wanting some if they are "quiet" like the black ES sets.

BTW, according to what WL said above, I may have been wrong about theirs being "harder" than the ES.

[Ludikraut]

Originally Posted by MitsoKid

I just installed my Energy Suspension bushings. I will let you know how they do.

I also solid mounted the rear mount on my front control arm with a solid piece of aluminum.. the Perrin PSRS kit

Sweet. Please keep me posted, as this is pretty much what I'm looking to do (barring any negative feedback, hehe).

l8r)

[xRoguex]

Originally Posted by Zeus

That's why I went with the black ES when I did. Heard the loudness of the yellow WL rear trailing arm bushings on a couple Evos now

However, if WL does make some with graphite or whatever works, I'd be interested as their other products are nice. Matter of fact, might know a few people wanting some if they are "quiet" like the black ES sets.

BTW, according to what WL said above, I may have been wrong about theirs being "harder" than the ES.

how long has your black ES kit been in? Did you install the large front bushing as well?

Any noise at all from your setup?

[Zeus]

Originally Posted by xRoguex

how long has your black ES kit been in? Did you install the large front bushing as well?

Any noise at all from your setup?

Funny... my personal kit has not made it in my own car. I've had the kit since somewhere around 04' and never gotten around to putting it in (you know what they say about the mechanic's car). When I do, I can't see myself doing the trailing bushing in the front arm. It's not setup to be a static bushing. It's a quasi spherical bushing in a rubber surround. When working in aerospace manufacturing, I can't ever remember a win replacing a bearing with a bushing. It was tried. Remember a rather catastrophic failure trying that with the inner annulus of a jet engine nozzle. The supports needed more flex than you would think in a "static" part. The part does undergo significant expansion and flexion though. Hey, it was not my call. Back to the Evo arm... this is NOT a static part, so keeping the bearing would be even more important IMO. The Perrin unit might be the hot ticket if that's your cup of tea.

My personal experience with both these bushing kits comes from customers cars for the most part. Maybe my "butt ride meter" is off calibration, but ride wise I can't tell the difference between the two. Granted both kits trailing arm bushings are improvements you CAN feel. It's just I personally can't tell the difference between the two. Now noise is a whole different issue. The WL kits seem to get rather noisy soon as the lube presses out. DO NOT GET ME WRONG. I am a WL fan. Think they offer good products. Truth be told, had they not said they think they may be softer, I'd suggest their kits first anyway if it were not for the noise.

Maybe I've gotten so old I need to give up and get a GTR and leave it stock. However, I'm finding noisy things less and less desirable these days. If Whiteline has bushings that are self lubercating/noise free-ish, I'm game. Until then, the black ES kits seem to make the least noise. I really liked the black master kit on the Wife's old car. It was completely noise free, yet at over 130k, the car felt tighter than stock. Granted apples to oranges as that was an Acura. On the Evos I've had personal experience with, they are already tight, and the trailing arm bushings just seem to clean up the little bit of slop in the rear.

That's my opinion based on my experiences...

[xRoguex]

I have to really put some hard miles on it when I get home. But first I know i need to get it aligned after they are all in.

But I need to find out exactly what settings would be best for tire life. I dont need to be able to take a corner at 124324 G's.. I just need my tires to not die every 10K

[Zeus]

Tire life in all in the toe...

[new041123]

"I would think that if anything, our product would probably be softer than most and that's pretty consistent with the industry as a whole in Aussie as we've successfully been using poly as a direct replacement for rubber for many years. The Whiteline Plus range was developed as an extension of that with "progression" being pretty important in the design. For those interested in you can take a look at http://www.whiteline.com.au/Plus/product.htm for more details."

So whiteline is good for street use?

[Zeus]

Myself, I'm waiting to hear if they have any type of self lubricating bushings. "Street use" would mean little to no noise with minimal maintenance IMO.

[xRoguex]

Originally Posted by Zeus

Tire life in all in the toe...

Suggested settings?

[Ludikraut]

For a decent street alignment, try between - 1.5 to -2.0 degrees camber in the front (i.e. flip the camber bolt), -1.0 camber in the back, and 0 toe all around. I've had good success with this alignment, both from a performance and tire longevity standpoint.

l8r)

[Zeus]

What he said about toe... usually, if your rod ends (steering) are in good condition, 0,0 toe all a round will get you good wear. I like to run more camber than that though when I can. Many will not be able to get any more than that in the front on OE type struts.

BTW Ludikraut, REALLY dig the signature... tell it brother!

[Ludikraut]

Originally Posted by Zeus

...BTW Ludikraut, REALLY dig the signature... tell it brother!

Which part?

...and thanks for noticing. They've banned it at my new gig...

l8r)

[20psiMR]

I have the full whiteline setup, and honestly I get NO noise whatsoever. We used the grease when installing the bushings that whiteline supplies, so that might make a difference in the ones Zeus has heard. Car is noticeably stiffer, and this was done when I was still on bilsteins/swift springs. Now with KW's its quite nice =)

[Zeus]

Originally Posted by 20psiMR

I have the full whiteline setup, and honestly I get NO noise whatsoever. We used the grease when installing the bushings that whiteline supplies, so that might make a difference in the ones Zeus has heard. Car is noticeably stiffer, and this was done when I was still on bilsteins/swift springs. Now with KW's its quite nice =)

How many miles though... the yellow WL sets I've experienced were not loud either... at first. Matter of fact, the red ES bushings are quiet too when initially lubed. It's after a good bit of miles when the lube has been worked out that they got loud.

I big, big HOWEVER though... I'm hoping that this "other" offering from WL are self lubricating or something that keeps them quiet over the long haul. I really want to use WL products other than just the roll center correction kit that's in my future. That set seems to work really well in it's range!

The only reason I promote the black ES kit now is that my life is centered around a daily driven Evo. So the least about of extra noise I can get, is going to get my vote if the performance is still there. Right now, IMO the black ES kit is the best of all worlds as the graphite that's impregnated in the bushing keeps it queiter, much longer without having to re-lube. For some, re-lubing requires removing the bushings less they have ingeniously installed fittings, and drilled the bushings to allow lubing on the car. However, if that's that case, really doesn't matter which bushing you get cause you could just give it a squirt of lube when it acts up... or on a schedule (latter is the better).