Front strut rod bushing from ES and prothane did not fit?

[zedjr10]

I got a set of strut rod bushings from Energy suspension and Prothane. Neither fit. Both front and back one were abou 4 to 5 mm too thick. Both were exact same just one from ES adn other from prothane. Am pretty dam sure they are not for strut mount. As they have separate ones for that. Anyone Else have this experience? I am going to order some mevotech supremes as they come with new hardware and seem thru pic to be right size.

[Fleetw00d]

I suspect your old ones have taken a compression set (they didn't rebound to as thick as they were originally) because of age. Will either set actually go on the rod over the sleeve and in the pockets in the cross member? If you can install them and the nut tightens the washers down onto the sleeve, I would go ahead and use them.

[zedjr10]

I suspect your old ones have taken a compression set (they didn't rebound to as thick as they were originally) because of age. Will either set actually go on the rod over the sleeve and in the pockets in the cross member? If you can install them and the nut tightens the washers down onto the sleeve, I would go ahead and use them.

Strut rod(radius rod) won't go over the holes in lower control arm. Yeah i thought same thing but there is no way to bring it forward so they will go in. About 2 or 3 mm to far away. As i got 2 that are same exact size from different manufacturers.

[Fleetw00d]

Is this with or without tightening the nut on the forward end of the radius rod to compress the bushings?

[cp[mike]]

you also made sure to install them the correct direction too, right? one half is fatter than the other. And like fleetw00d said, you tightened the main nut all the way first?

[zedjr10]

you also made sure to install them the correct direction too, right? one half is fatter than the other. And like fleetw00d said, you tightened the main nut all the way first?

Yes installed in right direction. I did not try tightening the main nut under bumper first. I just thought no way will this result in almost a half a centimeter. So are these new bushings supposed to be fatter like they are? The rubber ones from moog and mevotech seem smaller than the poly ones? Their going to compress that much?

[cp[mike]]

Yes installed in right direction. I did not try tightening the main nut under bumper first. I just thought no way will this result in almost a half a centimeter. So are these new bushings supposed to be fatter like they are? The rubber ones from moog and mevotech seem smaller than the poly ones? Their going to compress that much?

You'd be surprised. Put the bushing halves back-to-back, and compare their height to the metal sleeve that goes thru the center - the bushings will end up compressing down to the length of the sleeve before the hardware bottoms out.

[zedjr10]

You'd be surprised. Put the bushing halves back-to-back, and compare their height to the metal sleeve that goes thru the center - the bushings will end up compressing down to the length of the sleeve before the hardware bottoms out.

haha Fk me. I guess those old bushings then are in really bad shape cause i didn't have to compress the bushings on rod at all before the 2 bolts on radius rod fit in LCA. I thought the old bushings looked fine.
I went to part stores to compare mine and ones they had. Same exact size. I never thought they would compress that much. They are already so stiff compared to rubber.

[Fleetw00d]

So you got it back together?

Maybe it's time for me to replace mine!

[zedjr10]

So you got it back together?

Maybe it's time for me to replace mine!

I will have both sides done in next couple days. Not sure if i am going to like the poly. I drive like grandma. I can see how stiffer can be good for acceleration and maybe a little more brake performance(i wonder how much).

[G. Wiffington]

I feel your pain man I had the same problem with how thick new bushings are..& I was just using replacement Duralast rubber ones not even polys. You just have to kinda force it in place since they are obviously thicker than the ones you were running. They will definitely add driving improvement. Less slop.