The bushings in the rear knuckles of my Eclipse are going bad. One side more than the other, its actually knocking and quickly wearing down my tire.





The hose clamp was a futile attempt to give me more time. What can I do to fix that? Is the bushing in the knuckle replaceable?

Yes, they are replaceable. I just replaced mine with Energy Suspension bushings.

Is there anyway to get just those bushings, or will I have to get the whole kit?

I dont know what happened before, but I searched to see if this had been covered before. I just searched again using the same words and got a few other threads...

Anyway, I found the energy suspension kit thats like $65 or so and covers both sides of the rear end. I think thats the route Im gonna take.

You can buy just the 2 bushings or for not much more money, you can buy the whole rear set of 12 bushings and replace them all while you have everything ripped apart.

I replaced them all. That was a big job.

Was it worth it? Did it seem the rear end was more stable or anything?

It did stiffen up the rear a bit but best of all, it got rid of that nasty creaking sound.

Those bushings are in very bad shape. You should replace them. Be prepared though. It can be a frustrating job. The stock bushings have a metal sleeve that is pressed into the upper knuckle. From the looks of it, your bushings are holding on for dear life, so the rubber center may just come out. What will be left is the sleeve that can be removed a few different ways. What I did was to take a hacksaw and saw through two points on the sleeve about a 1/4" apart. Then you can take a flathead screwdriver and pry that piece out. That relieves the pressure on the rest of the sleeve and it will pop out. At that point follow the instructions for the new bushings and install them. It stiffens up the rear of the car, especially if you get the master set and change out all of the other bushings at the same time. Good luck.

Thanks for the advice guys. I will most likely do the whole rear end now. Ill probably post up pics of the process or come back to ask questions about it.

Well I must say Im pretty pissed. I decided to do this today. 12 hours of bullshit and my car is at my girlfriends house on jackstands. It took forever to get the original bushings out, which were all destroyed. Then when I try to press in the new bushings, they wont go in. They just squish down or shoot out the side. So I ended up having to cut them in half and put them on. Old school car trick I guess.
What pisses me off the most is I found out my rear struts are blown. I try to take it off, and the bolt that holds the bottom onto the knuckle shears right off. Soo....

Wheres the best place/price to get a new rear strut or 2.
And do they come with the bolt in question, or will I have to buy one, or better still drill out and tap the old one.

I think Im waiting a few months to do the other side......