so my upper rear knuckle bushings are pretty much non-existant and i'd like to replace them sometime in the near future - prolly with the ES ones. what tools will I need besides the typical sockets and whatnot? do i need a spring compressor? i'm not sure how many of the bushings i'll do since i know what a PITA they can be. the knuckle bushings definitely need replacement though. car's clunking all around the place atm. thanks

I replaced mine with the ES bushings and the upper knuckle bushings didn't last but a few hundred miles. So I got some Prothane upper knuckle bushings i'm going to install sometime in the near future. The prothane bushings are a lot easier to install because they are 2 piece bushings that don't require a press to install them. Prothane is more expensive than ES but I think they are worth the extra.

Here's a pic of my ES bushings after only a short time and few miles.

can you get a blurrier pic? I can almost make out what that pic is :P

Daes, the same thing happened with the ES bushing on the drivers side rear. How are the P's different? As far as what tools, I did all the rear bushings fron the ES kit the same. I scraped out most of the rubber so that the metal sleeve was exposed, used a hacksaw to cut across the circumference in two places about a 1/4" apart, pryed that piece out to relieve the pressure on the sleeve, and then popped that out. As far as installing them, I didn't have to use a press, just some of the lube in the ES kit and some elbow grease. Of course a metric socket set and wrenches are useful. If you use this method, be careful not to damage the surfaces that the new bushing goes into by cutting to far with the hacksaw.

wow is this pretty common?

searching through older threads it seemed like the ES kit was pretty much the accepted solution for dead knuckle bushings...

were any other bushings replaced at the same time? maybe other bad bushings allowed too much play and premature wear on the new knuckle bushing?

ES bushings are a softer polyurethane than the Prothane bushings. I like having a car that NO ONE wants to ride in. So I did all Prothane bushings and motor mounts.

Originally posted by MCubed45
were any other bushings replaced at the same time? maybe other bad bushings allowed too much play and premature wear on the new knuckle bushing?

The ES master kit that I had replaced all 3 rear knuckle bushings(I only replaced two, the top and the frontside, I have no idea why :scratch), both rear upper control arm bushings, as well as the larger trailing arm bushings. It makes sense what freelance says about the softer compound, and maybe that does allow for more play and premature wear?

I replaced all of the rear bushings at the same time with ES bushings. Those upper knuckle bushings are the only ones that have failed so far.

Originally posted by daes_venge
I replaced all of the rear bushings at the same time with ES bushings. Those upper knuckle bushings are the only ones that have failed so far.

weird. maybe it's just the design of our suspension? it seems pretty common for the stock top knuckle bushing to go so i guess that particular bushing just sees a lot of stress?


for those of you with the prothane inserts, how have those been holding up?

I have those rear knuckle bushings as well. Im going on 8 months including winter on mine and they are still ok.

It's been two years and more than 30k miles for me. All mine are in good shape so far.

im in the process of replacing my bushings with the prothane ones...i visited my local harbor freight tools and bought a 20 ton arbor press to press out the old bushings makes the job so much easier...just a fyi