Zman

The top nut wont budge, its basically round. The stock bolt is a POS too.

Zman

I had to saw through the old nut which took forever.


the new bushings are great though, I drove around in a circle in a parking lot and it is much improved over stock.

cee_dub2003

Bump for a awesome post. lol

badbasic

2 hrs! trip to advance auto, lowes, home-wd40, 2 adjustable wrenches, 9/16 wrench, 9/16 deep well socket-DONE! 18 bux. could have been a couple a bux cheaper but I opted for grade 8 bolts instead. I did this on the xA and now that Im headed to http://www.tailofthedragon.com/ (318 curves in 11 miles) this weekend, w/ 115000 miles, this was the time to change em on the box.

mike93civic

After reading all the tremendous feedback about this, I think I may try this myself. About to cross over the 100k mile mark, so I'm sure these are long overdue. Will give feedback after I get them installed. I'm off to Advanced Auto to order them.

spr0k3t

Make sure you get the grade 8 bolts. The difference is huge in the handling. If you want even better, you need to do the lower control arm bushing as well as the rear trailing bushings.

mike93civic

Got the grade 8 bolts, with nylon nuts, and bushing kit for $15.90 from Advanced, going to attempt the install next weekend. Do you have part numbers for the LCA, and trailing arm bushings by chance? And how difficult was it to install them?

spr0k3t

Doing the lower control arm looked like it was a pain (dropped k-frame). The trailing arm required too much for my book as well... so I had them done.

Lower Control Arm: 8.3123 (Red or Graphite)
Rear Trailing Arm: 8.3124 (Red or Graphite)

Double check the energysuspsension.com website for exact numbers though. Got those off of a couple "tuner" shops.

mike93civic

Sorry for not wanting to thumb through 18 pages of responses, but can anyone tell me if this would be easier to do with the sway bar loaded, or not? I.E. wheels on the ground, or on a lift...thanks in advance

cherry-8

Sway bar is unloaded unless the wheels are at different heights. I replaced the bushings with the wheels on ramps and tweaked them later with the wheels on the ground.

Cheers,
MD

mike93civic

Well finally got around to tackling this install. Lol only took me a year. Now for the feedback.

Couldn't be happier with the turnout. There is a noticable increase in stiffness regarding the front end, just driving straight over bumps. So much so the wife does not appreciate the ride now(as compared to just having TRD struts in back, Echo's up front, and 210's all around. I welcomed the increased stiffness. In regards to turning, the car is so much smoother with inputs. It's not twitchy at all with initial turn in. Also quick directional changes are much flatter, and predictable.

With upgrading one thing, you tend to find the next thing down the line that needs addressed. It so desperately pointed out that my 210's are not cutting the mustard with their not so stiff spring rates, and that a set of coilovers with much stiffer springs might be in order. Oh the life of an enthusiast.

I say for less than $20 they are well worth the investment.

Installment note: when installing them, I did run into some issues of getting the old bushings out(115k mi. old). I basically had to take a razor, along with a screwdriver, and slowly cut/tear the old bushings out. Once I freed them up, I was able to pry the sway bar up, and with some persuasion get the bolts out. Upon installing the new hardware, I did have slight trouble getting the bolt to line up with the tie rod right above the end link. So I improvised, and installed the bolt upside down with no fuss whatsoever. All in all took me about 2 hours, with 75% of them fighting with the blasted old bushings. All that was needed was a 12mm wrench, socket, with ratchet, and 10mm wrench to disconnect the OEM end link. Don't forget a prybar, wd-40, and some elbow grease.

itscurtsk

sounds like a pain in the butt. I bought my set from AutoZone and I've had it for maybe like 6 months or longer and still sitting in my trunk. I'm gonna get it installed at a shop within a month.

mike93civic

It really isn't that much a pain in the butt. Just tedious. If you have a torch getting the old bushings out will only take 5 min. I see you live in SoCal, so you will probably have a much easier time than I did considering my box has been through 6 Ohio winters being a DD, and you will not have to deal with the wonderfullness that that does to a car. GL let us know how it turns out either way.

itscurtsk

i don't got the tools to break the bolts or nuts since i'm sure it's gonna be stuck on there pretty good. 80k miles on it. i need to either cut my the spacer by half an inch or not use it at all. also i don't have the DIY anymore since team-ist closed.

jpn6438

The spacer is not needed (atleast I didn't use). I might have the printout somewhere. I'll look for it and scan and upload it sometime this week (unless there is a diy on here somewhere).

jpn6438

Haven't found my printout yet but here is a link that I found for the xB. It is about the same DIY for the xA. http://www.clubxb.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5982

Hope it help!

itscurtsk

alrite so i got mine installed at the shop i always go to. one word = STIFF. the steering wheel feels a lot beefier and not as loose as before. even though i gotta use more power to turn, the car feels like it grips more.

i bought my set from autozone. the bolt length is pretty long, that was the first thing the mechanic noticed and pointed out to me. so what happen is that he used the spacer and added it on to the bottom and the closed it with the nut, used a gun to screw it tight and compress everything together.

so the order starting at the top is
bolt > washer > bushing > bushing > washer > washer > bushing > bushing > washer > spacer > nut

if anyone has the problem with the length of the bolt, put it this way ^ it works for me.

Maineman

So I finally did this install. And I opted to also do the bar bushings while I was under it. Not nearly as hard as everyone made it out to be. Took 2 hours to do it and would recommend if you can handle putting in the links do the bar bushings while your in there makes the prossess easier with all the bolts loose lol. I have a lower bay with a small lift at work so I was able to load and unload the bar when needed while working on it. I love this 05 xa more every time I work on it.