I'm wondering what the ride quality would be like on a full spherical bushing kit. I have the energy suspension bushings installed on a civic and I loved it but after 5 years those bushings have started to loosen up. Anyone one with experience with spherical bushings please chim in. I'm lowered on swift R springs, looking to replace my ageing bushings especially the compliance bushings. With sticky tires it feels like im getting a lot of suspension, steering deflection and uneven tire wear. I'm interested in the ballade bushing kit, anyone have any experience with these bushings?

 

No experience with the Ballade kit, but the Blacktrax/Kingpin setup rides better than stock bushings for most kinds of suspension motion. Only exception is when you hit reflector dots on the highway, where you can feel a little more impact. It's key to have a kit that functions without any bind.

 

I have on ESM Race sphericals and have no complaints as a daily driver and track car.

 

I was expecting to hear how horrible the ride was on the street using these bushings. But so far its the opposite. Very interesting. Subscribing to this thread to learn more.

Please, more people chime in with your experiences. Would never have contemplated this mod. But now you guys have me rethinking...

 

If you had a civic with poly bushings and you felt that it wasn't too bad...you've pretty much reached the pinnacle of human durability and nothing can hurt you.

That being said....I've heard sphericals ride very well due to the loss of binding caused by rubber bushings.

 

Yep, I went to some poly bushings in my S13 240SX - HORRIBLE. The extra friction in the suspension felt like I doubled or tripled the spring rates on rough roads.

Went to full spherical bearings and rod ends everywhere - car rode absolutely beautifully after that with the same suspension setup. Under most road conditions it felt like the car lost a ton of unsprung weight, and minor imperfections were dealt with by the suspension without really moving the car around much. But like others said, hitting sharp impacts like an expansion joint on the highway or reflector will transmit a sharp jolt to the car. I wouldn't say it's especially "bad," but that the hit is a little bit faster, and more pronounced than with stock rubber bushings if that makes sense.


Like everything, there is a bit of compromise, but I'd say the overall improvement is positive for a car that's ever driven hard.

Keep in mind that BMW's M division or Porsche on their GT series will replace a lot of rubber bushings with ball joints (same thing as a spherical really) and/or spherical type bearings. So it's not totally a "race car" part like it's sometimes considered.

 

OE sphericals are designed in, though. The damper rates, chassis, and suspension design are all changed to consider the bearings taking place of bushings in strategic locations. So they're a little less noticeable than the aftermarket type.

Some Hondas and Subarus (among other makes) also use bearings from the factory...so its not entirely exotic.

OE sphericals are also booted for corrosion protection.

The lack of boots on aftermarket parts makes a bigger impact on street friendliness than the comfort aspect does.

My experience with sphericals is on a stock and Ohlins equipped STi...and on my old S13.

The S13 started off with rubber bushings.

What I noticed is that sharp bumps that used to make a thud would now make a ping or smack sensation (lol its hard to describe this).

The car rattled over imperfections like rumble strips and cracks in the road.

But over dips and larger bumps where the suspension moved more, there wasn't more harshness than the rubber bushings. Just a smoother movement with a more firm initial bump reaction.

 

Boots have no impact on them being a street friendly design or not. They use a teflon liner which can tolerate quite a lot of street driving before wearing out and developing some freeplay. The OEM spherical type joints will typically use a ball in a nylon/metal cage with grease - kinda the same thing.

The aftermarket spherical might have a lifespan more in the 30-45k mile range, but given you can refresh them for ~$30 in bearings, it's hardly a big factor.


And yes, the bearings are used all over the place, but the BMW M/Porsche GT cars *extensively* use them to where there typically isn't that much rubber left in the suspension. The suspensions are firm, but not unstreetable. And I'd hardly say they do massive "special designs" to incorporate them, with the same basic suspension geometry shared between the base model and the upgraded one.

 

Even Cadillac is now using spherical joints in certain places on their V cars.

 

I really appreciate the input, I'm pretty sure I'm committing to spherical I'm hoping the more modest spring rates of swift R's with help balance out the ride quality change from rubber to spherical. I'm already use to cars that jar but I was hoping I can keep a nice ride quality on my s2k.