Hi S2K. I was doing Billman's brake gravity bleed for the first time yesterday (worked great!) and noticed the bushing below. I'm ashamed to say I'm not sure what I'm looking at (LCA?), but figured someone here would. Nothing about the suspension or steering feels off whatsoever, but figured it can't hurt to ask.

 

You have a torn compliance bushing. It affects you caster primarily but can also affect camber and toe. When it's torn the bushing deflects more and can cause dynamic wear to your tires. Luckily the fronts don't wear too fast, but It's something you should eventually get fixed. Replacement bushings are ~$90-$120, and pulling the lower arm is pretty easy all things considered especially if the eccentric adjuster isn't seized. Most machine shops could press into place for less than it costs to buy a press, just let them know that it has a proper orientation, you'll see when you remove the arm. Make sure you use white-out or some other method to mark your eccentric bolts so you can get your alignment as close as possible as it was.

 

Darn, well, at least it doesn't sound too bad. Does it make sense to replace any other bushings while going to the trouble, or just the compliance bushing on the LCA?

 

You'll want to look at the other bushings, but they're probably all fine. The Compliance bushing takes a real beating and usually goes bad way before any other bushings are even starting to have issues.

The alignment thing noted in a previous post. The bushing has a tiny arrow molding into the rubber. It needs to point towards the other bushing, in front. Think of the arrow as an axis that the bushing flexes on to allow lca to pivot up and down. Make sure new ones go in aligned properly.

As noted, traditional way to replace them is remove and use a shop press. I did a diy on how to replace with lca in place on car. You use a home made fixture out of exhaust pipe adapters, and a rented ball joint press.

The bushing itself, Honda does not sell it individually. They only sell the whole lca. You can get just the bushing from King Motorsports, US vendor for Mugen.

You will want to lube the heck otta the bolt and sleeve it goes thru on reassembly, using antiseize. This prevents it from seizing, which prevents wheel alignment adjustment and you have to hack the old bolt out with a sawzall.

 

Thanks guys. The car has less than 60K on it (but it is an '02) so hopefully this is the only issue, but I'll look over everything else to be safe.

 

One more question - which bolt in the diagram below frequently seizes up and requires a sawzall to cut through? I'm going to order them just to be safe.

 

The verticle bolt. Can't see bolts number in image on my phone. But you'll want 13, 14, and the bolt that goes through that.

The bolt seizes to that sleeve. So you can remove the nut, but you can't pull the bolt out. The bolt will resist turning, but if you force it, it will yield, but then all you've done is tear the inner bushing sleeve away from the bushing, tearing the rubber. The bolt will now turn, but still won't come free. You have to cut the bolt top and bottom, so lca can be removed from car.

Factory never lubed these parts. If you buy an S2000, one of first things you should do is see if these parts are frozen. If not, remove them and lube generously. Then get an alignment.

 

I managed to pull a semi seized caster bolt. I like the OEM honda clutch grease, works amazing. The camber bushing is beefy and not likely to tear. The compliance bushing is pretty flimsy by comparison. Hard race also makes a hardened rubber bushing that works pretty well, I think the pair is $90. Like mentioned above the compliance bushing is mounted with the open sides facing left to right, the gaps allow the bushing to flex, you'll also see arrows on the bushing itself.

A 38mm impact socket works beautifully as a die.

You'll likely only need 13, the bolt that goes through never gets seized as far as I can tell. The sleeve does though. When you put everything back make sure the sleeve is aligned with the top hat/self locking nut. Also that piece is pulled towards the center of the chassis, not directly out. You'll see what I mean.

 

Thanks again guys. Is it "normal" for the compliance bushings to go bad at 50-60k?

 

At least it's pretty normal with the seized adjustment bolts/sleeves and if it's ever been to an alignment it's likely they just tried to turn the adjustment anyways which puts a lot of stress on the bushing.
I had a look at mine after just ~35k miles and it was totally seized and also had a small tear