Idk if this is any help but to chime in on the Whiteline. I actually bought the Whiteline Diff bushing set and my buddy bought the Energy Diff Bushing for his G. The whiteline feels more solid imo. And yes, the ES means you have to reuse the steel sleeve. That was a big NOPE in my book.

 

well i just ordered the whiteline bushing(ebay). i guess i put some kind of post showing the wear and tear as i put a lot of miles on my Z.

the spl bearing dosent make sense to me. the arm is supposed to go up and down and rotate with the steering. but since its a free moving bearing it also allows the arm to twist freely with no resistance giving you that infamous clunking sound. side note, i dont know if any of you worked on a 370z front suspension, but the lower a arm they use is a much better design.

 

370z is also a double wishbone front isnt it? It's evolution, just better all around.

 

Ya the ES diff bushing reuses the stock sleeve and that is the main issue. It doesn't use a lock washer either so it's only a matter of time until it loosens up and allows the bushing to push out. I was lucky ii didnt lose my whole rear end. Spl solid is the only way to go if you drag race.

As for the compression bushing it just doesn't fit well. Just putting the car on a lift crushes the **** out of the lower half. Add hard launching to that and you have the pic I posted.

Luckily I found cheap oem compression bushings. If I can get another 50k mi I am happy.

 

man this sucks! My ES diff bushing is on its way from the vendor

tfs djamps.

 

The steel sleeve doesn't back out, the bushing does. My bushing ended up on the track and the steel sleeve banging around in the subframe and bent. Luckily
The diff cover survived and just had to out a new bolt in.

And the spl kit comes with a lock washer. Who would have thunk it?

 

Did yours have the lips on the outside? I had to use a puller to get mine in.

 

^^ yes mine is the same. I've chaulked it up to the rear nut loosening itself up after a dozen or so hard launches on drag slicks. Once the nut gets loose from the diff torquing and twisting, the sleeve starts pushing the bushing out a little with every launch. Eventually, you have a broken/missing bushing and if you're like me you also have a bent stud and/or broken diff cover.

For those of you running the ES diff bushing, just make sure the nut holding onto the sleeve stays extra tight (e.g. install a lockwasher!) and that the bushing isn't slowly pushing itself out the rear.

Note that the SPL kit comes with a lock washer, and on top of that the stud and bold holds the bushing in so there's no way it can work it self out and no need to re-use the OEM sleeve.

 

Thanks for the info, Mine hasn't moved but I'll double check that the nut is tight.

 

How long have you been running this kit? I'm installing mine this weekend.

 

I have had mine in for 10 months. About 5000 miles with 2 track days and 8 autocross. The compress rod bushing takes a beating but with ES it's easy to replace since there is no need to press it out and in. Mine all look good but I can see why his tore.

 

Thanks for this feedback man. It gives me more confidence about installing my ES

 

FAWK run these on my S14! ew

 

I am running 10PSI with launch control and drag slicks... maybe you've not explored the limits of your bushings yet. The diff bushing obviously gets hit the hardest, but the compression bushings take a beating on launches and 1-2 shifts with the front jumping up and down:



So, yea I admit that my diff and compression rod sees far more abuse than the typical. I guess some, maybe even most people won't have issues.

ironic part is that the OEM bushings lasted over 50k miles 100 passes like this. And they are actually cheaper LOL...

 

^time to go back to stock lol. surprisingly i can't even name one person that runs the ES's.

 

How about replacing it with solid bushing?

 

EXACTLY!! I agree with Ian...the compression rod hands down should only be SPL....the rear diff mounts should be solid, any companies solid aluminum rear diff mounts, spl, sikky, whatever...

-J

 

if your a guy that requires silent or needs to abide by SCCA rules etc, then your best option otherwise at the compression rod location is the Whiteline new compression rod bushing...

its tapered ends are a much more thought out design over engery suspensions hunks of poly on each end.

see here:
https://my350z.com/forum/8293651-post24.html

-J

 

Unfortunately every vendor I contact states they are out of whiteline and try to push ES instead. That's how I ended up with them in the first place.

I already have SPL solid on the diff but I don't want solid anywhere on the front suspension for a couple of reasons. I'm being forced back to stock compression rod bushing for the time being due to frustration/waiting games on the whiteline product...

 

i have been running the full front ES bushing kit in black for around 8 months now. I recommend getting the OEM bushings because these bushings increase NVH with no added performance compared to my old worn out bushings...