I took my car into the dealership -2003 track model - for an alignment since I got new wheels and tires and never had the car aligned since I owned 3 yrs. They told me that my bushings were cracked and the fluid on the inside of the bushing had leaked out. they wouldnt align the car unless I fixed this. However according to Nissan the bushings are a non serviceable item and so I would need to replace the lower control arms (front and left) and the compression rods (front and left) and that also the bushing in the rear on the right side (subframe bushing), also needs to be replaced. All told this would be over $3000 to fix at the dealership. I did some searching and found that you can replace just the bushing.

So my question for everyone is if I want to replace the bushings for the fronts and the rears (all bushings, given its an 03 and never been changed what exactly do I/ should I buy? Is there anything else I should replace to upgrade the suspension (I don't want to lower the car). Thank you very much!

 

Several companies make compression arm bushings now. Just google search. A few years ago, there was a Nismo bushing, now a few people are selling OEM replacements. Here is one example from a quick google search
http://www.conceptzperformance.com/C...4264.186.46.74

You will have a hard time finding a dealer that wants to pull the old arm and press out the bushing and press in a new one. Better also hope your ball joint on that arm is still good. But that can be easily determined by inspection after it is taken out.

The rear diff bushing is much harder to do but also readily available. Solid metal bushings are available for that so you never have to do them again but you have to replace the subframe bushing and both bushings in the differential case.

I spent a few hours chiseling and hacksawing it out trying not to gouge the subframe.

Hopefully you are handy or can find a independent mechanic that is willing to help save you some money. Or you take the arm out and take the bushings to a machine shop that has a press. You have many options to not pay the $3000.

Let me know if you are going to go with new OEM bushings. I have a couple of brand new OEM bushings for the front arm I could sell you cheaper than the ones you probably will find.

Check out the suspension101 thread and you will see where everything is located and tons of information about replacement options. Make note that for the front arm the logical choices are OEM style or the SPL bearings if you never want to have to replace them again. Do not go with solid polyurethane as it seems these are too inflexible and can then cause steering rack issues!

These are the two of the most common bushings to fail on this car. Do some searching!

 

Just get Whiteline bushings and call it good.

 

so if i need to just take care of the bushings in the front how many do i need to buy.. is it just 1 for each side... do the whitelines come in package (1 for each side)

 

I'm in a similar situation. My car doesn't seem to track very straight on the highway, a slight input of the wheel provides an unstable(wobble) which is very slight.

I have ruled out alignment. I can only assume bushings? but which ones? Main subframe bushing itself was replaced.

Would anyone have an idea?

 

They normally come in pairs.