I was changing the setting of my h-sport comp rear sway today and happened to check-out my h-sport lower control arm's bushing..... The bushings on both sides were shot! The passenger side was almost non-existent and the driver's side had a crack and was ready to fall apart. Fair warning! Check the bushings on the control arms!

 

hmmm...sounds like the problem i had at last year's spring fling, discovered during out tech inspection. i believe my passenger's side bushings were pretty much cracked in half length-wise. unfortunately, i ended up missing spring fling, but luckily it was discovered so that it could at least be fixed. since then, i sorta check every month or so while washing my mini.

i did speak with eric at helix13, as well as h-sport, and both stated that it's quite rare for those bushings to fail. only thing they could figure was that somehow the install was faulty or not enuff lube was used. i got mine during that group buy and had it installed at sonics, along with a bunch of other owners.

h-sport did send me a bunch of replacements. you're gonna hafta check which type you got, either flat or beveled, if i remember correctly.

anybody else had/has problems? i thought i was the only lucky guy.

 

here's a pic, hopefully...

 

Man that bushing looks awful! Were you able to feel it while driving?

 

yeah i second that, was there any vibrations or clanking while driving?

 

surprisingly, no, i couldn't feel any difference or hear any weird sounds while driving or taking turns.

in fact, that's why i was surprised at the tech session. never had a hint that something was wrong.

for that reason, i plan to have my mini tech'd every chance i get, which is about 2x/year in hawaii or whenever we hold our driver's school. of course, i try to do regular checks as best i can. but getting the whole mini up on a lift is somehow much more revealing vs. crawling around underneath a jack'd up one. such was the case when the same tech inspection revealed some leaking power steering fluid.

 

kbseto,

I contacted h-sport and they responded in a timely fashion and said they would send the bushings out. They actually did not ask me about "beveled" or "flat" - the only thing they asked was if I had upper and lower control arms (I am assuming to figure out how many bushings need to be sent out).

I actually did not really notice anything different; however, after a Saturday Super Lap, I did notice that at the following day's SCCA Track Day I was sliding around. I thought the sliding was due to my Hoosiers being taxed from the previous day's outing - we'll see. Right now I am stock so I'll know for sure on the Feb. 19th (I doubt the bushing will make it in time to allow me to install and get a new alignment).