[laluks]

Civic has been a trusted companion and it was due for a rear suspension check. The rear considerably sagged and I was pretty sure something was amiss.

So I did my research, and got ready for a day out at my FNG. I reached there with a new pack of rear suspension bushes, and a new camber adjustable rear upper arm. I got the bushes, since I did not want a down time while we wait for sourcing the worn out bushes.

On referring the service manual, there was no possibility to find part numbers for the rear suspension bushes, since they were not serviceable components according to Honda, and you'd have to go in for complete upper and trailing arm replacements. Only exception being the stabilizer spring bushes.

So I made my notes over the Service manual picture.

Service manual details plus Bush details


Alphabets A to H in red are the bushes that is in the rear suspension, one each for Right and Left. H has a Honda part number.

My research led me to Ghai Spares, Delhi and he had RBI bush kit for the rear. It was couriered to me, and costed under INR 4K inclusive of shipping. It was not directly available at Bangalore with my contacts.

Mean while, since Civic was getting a lot of miles on the ODO, I wanted to be able to adjust rear camber, without taking the car for a suspension overhaul whenever I felt something amiss. So I got hold of a camber adjustable rear upper arm. It was available abroad and I shipped it via DHL. It costed approx 100 US Dollars inclusive of Shipping and Customs.

Camber Adjustable Rear Upper Arms


I sourced TRW rear Shocks later. It costed me INR 4K a pair.

Now that I had these components I went to my FNG.

[laluks]

My first requirement was to replace the rear upper arm, even if the bushes were good with the camber adjustable ones I have sourced.

Old rear upper arm, showing bushes A and B




Comparison of old rear upper arm and the new camber adjustable arms


The green box shows how in principle we can adjust camber easily in this setup


We fitted it to the knuckle, and it was a perfect setup. Nothing to adjust, it was just as good as a replacement component


We took Civvy for a spin and it was cool. The rubber bushings of this setup gave a few squeaky sounds. If you compare Bush A of old and new, you can make out old ones have the rod inbuilt into the bushes, whereas for the new one the rod is removable and once inserted is held tightly by the bushes. This rubber to rubber friction gets you the squeaks till they settle in nicely.

After the drive, it was time to disassemble the entire rear suspension setup to check for health of the other bushes.

A few pictures of the new rear upper arm during the process

[laluks]

We removed the knuckle


Bushes C and D seemed to be fine.






On checking the bushes of the shocks, it was definitely bad






Since I had the new TRW shocks sourced, we decided to replace the shocks than the bushes. The OEM shocks were good. I have kept that as a spare for now, with the new bushes for the same.

[laluks]

Time to remove the rear trailing arm






You can see the stabilizer spring Bush too (H)



Finally the rear trailing arm is removed


Rear Trailing arm bush F seemed to be worse


Rear Trailing arm bush G seemed OK

[laluks]

Definitely Rear Trailing Arm Bush F was bad.




The whole bush was cut






This explained the sagging, the whole trailing arm was freely moving down due to this!!



Observations : Bush F takes the maximum beating followed by Bush E




Necessary bushes were replaced by compression at the lathe nearby.

New Bush F on the rear trailing arm.






Now that the complete checks of the rear suspension and bush was done, it was time to put it all back again with new bushes, new shocks and new rear upper arm


Putting it all back again



Additionally we placed coil spring buffers before we finished the job for the day.

My FNG charged me INR 1150 for the labour.

[aah78]

Note from Support: Thread moved to the Technical Stuff section. Thanks for sharing!

[pramodpk]

Originally Posted by laluks

Additionally we placed coil spring buffers before we finished the job for the day.

My FNG charged me INR 1150 for the labour.

You seem to be spending quite some time and money on the civic these days. Do you have before and after pics? Your FNG seems to be reasonable.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by pramodpk

You seem to be spending quite some time and money on the civic these days. Do you have before and after pics? Your FNG seems to be reasonable.

No, I am only posting it online these days

This was done 1.5 years ago and it ran 15K after this. Just sharing so that all can benefit. I changed it when it was 125K on ODO.

Money wise, the bush kits are reasonable, than the whole change of rear trailing arms costing something like 21K for one from Honda.