Upper bushes for Soarer front and rear wheels

October 2003

by Peter Scott

Well he has done it again! Andrew Vlamos (email vlamos@bigpond.net.au or phone mobile 0411 227 007) Mr Perfectionist, has gone and manufactured upper control arm bushes for the front and rear wheels of the Toyota Soarer and Lexus SC Coupes. Now we can get superb quality bushes to match the Lower Bushes he is already famous for.

When mine arrived in the mail again I had to admire them for the works of art that they are. So much cheaper to replace the bushes like this rather than buy a new control arm from Toyota. These are the only bushes that will give your Soarer that brand new feeling again.

That V-shaped aluminium piece - that's the upper control arm. The rubber bushes are clamped tight - no moving parts - the rubber actually twists, stretches, every time you go over a bump-  that's why it's important to have the suspension at normal ride level before tightening up the bolts. Every car manufacturer makes rubber bushes this way - gives the best ride and reduces noise, vibration and harshness (NVH).
The plastic shroud at the front has to be removed so that the long bolt can be slid out. The 19mm nut is the tightest nut I think I have ever come across!! I used the Metrinch wall drive ring spanner, hooked another on the end of that and strained until my head nearly exploded!  - no good. So out comes the mini sledge, more work and it was finally done.
Don't have to remove the brakes. I was getting my slotted rotors skimmed - that's why I took mine off. The orange bucket is jus the right size to support the caliper without straining the stainless steel brake hoses. That shock on the ground is an Active UZZ32 strut. Oil is pumped to it to control height - sensors keep the car level during braking and cornering - no springs or swaybars or airbags on my car. I didn't have to remove it - but since I'm in there might as well rebuild it with a Toyota seal and bronze guide kit. The oil every where is from the strut - bit messy.
I wouldn't recommend this as a DIY at all. You need special tools to separate the ball joint  - last thing you want is to stuff the boot or something like that. Then you also need a whopping big press to install the bushes. Best to take it to a suspension place to get the bushes installed professionally. Let's face it, you deserve it!

Emanuel Spinola has had them fitted to his car:

Andrew

Got them fitted successfully today. Pedders complained that it was a real pain to do the rears and that they won't be underquoting anyone else like they did for me ($320 front and rears with wheel alignment). :-)

They said the old bushes, whilst not completely stuffed, were very much on their way to being useless, especially the rears.

Ride is better now - not as harsh on really rough patches of road/potholes etc. Feels solid around fast corners - I'll give it a real workout this Saturday and see how it behaves at full tilt.

A wheel alignment usually cost around $75 on it's own. You may get away without an alignment since technically the geometry won't change when only doing the uppers.

These are the upper bushes that go towards the front of the car.

And these are the ones that go towards the rear of the car.

The upper A arms have front and rear bushes. Like the lower arms it's the rear bushes that get all the punishment and deteriorate first.

Andrew has also made this  tool to remove the bushes - of course it's a model of the genuine Toyota Tool!

But wait there's more! The bushes also fit the rear upper arms on the rear wheels!

Andrew also includes intructions on how to install the bushes:

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