Update 2/21/2013: PSA WARNING FOR COMPRESSION ROD WHITELINE BUSHINGS W83389!

Folks. After approximately 3 months driving with the new Whiteline Bushings, I started noticing a deterioration to my ride quality once again. It was feeling the same as how it was prior to my new bushings; bumpy, steering problems, etc. Well, I thought it was strange so I took it into the dealership for an inspection. Turns out, the Compression Rod Whiteline bushings started caving outwards. (I've attached two photos). I found this odd because they were only 3 months old.

I contacted Z Car Garage that did the work, and they found out that the previous version of the Whiteline Compression Rod bushings were defective, and that they had recently made a change to the design. They were nice and offered warranty on replacing the bushing with the newer version Whiteline bushing and free labor. My ride now feels fantastic again.

If you have purchased these bushings, make sure you have the NEWER version of the Whiteline Compression Rod bushings. You'll know it's the newer version if it comes with 4 giant gold washers. They go on the top and bottom of the bushing to prevent it from sliding out and causing the caving problem that I had.

I'm a little disappointed that Whiteline sold these, but I'm also happy that they recognized the problem and came out with a solution. I'm even more happy that Z Car Garage were awesome about it and replaced/changed my bushings free of charge.

I will continue to drive with these new bushings and update the thread as I go. For now, anyone who has gotten these changed or just recently purchased these bushings, PLEASE MAKE SURE THEY COME WITH THE 4 Giant Gold Washers!!

ORIGINAL POST

I decided to write a review on the Whiteline bushings mainly because after doing months of research, it was hard to find details and customer reviews about these bushings. (Unless my search skills suck). I decided to go with Whiteline because I heard that the SPLs make a lot of noise and has a design flaw. I heard the Energy Suspension ones also make creaking noises. I settled in with Whiteline because at the time, my understanding was that they make no noise, exceeds the quality of OEM, better for the value, and will basically last forever. Whiteline was also recommended by the shop that I went to to get this done.

So a few months ago I finally decided that the loud squeals coming from the front of my car has to go. It caused major embarrassment for a car that looks nice, but squeals like a dying cat everywhere I go. For the longest time, I have always thought that my brakes and rotors were causing the squeals, so I decided to get brand new brakes and rotors. Well, that didn't do the trick. As I dug deeper, I discovered that the main culprit to this issue are the Compression Rod and Control Arm bushings.

Do not go to the dealer. They will most likely want you to replace the entire Compression Rod and Control Arm Bushings, which will be COSTLY. I did hear that some dealers may know how to install bushings.

The only reason you should install a new Compression Rod is if your ball joints are bad. This is rare, and from my understanding, can only happen if your car is extremely low. Even then, ball joints going bad do not happen unless you abused the crap out of your car. So to say, it can still happen, but a lot more rare compared to bushings going bad. I might be wrong on this, so if someone wants to correct me that would be fine.

Well, I ended up purchasing the following Whiteline brand bushings: I bought them on Ebay.

Compression Rod: W83389

Lower Front Control Arm:
You need to buy both the Inner and Outer bushing
W52991 and W52992

I have racked up 164xxx miles on my car. Over time, I have gotten used to the deteriorating quality of the suspension. (Steering problems, being able to feel every bump on the road, the squeals, etc.).

I decided to pull the trigger and get this job done. The bushings totaled out approximately $200. I found a Nissan/Infiniti shop that knows how to remove and install new bushings by using a press. Total labor to do both the Compression Rod and Lower Front Control Arm on both sides of my car came out to be $385. So in total, I spent $585 for this repair.

The day that the repair was done:

BAM!! SUSPENSION QUALITY IS BACK!!!

I absolutely cannot believe how my car feels the minute I drove my car just from replacing BUSHINGS! Not only did it get rid of the squeals that I mainly wanted to get rid of, but my steering feels SMOOTH and I NO LONGER FEEL EVERY BUMP on the road!

You do not know how much quality is lost until you actually take care of replacing the bushings if you have high mileage. I have been driving with Whiteline for the past several days already and I HIGHLY recommend them. You are likely to just install them once and forget about them. Although, if they do have problems I will update this thread in the future.

I highly recommend doing all 6 bushings on the Compression Rod and Lower Front Control Arms, even if the bushings are still good. It is for the peace of mind that you won't ever have to waste more money in the future, and for major improvement overall for your car. Those two parts are known to be the only parts where bushings fail.

I hope this helps out people who are seeking a solution for their suspension problems. Thanks.

 

Can I assume (not my favorite word) White Line bushings are polyurethane? My main fear would be that make noise. I did poly bushings in my wife's Vette last year, going back to OE rubber very soon....Gary

 

Yes, they are polyurethane, but currently I do not experience any noise and so far I have not stumbled upon any past threads/posts of people claiming that the Whiteline bushings make noise. I have heard Energy Suspension does though, and theirs are also polyurethane. I heard SPLs make clunking noises rather than a creaking noise. Can anyone else chime in on this to tell us about the noise issues?

 

i was told not to buy aftermarket due to some customers having replaced the front lower control arm with aftermarket & they only lasted a couple of days, i was told to go ahead and purchase the oem ones. but the only issue was nissan only sells the lower control arm w/ bushings. i only need the bushings.

 

You can buy the OEM ones on Ebay. I've seen them while researching bushings. My understanding is that the newer bushings have been redesigned to be better, but I'm not sure if I should trust it yet..

I'm not sure about the lasting a couple of days.. that wasn't a complaint that I've stumbled upon when searching.

 

Please keep this thread updated. I do not have issue with bushings now but down the road I may need to replace them and this is good information to have.

 

Yeah, I'm in. Ho fo sho.

 

Thanks for this review. Very helpful to have part numbers and price in the same post. I'll be doing something about my wonky bushings in the near future, I'm looking forward to any updates you may have as you live with the freshened front end.

 

FWIW, I've put about 15k on my Whiteline LCA bushings. They are holding up superbly, and make zero noise.

 

Subscribed.

 

So far, approxmiately 1.5 weeks after the install, my suspension is feeling even better. My assumption is that the bushings are settling in after continuous driving. No noises what so ever.

 

Does whiteline make a complete kit?

 

any updates??

I just had a completely unsuccessful alignment done on my car and was told that my front lower control arm bushings are broken so looking into replacing those!

 

I just posted an update today, unless you are looking for another specific kind of update...?

 

I'm actually not too sure on that one. I haven't seen a package that contains the entire kit for the entire car.