Alignment Advice

I replaced the stock dampers and springs on my '91 Civic Si w/ 134k this
past weekend with an aftermarket 'performance' kit (small amount of
lowering, forgot to measure). Luckily I had a bushing kit on hand that I
am going to slowly install over time, because one of the rear lower
damper mount bushings was history. It made removing the original damper
assembly a lot tougher for me than the opposite side. I drove the car
for a good 100+ mile trip after the work was done. The car certainly
drove a lot better than before. Having worked on both the front and rear
ends I know that a lot of my suspension bushings are in bad shape, some
worse than others.

If I can replace all the bushings I want to in a few thousand miles,
should I wait to get an alignment then or should I get one now? Does the
condition of bushings affect alignment?

Mark

Chopface wrote:
> I replaced the stock dampers and springs on my '91 Civic Si w/ 134k this
> past weekend with an aftermarket 'performance' kit (small amount of
> lowering, forgot to measure). Luckily I had a bushing kit on hand that I
> am going to slowly install over time, because one of the rear lower
> damper mount bushings was history. It made removing the original damper
> assembly a lot tougher for me than the opposite side. I drove the car
> for a good 100+ mile trip after the work was done. The car certainly
> drove a lot better than before. Having worked on both the front and rear
> ends I know that a lot of my suspension bushings are in bad shape, some
> worse than others.
>
> If I can replace all the bushings I want to in a few thousand miles,
> should I wait to get an alignment then or should I get one now? Does the
> condition of bushings affect alignment?
>
> Mark

yes, bushings affect alignment a lot. replacing them makes the car ride
& handle better, but getting the alignment done after you've replaced
them all makes the car handle better still. the dilemma you have is
whether the alignment is affected enough to cost you money on tire
replacement. if it were my car and the tires were old, i'd do all the
bushings then align. if the tires were new & expensive, i'd consider
aligning now, and again later after the rest of the bushings are changed.

in my experience, the #1 candidate for change is always that big rear
trailing arm bushing. get that puppy changed & you have a whole new car.

jim beam wrote:
> Chopface wrote:
>
>> I replaced the stock dampers and springs on my '91 Civic Si w/ 134k
>> this past weekend with an aftermarket 'performance' kit (small amount
>> of lowering, forgot to measure). Luckily I had a bushing kit on hand
>> that I am going to slowly install over time, because one of the rear
>> lower damper mount bushings was history. It made removing the original
>> damper assembly a lot tougher for me than the opposite side. I drove
>> the car for a good 100+ mile trip after the work was done. The car
>> certainly drove a lot better than before. Having worked on both the
>> front and rear ends I know that a lot of my suspension bushings are in
>> bad shape, some worse than others.
>>
>> If I can replace all the bushings I want to in a few thousand miles,
>> should I wait to get an alignment then or should I get one now? Does
>> the condition of bushings affect alignment?
>>
>> Mark
>
>
> yes, bushings affect alignment a lot. replacing them makes the car ride
> & handle better, but getting the alignment done after you've replaced
> them all makes the car handle better still. the dilemma you have is
> whether the alignment is affected enough to cost you money on tire
> replacement. if it were my car and the tires were old, i'd do all the
> bushings then align. if the tires were new & expensive, i'd consider
> aligning now, and again later after the rest of the bushings are changed.
>
> in my experience, the #1 candidate for change is always that big rear
> trailing arm bushing. get that puppy changed & you have a whole new car.
>

Thanks for the response. I'll try to skimp on the alignment for at least
a bit and see if I can get the key bushings in first. The tires on the
car are fairly new (around 10k miles), but inexpensive.