I found a thread on Tuners which suggested that installing ES trailing arm bushings in conjunction with eliminating the active toe (welding or filling the rubber bushing with window weld etc) would cause the rear trailing arm to bind since it swings on an arch under compression. Of course the proper solution is the JayRacing spherical bearing, but unfortunately that's against my class rules!

I'm wondering if people with welded rear trailing arms can chime in on their experience and whether the ES bushings allow sufficient deflection or if this actually causes serious issues. I want to get ride of some of that nasty dynamic toe but not if it leads to other issues with the rear geometry.

I did the weld up method on a talon I have several years ago. No real issue other than needing to ignore the fact toe settings which accommodated flex at the passive joint. I either went zero toe in rear or like one degree can't recall.

Right I understand that the factory rear toe settings are designed to compensate for the flex in the joint when pushing through the wind at speed. I'm more worried about what will happen if I remove most or all of the flexibility at that joint. Since the trailing arm moves on an arc there has to be SOME flex there or else it will bind. The question is, how important is that practically.

With your welded arms, are you running the stock forward bushing or do you have a poly bushing?

I no longer have that car but had it for a couple of years after the weld up. I had the poly bushings in it. never noticed binding or any odd issues. In fact I loved it with the passive out. made a huge difference in the overall feel & handling, via butt dyno anyway.

Well even welding is not an option for me but I think I can fill in the gaps in the stock bushing with window-weld which should get me most of the way there. Then I'll pop the poly bushing on the end and hopefully between the two there will be enough play for it to swing smoothly while still getting rid of 90% of that unfavorable flex. That's the hope anyway.

Let me know how this works for you, and if I beat you too it I'll report in on my results :-D

I recently did all the bushings including subframe bushings in the rear. I used poly for the front trailing arm joint, and welded a washer to the trailing arm after burning the rubber out. It has to be one of the best things I've done to my 1g. I did my own alignment with the camber at the factory -1.5 and put the toe at +.2 degrees. Super fun to drive hard, as you get lift off over-steer, can easily induce throttle on over steer. And I still have the stock rusted shocks and springs. Not to mention when you are at the limit, it's very easy to drive now that the rear is solid and not changed toe under hard corners.


I have yet to feel binding, and I drive my car pretty hard....

What would be really interesting, and hopefully I'll have a chance to try when I do mine, will be to move the rear arm through it's full range of motion with the shocks and swaybar removed. That way I can feel whether the rigid bushings allow sufficient movement.

Anyway, thanks for the input from those of you who've commented.