Rear suspension bushes

[Robin]

Today my 2002 Insight had its 90,000mile service, and I was told that one of the rear arm bushes on the rear beam axle was splitting and would need to be replaced before long, and that the one on the other side was not too good either.
Apparently, the bushes are not available as individual parts, and the official Honda advice is that it will be necessary to have the entire rear beam axle replaced at a cost of several hundred pounds. The rear beam axle itself is not rusty or damaged in any way.
I would have thought that it should be possible to obtain replacement bushes of a suitable size and type, possibly polyurethane ones, from some after-market supplier and fit them in place of the worn ones.
If anyone else has experience of this problem, and has found a solution other than the one recommended by Honda, I would be grateful for the information.

[Wade.Moeller]

Hrmmm. Looks like the OEM suppliers do indeed not show a specific part for the bushings. Rock Auto didn't show any parts either. If they are available, it would have to be a specialized manufacturer. Looks like a forum member or two have been looking into the issue: Rear Axle Poly Bushes

[retepsnikrep]

I went down a long and tortuous road trying to source some poly bushes for the rear suspension. In the end I got some good secondhand ones from crashed cars in the US and fitted them.

None of the UK polybush firms I spoke with were interested or very helpful.

I have now left it to other members on here to sort the problem which will affect us all in due course as the cars age. There is a lot of discussion on the other thread but I'm not sure anyone has actually fitted a pair of polybushes yet made here or in US.

Please update your location, you sound like you are in UK?

The rear axle is around £750 in UK

2001 HONDA INSIGHT DX REAR AXLE - Original Honda Parts | Lings Honda | Honda Cars

[Robin]

Although I have some 55+ years experience of restoring and/or modifying older cars and motorcycles, I have never attempted to work on my Insight (because of it`s complexity) and left it all to the local Honda dealer; they are very good indeed, and most helpful.

Today, I went back to the dealer and had a discussion with the senior mechanic; it turns out that the bushes are not, in fact, badly worn and show only minor surface fissuring with no effect on handling or HNV. Replacement might never be necessary, particularly if the bushes are cleaned off and painted with liquid rubber to seal the fissures.

It is clear that I had misunderstood the inspection advisory report which accompanied the bill for the service.

I will clean off the bushes in the near future and paint them with liquid rubber, as advised.

It is a great relief to be spared the cost of replacing the rear axle beam!

[gilbertguy]

Once again the "Stealership" is trying to sell things to unsuspecting customers that are not really needed! grrrrr!!!! That is just another reason I pretty much do all of my own work that I can.