Refreshing Entire Rear End
Pretty much everything made of rubber on the rear end of my blobeye wrx is perished, cracking and generally in poor condition. I've pretty much decided that I'll be removing the lateral and trailing arms, pressing old bushes out, cleaning them up and painting them, and then pressing new OE bushes in and reassembling with new bolts. I don't want to use polybushes for these, but would have considered HardRace etc. but the cost is significantly higher although the saved effort of not having to press bushes and repaint would have been nice. I'll do the RARB bushes and probably mounts afterwards as that should be quick and accessible. I'd also prefer to decide whether or not to run a torsionally stiffer bar after refurbishing the rest so I know how it drives when it's in good shape. I'd also like to change the subframe bushes, the bushes that the t-bar mounts to the body with and all the bushes around the differential.
I'd prefer OE rubber for these, but would consider polybushes if it made installation way easier. I'm trying to establish essentially what the best method of doing this would be. Can subframe and t-bar bushes be easily swapped on the car by lowering them a bit, drilling rubber out with a holesaw and then hacksawing the metal sleeve out and then sliding polybushes in? Or do these both need to be removed from the car, in which case I can just press old rubber out and new rubber in and give them a lick of paint. Anything else to consider? I'm about to start refreshing mine. Everything has been removed from the car as plan to paint too. Went for the SuperPro F & R Running Gear set as need to do front too wishbones. Bar outriggers to chassis however not decided weather to get new OEM, Poly or the supplement washers? I'm going to leave ARBs for as will get uprated one down line with specific bushings.
I needed to get an impact gun to remove stuff, even 3ft breaker wasn't having it, and that's after 2days worth of repeated WD soaking. Pretty much everything made of rubber on the rear end of my blobeye wrx is perished, cracking and generally in poor condition. I've pretty much decided that I'll be removing the lateral and trailing arms, pressing old bushes out, cleaning them up and painting them, and then pressing new OE bushes in and reassembling with new bolts. I don't want to use polybushes for these, but would have considered HardRace etc. but the cost is significantly higher although the saved effort of not having to press bushes and repaint would have been nice. I'll do the RARB bushes and probably mounts afterwards as that should be quick and accessible. I'd also prefer to decide whether or not to run a torsionally stiffer bar after refurbishing the rest so I know how it drives when it's in good shape. Anything else to consider?
Anyway, you may well end up having to cut out the inner bolts for these as they can seize inside the bushing sleeve. I only had to do this to one but it was still a pain. Get yourself a 17mm 6 point spanner as a socket won't clear the tank shield or the drive boot (even when you cut it as short as you can). You can then smack this with a lump hammer and not risk rounding the bolt as you might with a 12 point. Soak everything in plusgas for at least a week in advance, including the outer long hub bolts, although I found mine actually came out quite easily. To get the front inner bolts out you'll either need to jack the hub up to get clearance (NS) or pull the driveshaft from the diff (OS). Thank you for the responses so far. All informative to read.
I've read through the entire Red Impreza thread on Detailing World. How are the actual HardRace products as plenty of other retailers seem to stock them, such as ASPerformance? I'll definitely be using all new bolts. I've looked into it and the cost of buying 2nd hand arms and subframes etc. gets quite expensive. I've got no worries about alignment- I have free access to a Hunter Rig, so I just eyeball alignment close enough to be safe, drive it up there and do it all spot-on. I do also have access to a 2-post lift evenings and weekends but the car can never get stuck there as it's in daily use. I've been debating whether to get separate arms and subframes all done with bushes, and just swap the lot on the 2-poster, or to take my time more on the drive. The disadvantage of the 2-poster is I really can't run into an issue and get stuck. I know the SuperPro kit has been recommended a lot, but as I stated I really, really don't want polybushes on anything that controls wheel geometry.