What is suspension bushings?

[impactX]

What do they do? Do I need them if I am replacing my stock struts with TRD struts? I drive a 2000 Solara

[onefiend]

from my understanding bushings are those hard rubbery things that hold the suspension joints together. I'm not sure how often your suppose to change them (I think every 60,000 miles or whenever needed)

[atlantasolara]

in addition, bushings influence ride and handling. aftermarkets are mostly the hardened type, going from hard rubber to plastic compounds with very little "give," further reducing "body roll" during hard cornering but making the ride harsher.

my guess is that the aftermarkets will make daily driving borderline tolerable. you'll probably be happy with just stiffer shocks and thicker swaybars to improve handling.

when to change these ? 1) "clunking" or rattling noise when going over bad surfaces, combined with 2) when alignment shop can't properly set alignment because the wheels move around loosely due to the worn-out bushings.

as an indicator, the actual bushing condition (alignment shop can test this without removing any part) is more reliable as compared with # of miles because if you drive mostly on smooth roads, bushings can go a really long way. unless you're at, say the 100k mark and you're needing to repair another suspension part and you'll save on labor cost having everything done at the same time.