Lower control arm bushing migration
 

Gents,
I procured a pair of 62,000 mile front LCAs at the beginning of the 2019 driving season. They looked perfect after hitting them with some paint. After 24 track days plus commuting miles, they look like the attached. Is there something wrong with my alignment? These are the third set of LCAs I've had on the car and they all did this. The uppers look just fine.
Thanks,
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...4bac60eaba.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f22b460f65.jpg

Spray some WD-40 on your front rotors maybe?

Very normal shifting from thrust loads under braking. Common issue with these cars that are driven hard. 24 track days is a lot for OEM stuff.

I suspected that. The obvious next question is... should the complete arms be replaced, or just the bushings?

Thanks,

Arms should be fine, looks like the bushing shifted in the bore.

Just for discussion purposes, let's say I installed new OEM bushings a year ago. And let's say they have 24 track days and maybe 8000 miles on them.

The bushings can't get any further out of alignment. Can it just be ignored?
Can they effectively be pushed back into position such that the repositioning makes them last another year?
Could some kind of glue be used in an attempt to keep the bushing from shifting?
What about a short sheetmetal screw inserted in the hole in the bushing boss?

I'm not cheaping out here. I love this car and don't hesitate to spend money on her. It's the only thing I do for fun in my old age (besides sex and beer). If this is a common issue that happens to Miatas that are driven hard, maybe there's a way to mitigate the problem.

Or should I just expect to replace front LCA bushings yearly at my current level of participation?

Thanks,

All joking aside, I had a similar problem a while back, but in the RUCA bushings.
I came up with a solution:

https://www.miataturbo.net/suspensio...takeoff-75495/

No worries. Perhaps I don't love her that much...

Sadfab sells ready made delrin bushing kits. Some people run store-bought urethane also (Energy Suspension). I think in both cases you should add grease zerks for proper long-term lubrication as they are sliding (rotating) members, rather than flexing members. email at info@sadfab.com Looks like Sadfab also has bronze bushings for urethane bushings to negate need for regular lubrication. I have never used these, but lots of members have. Search for Sadfab.

DNM

@poormxdad What did you end up doing? How has it worked out for you?

Back then I had a few months to mess around before the season started here, so I purchased the Mazda Competition bushings from Moss. Despite the Covid, they have 27 track days on them, plus the commute miles, and they still look better than the ones pictured above.

What Lube did you use when inserting the bushings?

I basically did this .

I used some Dawn dish soap and water. Mine was more watery than the video. I put the bushings in the fridge, and heated the bosses a bit with a heat gun. I used the same homemade tool as in the video.

One thing I did NOT do, was pause during the installation of each bushing. You don't want the rubber to start filling that hole in the boss.