Energy Suspension Front Strut Rod Bushings for 88-91 Civic/CRX

Energy Suspension Front Strut Rod Bushings for 88-91 Civic and CRX

The strut rod (a lot of people call it the radius rod) is what locates your front control arm front-to-back and ties it to the chassis. The factory rubber bushings on each end of it are soft by design, and after 30-plus years they have cracked and gone mushy, which lets the control arm walk around under braking and throttle. That movement shows up as a vague front end and caster that shifts when you load the car. This Energy Suspension set replaces that worn rubber with polyurethane that holds the strut rod steady, so your front geometry stays put when you are hard on the brakes or the gas.

This fits the 88-91 Civic and CRX. It is a cheap, quick piece of an EF front-end refresh, and it pairs naturally with the control arm and shock bushings since they all wear together. Polyurethane also shrugs off the oil, salt, and grime that rot rubber, so unlike the factory bushings these are not going to soften back up on you. One honest note up front: on a street car, this is one of the smaller-feeling bushing upgrades on its own, the real payoff shows up under hard braking and on track, where keeping caster from moving actually matters. As part of a full front-end refresh it earns its place; as a standalone fix for a vague street car, set expectations accordingly.

What these do

Strut rod bushings control fore-and-aft movement of the front control arm, which is what keeps your caster and steering axis from shifting around under load. On a front-wheel-drive Honda they help cut wheel hop and traction loss on hard launches and keep the alignment honest when you are braking hard into a corner. They press onto the strut rod and replace the soft OE rubber at the chassis end.

Specs

Fitment

Fits the 88-91 Civic and CRX. One set does both front strut rods.

What to know before you buy

First, the honest tradeoff. Polyurethane is firmer than the factory rubber, so you will pick up a little more road feel through the front end. On a small bushing like this the NVH change is minor, but it is firmer, not softer, so do not expect a smoother ride, expect a more connected one. Grease the bushings well on install, a dry poly bushing is what squeaks, so coat the contact surfaces.

Second, set realistic expectations on what one part does. Longtime EF owners are split on how much a poly strut rod bushing changes things on a street car, some feel a firmer front end, others say it is subtle on its own. Where it clearly earns its keep is under hard braking and on track, where stopping the strut rod from flexing keeps your caster from moving. If your goal is a genuinely tight front end, do this alongside the control arm bushings, not instead of them.

Third, knock out the related front bushings while you are in there. The strut rod, the front control arm, and the front shock bushings all wear together on these cars, and you have to be in the same area to do any of them. This part is also one of the components in Energy's 88-91 Civic/CRX master bushing kit, so if you are refreshing the whole front end, the master kit covers this position along with the rest and works out better than buying positions one at a time.