Julian
Not really "question" or "troubleshooting", but I went and put some subframe inserts into my 850R tonight. I ended up getting the non ipd brand inserts from "parts monster" in the UK, because they were about 1/3 of the price of the ipd ones. Quality seems fine, and they easily handled me bashing the crap out of them to get them into the bushes and yanking them in and out a few times.
It was quite hard to get them in, nothing like the "thumb pressure" some YouTube video mentioned. They were just a tight fit in the bushes, whether or not a different brand would be a better fit or not I don't know. In had to get them as far in by hand/hammer as i could then use the bolt and washer to press them in which seemed to work ok. My only criticism really is that the amount of grease they came with was laughable, and I used it all on the first insert. Luckily i had a tub of grease at home to use.
After doing the job, I think the front end sounds a bit quieter over bumps which used to cause a bit of knocking. There is still one knock, but I think there used to be several because it's now clear that the one I have is coming from front right. I think turning feels a bit better, but i had a boot full of surfboard and bicycle so couldn't go too hard on the test run. The bushes didn't even look in poor condition when i put the inserts in, but glad i did it anyway.
Access under to the bushes was surprisingly easy, and i just did one at a time, supporting the weight of the subframe with a trolley jack as i went to try to minimise the chance of getting steering out of whack.
One thing that i noticed though was that with the drivers side front i could look up though the bush and see the tapped hole the bolt for a through. Others seemed to have a tube sleeve which stuck down from around this hole. Should I have had one of these on that corner, and if I don't have it is it an issue?
Ex850R
They all have tube sleeves.
Weird one that!
The rubber in there is from 1995 or however old the car is and has taken the brunt of all the weather, heat and ageing, they have got to be toast no matter what they look like.