This is an old post, so what I learned today may be of use to someone: Renewed a trailing arm bush on my Honda Concerto, which must be the same as the Civic and the Rover 200.

The proper way of doing it is to probably remove the trailing arm and buy the bush extracting/pressing in tool and do it in a vice. But it is quite straightforward to do with a hammer in situ and I wouldn't describe myself as a mechanic. This is how I did it:

1 Give the two 15mm trailing arm bush bolts, the one 13mm front trailing arm adjuster bolt, handbrake cable bolt and around the trailing arm bush a good spray with penetrating fluid.

2. Get a thin metal rule and a scribe. Place the rule on the underside of the trailing arm bush where it bolts to to the frame on the flat edge and scribe a horizontal line on the trailing arm between it and the brake drum - mine was roughly in the middle of the trailing arm. Also scribe a vertical line underneath the trailing arm bush on the trailing arm in the centre. Now scribe a line around where the trailing arm bush meets the trailing arm on the outside - this is to measure how far to hit the new bush in, mine stuck out by around 13-14mm. Next mark the position of the forward adjusting bolt of the trailing arm. Marking these points should help minimise any torsion of the bush on reassembly and to try not to put the rear tracking out.

2. I jacked the rear of the car up.Undo the four bolts mentioned in 1.

3. Tie the handbrake cable out of the way.

4. I removed the central metal part of the bush - fortunately mine had almost completely separated from the outer part, just a final cut with a sharp chisel finished the job. I had an assistant who levered the trailing arm down slightly so that I could hit the bush out from the inside out.

5. From the outside I held the trailing arm with my left hand and had a block of wood wedged between the arm and the chassis for support. I used a long handled heavy hammer and hit the bush from behind, carefully at first until I got the feel of it (I didn't need to get under the car). After about fifteen taps it started to move and came out surprisingly easy. I smoothed out the inside of the hole where the bush went with fine wet and dry paper and then smeared it with grease.

6. I scribed a 14mm line around the edge of the new bush (which I had kept in the fridge, to contract it - don't know whether it made any difference or not), then I aligned it with the marks on the trailing arm and tapped it from the outside in gently until it reached the line so that 14mm of the bush was sticking out, again using wood as support. Make sure that the long end faces inwards and the LWR mark is at the bottom.

7. Reattached the handbrake cable. Put the front trailing arm adjuster bolt on first loosely. Then the two trailing arm bush bolts again loosely. At this point the front trailing arm adjuster bolt and marks on the chassis don't align. As you let the car down off the jack they come into position. Mine lined up perfectly without needing any adjustment. Then tighten it up and the other two bolts. I touched up any scratches on the chassis with Waxoyl.

8. The trailing arm bushes on Ebay are about £8 each. Job took about 2-3 hours with tea breaks. The second one you do will probably take about an hour. Google 'Honda rear trailing arm bush replacement' to see other posts and videos. Good luck.