Replacing Rear lower control arm Bushing

[oldskewel]

Originally Posted by titan silber

I’ve just tried reducing my rear camber and can’t get it to less than about 2.8 degrees. What’s the wear/failure mode of that #2 ball joint? And any idea how much replacing it changed your rear camber?

We all know what ball joints are, and I tell you, that #2 is not what I ever thought would be called a ball joint. It is like a spherical rubber bushing, but they call it a ball joint . What happens is that the rubber just basically deteriorates, allowing a lot more motion than it should.

The clearest indicator, as I understand it and experienced it, is severe tire wear on the inside corner of the rear tires. And of course uncorrectable camber. I believe that the extreme tire wear comes due to the flex it allows when getting on the gas - it puts the tires in an extreme position at the same time they are applying force/torque.

They are about 10x harder to replace than the rearward upper control arms (which can also affect camber), but in my case, it was definitely the ball joints. I also replaced those control arms because they were not perfect, and the integral links too, which were pretty great, but cheap and buried deep enough, and had to be removed anyway.

It is very difficult to find the looseness in the ball joints without specifically unloading the spring. I tried and failed to do that, and did not know for sure they were toast until I finally had them in my hand.

Once the ball joints were replaced, camber was fully adjustable again, so they were set to whatever the middle of the spec is.

And I'll say the car drove great before and after the repair. I would not have worried about doing anything if not for the extreme tire wear (like 5k miles to burn through that inner corner).

[Fifty150hs]

Originally Posted by oldskewel

It will be pretty quick to just look under your car. Very clear which are the eccentric bolts - as discussed above.

I meant into Newtis

[Homerlovesbeer]

What tools are people using for this? Is it necessary to replace the bolts as well or are the bushings enough?

Meyle do a kit with just the bushings....
https://spareto.com/products/meyle-s...14-753-0000-hd

Also a kit with everything including bolts
https://spareto.com/products/meyle-s...14-753-0003-hd

Not sure what to order.

Thanks

[80stech]

I looked into doing this but I don't think I went through with it. From memory, the bushing sleeves are thin so you really need the proper tooling for the job. If your bolts are in good shape (including the eccentric portion) you could probably get away with cleaning them up and using some anti-seize on them but new bolts would probably be better. I think some people were cutting the old bushings out so you can get away with less tooling.

[Homerlovesbeer]

I was hoping to find this kit for a more affordable price

https://youtu.be/GZoGwiz_TaI?si=BGXEG7oQZwVzOPr4

[80stech]

Yeah, you would think that there would be a good supply of specialty tools for 20 year old cars on the used market but doesn't seem to be the case!