Control Arm Bushing crack

[TaMbALoLoNg]

Noticed that my control arm bushings are starting to crack. Wondering if putting it off for a later repair will accelerate its deterioration vs replacing it now. Has anybody replaced their bushings through indy? How much? Thanks. Happy 07/04.

[Multibeemer]

Are you referring to the lower control (aka thrust arm), or the upper one? Most likely the thrust arm, as these oil-filled busingins tend to crack prematurely.

My local Indy quoted $550 for the job, which I believe included a $109 wheel alignment, which I'm not clear on why it's necessary.

I ended up doing the job myself, replacing the stock bushings for the more heavy-duty Meyle units, which have come highly recommended. It's actually a very easy job. If you don't have to replace your ball joints, all you have to do is jack up the car, then remove the two bolts that hold the ball joint to the frame, and the large bolt that goes through the middle of the bushing. That's it; the arm drops right out. I then took the arms, along with the new bushings, to a machine shop, who pressed out the old bushings, and pressed in the new. I then installed them (installation is the reverse of the removal, as they say), torqued the ball joint bolts to 75 nm (iirc), and the bushing bolt to 122 lb-ft (sorry for the mixed units).

One very important point is that the bushing bolt needs to be torqued with the car down on the ground, with its full weight resting on its wheel, not while it is jacked up. This was surprisingly easy as well, though I ended up taking the plastic shield off the make more room.

I got the bushings from autohausaz ($37.25 each, and the shipping is free), and the machine shop charged $20 per side to R & R the bushings. I also had to buy a 21 mm open end wrench, and a 21 mm socket, for a total of about 20 bucks. Well worth it, though, and the sense of satisfaction that comes from doing this job is free, and priceless.

[Hit Redline]

Waiting to do the repair for any extend period of time will cause the tires to cup or wear incorrectly making them loud and wear prematurely. I know from my series having this issue.

The repair itself as stated by multibeemer is relatively easy. If you don't want to deal with having the bushings pressed then just buy the new arm with the new bushing installed, its still going to be a lot cheaper than having a dealer or indy do it. The ball joint is easy as well and I would just replace at the same time.