How do you distinguish between a worn thrust arm bushing and a worn control arm bushing?

varmint007 · 21st July 2010, 23:10

I seem to have symptoms similar to the OP in this thread:

slight shudder when braking, occasional front-end instability while cornering moderately hard at speed

Replaced Lower Control Arm - check yours

But figured you guys may know of a definitive test to know which bushings should be replaced.
Or maybe I should just do them all?

Leaning toward powerflex, I could definitely tolerate some more NVH.

thanks!

Suro · 22nd July 2010, 02:20

Look at them, cracks are a give away. Thrust arm wears quicker than control arm and its usually the thrust arm that causes the vibration when braking.

timmay77 · 22nd July 2010, 05:06

+1 Suro. Check for cracks. While you are in there, might as well do them both depending on mileage. Both sets of bushings are rather inexpensive........

I have the Powerflex TAB's and love them btw.

milemuncher · 24th July 2010, 14:44

Mirror the above, may aswell do them both. The tie rod ends and centre drag link will be next so might be worth attacking the whole lot in one hit. Its what I did with my car and followed by a proper alignment you can feel the difference.

carlgrz · 24th July 2010, 16:03

As said above, probably your thrust arm bushes giving the wobble. The control arms are a breeze to get off compared to the thrust arms anyway so it would be silly not to do those too. When you take the thrust arms off check the state of the ball joints. One of mine was completely knackered but I changed both arms anyway.

tristan · 25th July 2010, 03:44

For the Ball joints: check for wear or looseness.
For the bushing- if you don't see any wear,cracks, or fluid leaks in the bushings grab the arm and give it a firm tug/push you shouldn't see movement of the arm at the bushing. if you're feeling it when you drive you should see which arms are due to be replaced.

varmint007 · 25th July 2010, 22:55

thanks everyone for the replies
I'm waiting for a day where the heat index drops under 100 before climbing around under the beast.

darknight · 26th July 2010, 18:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by varmint007

I seem to have symptoms similar to the OP in this thread:

slight shudder when braking, occasional front-end instability while cornering moderately hard at speed

Replaced Lower Control Arm - check yours

But figured you guys may know of a definitive test to know which bushings should be replaced.
Or maybe I should just do them all?

Leaning toward powerflex, I could definitely tolerate some more NVH.

thanks!

If your worried about the nvh, don't be. I've got PF blacks for all my bushings plus a significantly stiffer suspension than most and I hardly notice anything.