So I'm planning on putting new front control arm bushings on my 101k mile 08 MCS. I figure that it is the right time to replace ball joints and tie rod ends. It is my year round driver, and the pot holes are pretty vicious this winter.

If it was your car, would you be replacing the ball joints and tie rod ends, or are these especially durable? I don't have good luck using a pickle fork and not tearing boots.

I'm buying a set of new summer tires, and will do a nice alignment at that time.

Thanks for any opinions.

Have fun,
Mike

 

Nothing is especially durable. At 100k miles, replacing them can't be a bad thing. (Except for your wallet... But hey, it's called maintenance for a reason)

 

+1.

On all my older (150+K mile) cars, tire-rods and control arm bushings went either right before, or right after 100K miles.
Front wheel bearings will also be heading for an exit between 100K-150K miles, so keep an eye out for play in them while you are taking apart the front suspension.

a

 

You Def want to do the control arm bushings. And go with the powerflex control arm bushings as you will never wear them out again.

As for Ball joints. You can, but I just had an R55 in with 170k and the ball joints were in good shape still. So if it was my car I wouldn't worry about doing the ball joints until they actually are worn out. Also the Inner ball joints are part of the control arm now so you would have to replace the entire control arm. The outer ball joints do just unbolt.

Tie rods same thing, don't replace unless there's something wrong.

 

I did this yesterday, it was not much fun. I'm really jealous of all you guys in Cali and the south. Nearly every bolt fought me because of rust.

I was ready to really ***** and moan, because my bushings didn't look bad (no leaking, no tears). But the powerflex bushings do make a difference. Somehow the car seems more isolated on bumps, yet has better response.

I combined the methods described on NAM with the Bentley manual. Bentley wanted me to leave the rack on the subframe and disconnect the tie rod ends and steering column. I decided to unbolt the rack from the subframe and let it 'float' on the steering column. No issues with that method, center bolt is reached through the passenger side wheel house.

Major notes:
1. No joke, 6 hour job. Probably do it in 3-4 hours a second time now that the bolts are not tight.
2. Do what you can to get the control arms out of the bushing while they are on the car. Because my car was about 16" off the ground, I couldn't get a prybar in how I wanted. I should have tried harder, it sucked prying them off in the vice.
3. Bentley said to remove the front bumper, not sure if this helped me any. I did it as an excuse to wash out the salt from my FMIC.
4. Bentley didn't say to remove the bolts from behind the struts, these need to come out. I also loosened the 4 smaller bolts that attach the subframe to the front near the radiator support. this allowed the subframe to pivot down but not be completely loose.
5. The powerflex front sway bar bushings look like they are too tall to fit, but they work fine. The 24mm size worked fine for my sport suspension 23.5 mm bar, snug enough to resist rotation.
6. Get a spare ball joint nut or two, they are $6 at the dealership. I mangled one pretty good getting the inner ball joint off of one side. It wouldn't budge with a 2 pound hammer, needed the 8 lb. And swearing like a sailor. make that a mechanic.
7. I unbolted the outer ball joint from the control arm and pivoted it away. It didn't look like any fun dropping the joint out of the spindle. No issues.

I'm sore today, but mostly because of the rusty bolts. Nothing broken (car or me), just work. The best part is getting to drive after being dirty, cold (yeah, 25 degrees), and tired. It just felt good to start it, not see any CEL, and go for a drive.

Have fun,
Mike

 

Was there any one particular set of instructions you used more? I'm getting ready to do the LCA bushings and Swaybar bushings as well. I don't have the Bentley manual so I'm trying to get a good idea on what to do from what I find here.

 

I would make sure that you have your bushings ready to go (either new factory ones installed or powerflex installed). the rack is held in by external torx head bolts (one instruction said T55). Other than that, only normal tools are required.

I didn't find a thread with pictures. If it was me, I would get the car as high as you can, remove the inner fenders, and then just look at the subframe. The bolts are easy to find, the center rack bolt is the only tough bolt to get at.

Make sure that you pry the control arms off while the bushings are still on the car. It takes a bunch of force, hammers don't work (there is rubber between the control arm and the metal in the bushing).

Detroit Speed and WMW both offer pre-installed powerflex bushings, that is what I recommend that you use. Call them in person to see if they have a set in stock. Both companies are great to deal with.

Have fun,
Mike