Has anyone tried taking on this replacement from POS stock to Poly bushings themselves. Tired of bringing my mini in local german repair shop and getting raped on labour , Plus im on my 2nd set of front control arm bushings within 2yrs and i dont drive crazy. Way has a set for like 79 bucks and were looking into them . What are pro and cons on them and how much of a pain in the A@@ are they to install. Reason im asking all this is that i have a klunking sound coming from front passenger side when i go slow over driveway curbs and speed bumps or uneven road surfaces . Klunks go away after 20mph, also when you downshift and accelerate a little hard it makes a BIG klunk sound.

 

Removing old bushings themselves is a real PITA.......

Need a press or neumatic chisel to get them out.....

 

they are time consuming to do ! get the bushings installed in the carier by way or who ever you by them from . make sure you install them the right side up(they look like they should fit but really **** you off when you figure out you did it wrong). you don't have to completely drop the sub frame,but you do have to remove the steering rack takes a special socket . it takes 16 hours the first time,at least.depending how **** you are. They really tighten the steering up and I didn't feel much difference in ride but i have konis and hr springs already. there is a good dyi section with pictures in this forum. good luck .it 's worth it when done.

 

clunking over bumps sounds like shock tower bushings too . you should change the tower bushing to camber plates and get better tire ware and better handling at the same time. just a thought

 

thanks guys looks like im in for a treat

 

I just finished replacing mine this past weekend.

I basically twisted the control arm and tore the control arm out with the rubber that hugs the control arm insert.
From there I used a sawsaw, ( I have a pneumatic one that is small so it was quite comfortable) and cut the sleeve from the bracket, after this it slides right off.

I rented a Ball joint press kit from Autozone, and got a 6" bolt with washers and nuts to press in the PowerFlex bushing. You must guide it using a crowbar or something similar. I also used Windex to help sliding it through.

There is a Video that helped me get through it, took me about 2 hours to get it done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XERQz9yJ5i4

 

I am going through the Same Process myself! They are Junk between 50,000 to 75,000 miles! What I did was get a set of Power Flex Already Installed Bushings from Auto X Cooper for about $15 more exchange! You unbolt yours and put in the new and send back the Old. Best $15 I think you can spend!

 

Did mine while doing (still doing..) my diff swap and I cant say I am thrilled with them. They are far from perfect though. [rant]

The problem with them (at least on my passenger side) is that they do not do a good job of mimicking the OEM bushings. As has been said earlier in the thread the OEM's are basically pressed on to the control arm, and the rotational and translational movement of the arm is accommodated by the flex in the rubber. Whereas the powerflex are designed to work by sliding on a part to you control arm and then sliding that into a part that sits in the control arm mount. Basically it is a two piece design where one piece of poly rotates over another. Thus the rotation is accommodated by the sliding poly and the translation is taken care of by the flex in the poly itself.

The Powerflex bushing I have on my passenger side doesn't want to accommodate the rotational motion. Rather than the two poly pieces sliding against each other the control rotates within the inner bushing, meaning you have steel hexagon rotating on a poly hexagon. I didnt get this problem on my driver side because the inner bushing just slipped right into the outer part, whereas the passenger had to be pressed on with quite some vigor. This all in spite of ample lubrication.

The fix is pretty obvious, but unfortunately would probably require a pretty decent capital investment on the part of Powerflex (which means we'll likely never see it). The first would be to make the control a arms a light press fit on to the inner poly and not the slip fit they currently are. The second would be to run more precise manufacturing tolerances and and ensure that the inner and outer pieces are always a slip fit and not a press (like one of mine). Of course, both of those would require adjustments to the already established manufacturing process, AKA $$$.

[/rant]

In spite of all of that I still choose to run them simply because they are a much better alternative to the stock, which after 33k and 30-40 autoXs were in need of replacement.

 

The bushings are a pretty big job to do at home, but we've had a ton of customers do it with our prepressed powerflex bushings. If your going to do it at home and don't have a press this is the only way. It can be done without removing the subframe, but you do have to have the car jacked up pretty high to get under it and lower it down.

As for your clunk you may have a front swaybar bushing bad, and replacing them at the same time as the control arm bushings is alot easier. The bolts for the control arm brackets are the same bolts holding the brackets for the swaybar bushings.

 

i would've opted for the pre-pressed bushings but since i'm not in the U.S. i may end up paying more than just ordering the bushings themselves & having them pressed here. my bushings should be arriving at my door tomorrow & will have them installed by the weekend as i have a trackday on sunday. i hope i don't get raped by labor costs as well

 

my MINI's on the lifter now and i'm looking at the 2 bolts that holds that bracket that houses the control arm bushing which are the same 2 bolts for the stabilizer. how can the bolt (the one closer to the firewall) be taken out completely without lowering the subframe? i estimate the subrame needs to be lowered about 6-7" to have ample room for that bolt to be taken out

 

There's k-huevo's method https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...g-install.html

or 002's but they are both a bear. 002's method includes popping the shafts out of the tranny.

When I did it I did a hybrid of the two but mostly k-huevo's and left the shafts connected and managed to float/lower the sub frame enough to get at the bolts. Helps to have a second set of hands. I could not get my outer ball joints to separate so after getting the bolts out, I just swung the control arm out and then swapped out the carriers.

WHY didn't they design the bolts to come out the bottom?!?!?!

 

You don't remove the entire subframe from the car, just unbolt it and pull it down, the steering rack, and pump will keep you from taking it out all the way, but you'll be able to lower it enough to get both bolts out.