front control arm or bush replace AU 1

[ben131185]

im about to do my front control upper and lower control arm bush's.

for the lower arm, should i replace the bush's or just buy new after market arms with bush's and ball joints already in them?

thoughts please.

[mik]

i would ring up your local spare parts place, and ask if the upper ball joint/control arm comes with the bushes,
i just bought and installed a newy on my old lexus and it came fully assembled ball joint and bushes, i suspect the falcon upper control arm might be the same(but don't quote me on that), probably see what it is worth to do the same for the lower control arm, from memory the lower control arm is fairly beefy on the au? it might cost a good penny to buy the whole arm.......... the phone is your friend ;), let us know how you go.

[ben131185]

i can get new arms with bush's and ball joints for $320, they're non genuine, they are series 2 arms which come with brackets for the sway bar links.
i haven't seen the brackets, the guy selling them says they're 100% with the brackets. but i think id prefer to stick with the original setup there.

i can buy the bush's for $175

[mik]

yeah it is nice to get original, i often buy parts non original from over seas for my old lexus that i'm doing up, as some genuine parts are just to pricey for my bank balance, it has caused me grief on occasions in ways you just would not imagine when you think you are buying a supposed identical part, which sometimes ends up needing measuring/grinding or adjusting , it is a bit of a catch 22 sometimes.

[ben131185]

so i ended up buying whiteline bushes and wasp ball joints for the upper and lower arms.
was a ***** of a job first time round, wouldn't be too bad if i had to do it again.

i was wishing i had just got the assembled arms at one for a while.

the noise that was there before has gone which was what i was hoping for.
it also feels quite a bit more responsive. on the whiteline packaging it says "activate more grip" i thought yeah whatever... but its definately better than before, although im sure replacement stock bushes would have also been an improvement.

on the other hand the series 2 control arms with the bracket for the sway bar links could be good for anyone looking to do a series 2 brake upgrade, i assume then you would only need the calipers, rotors, and steering knuckles and maybe lines. it would save all the mucking around with the sway bar mounts.