Hello,
I am willing to replace the front control arms with bushings. I am going to order the parts online and the Mechanic will do the job. Any recommendations for a specific brand? My mechanic says that Dorman is good? So I am here for a second opinion.
Thanks

 

Are you talking about the front upper control arms, the one with the ball joint at the top of the steering knuckle? Personally I'm not a big fan of Dorman for this kind of thing, it's ok for stuff like tailgate hinges and latches and stuff but I don't really trust them for suspension components. I see ACDelco and Beck-Arnley make ball joints, I'd go with either of those brands over Dorman.

 

Thanks for your advice. So I got the beck arnley online but the problem was that I got one right (the passenger side) and the other one was the wrong part (the driver's side). My mechanic installed the control arm on the left side and ended up ordering duralast to install on the driver's side. Should I get the same brand on the driver's side and re do the job? The car seems to drive better and the ride is a little bit stiffer.

 

I had bad lower inner bushings on my 05'. I pressed in Whiteline W52991 bushings instead of using the cheaper rubber aftermarket ones. Only cost me $60 for the bushings. That part # works on RWD and AWD LCA's in case anyone wants to know.

 

scumbag, how did you find the poly bushings? I'm going to be tearing apart the front suspension in the spring and replacing all my bushings and I'm torn between OEM rubber and the poly bushings. I've heard lots about the stiffness and eventual squeaking from the whitelines.

Also, it feels weird starting off a conversation by addressing someone as "scumbag"...

 

That's not my experience.

 

That's because you are a moderator. It goes with the territory....

 

I haven't got it on the road yet to know, I just pressed them in and got it on the ground and found out that I when I installed my transgo shift kit I didn't get the shift rod aligned correctly and it won't go into gear soooooo.... This weekend I'm dropping the valvebody and then I'll test the bushings. I'll report back. I hear a lot of people complaining about squeaking with poly but my turbo foxbody build is all tubular and poly bushings and it doesn't have 1 squeak. I wonder if people just don't lube them correctly before install. Don't worry about the scumbag thing, I'm used to getting called that when I run big money cars with $500-$1000 beaters

Edit: Oh by the way the whitelines are synthetic elastomer. Supposed to be quieter than poly's so we'll see when I get her on the road.

 

Good luck with the repairs! Let me know how it feels and sounds.

 

This is the first I've heard of the synthetic elastomers. Please do report back your impressions. I'd love to have the OEM ride comfort preserved with greater durability.

 

I have a set of SuperPro upper strut mounts on the GTO that are the synthetic elastomer. The Goats are notorious for OEM rubber bushings failing prematurely (sound familiar lol) and my stock mounts had started to collapse at 40K miles. My experience with them has been very positive, they have the durability of poly with the comfort of the rubber. They were twice as much as the stock mounts but the peace of mind and long life is well worth the cost to me.

 

Got the car on the road this weekend and the Whiteline bushings feel and sound like stock. The stock inner LCA bushings look like a pretty bad design, the Whitelines are built just like Energy suspension stuff but they use a slightly different material. If you have access to a shop press they are very easy to install. I'm sure they will hold up a lot better than the Chinese replacement LCA's I'll update when I get some more miles racked up.

 

Thanks, ya scumbag.