Symptom of a bad control arm bushing?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Apr 21, 2003 11:18 am

What are the symptoms of a bad control arm bushing? Before I tell you all what my car is doing, I'm curious to hear from those who have had bad bushings.

I was working on my 94 Z26 this weekend and noticed that my rear driver's side control arm bushing (the vertical one) is starting to pop out of it's sleeve. My step dad and I removed the control arm and went to the part's store, but it turns out the one for the Z26 is different than for other Beretta's, and they didn't stock the part. I was only home for the weekend, so we put it back together with the bad bushing.

Removing the control arm was a major PITA, by the way, because I broke the bolt that holds the front bushing onto the subframe. The bolt was completely rusted in place inside of the bushing sleeve... we ended up removing the entire left subframe, torching the old bushing, and we were finally able to get the bolt out with a 2 pound sledge. Before heating, we beat on the bolt with the sledge, and it only ended up bending the subframe... that sucker was really stuck.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Apr 22, 2003 12:50 pm

it will usualy make a clinking or popping noise over bumps when bad--almost like a bad strut but felt in the floor pan

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Apr 22, 2003 5:54 pm

Hmmm.... I'm not hearing any weird noises, but the whole car kind of shakes at highway speeds. But I don't feel it in the steering wheel, and I can still feel it if I put the engine in neutral. I have a crap load of new parts on the front end, and except for the driveaxles I'm almost sure everything is good.

z284pwr · Post by **z284pwr** » Tue Apr 22, 2003 6:00 pm

Did you get the tires balanced, that can do alot if the whole car is shaking, and maybe an alignment problem

ErichZ26 · Post by **ErichZ26** » Wed Apr 23, 2003 1:35 am

Tire shaking from a 94-98 N/L chassis is typically this problem with control arm bushing popping out. I never reuse the control arm. There is a part for popping a new donut in but i really am against this. Stephanie's car has gotten these put in and they do work IF you catch them before its fully popped out. Once they pop out the control arm his the frame and it will gouge it rendering it useless. They are about $140 each side from the dealer discounted and are usually in stock(gee...think this is a common problem). The new control arm comes with GM's new ball joint design that never needs grease added and fresh rubber.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Apr 23, 2003 8:24 am

So the new bushing doesn't come with a new metal sleeve that is pressed into the control arm? I haven't seem what the replacement bushing looks like, but that's the way it looked on my old control arm. $140 is not a bad deal though... I wonder how much the normal price is?

I've been through the whole tire balance / alignment stuff already... It's definitely not that.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Apr 23, 2003 2:13 pm

$178 from my local dealer. I found one at a junk yard with 40K miles for $50 too... hmm...

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Apr 23, 2003 2:14 pm

Oh yeah, the dealer does have 2 of them in stock :rock:

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Apr 25, 2003 8:40 am

I replaced my driver's side control arm with a 40K junkyard one. It fixed the vibration! I took it out on the highway and it was smoother than I can ever remember it being.

So, to solve this problem, I have replaced most of the front suspension parts, both motor mounts, new tires / balance, 4 wheel alignment, front and rear brakes / rotors / drums, and finally control arm bushings. Unfortunately, one of my *second* set of struts is now leaking oil all over the place (about 1000 miles on Midas struts). I have to go back next week and get my *THIRD* set of struts.

This car is really nickel and diming me to death!

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