We ran ours till they looked much worse... however a mechanic would warn you that all it takes is the right combination of variables and something's gonna break. We have pretty good roads around here so we took the chance and kept driving on them... eventually replaced them out of nervousness more than anything else.

Of course, your mileage may vary.

 

Thank you! I know it's a personal choice in these cases. Honestly I'd avoid waiting till the first "clunks", so as you say I'll go on some months and then I'll do the job when noises are unbearable. Thanks again

 

Glad to help where I can!

I realize our vehicles tend to "road walk" at higher speeds... but if those bushings begin to really wear out you may notice it getting really bad. Ours would try to change lanes before we finally replaced everything.

 

Yeah I noticed this on the cars with bad control arm bushings. It’s not safe at all imo. When the car feels like it’s driving itself! A free Tesla upgrade feeling? without the tech.. and wham! Your on two lanes!?!? Not enjoyable to say the least.

You can feel the front wheels try to pull away from each other in a medium speed turn as well. Also, the bad bushings can account to very very bad tire wear which will cost bucks$$$$ on tires. But this is first signs of near end of life.


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This could take you very far still. I replace mine because I could do it myself and I’m practically always prepared. Stability on the road is very important to me on the hwy so I ensure all parts are nice and tight. Rubber material have not a wear and tear issue, primarily it’s an age issue. Same goes for tires, usually age takes them down if you don’t wear them fast enough. Looks okay to me.


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Thank you all again. In these situations there's no true and false. It's a slow failure of many components but I have very old tires, so I'll keep going. But if they were brand new I'd replace the control arms and make a proper alignment. I also think that a loose bushing acts on ball joints and tie rod ends wear because control arm moves more. It's like when you are evaluating replacing shock absorbers. If you don't, tire and all suspension parts suffer more due to bounces. The money you don't spend for the strut, you spend in tire wear, or in a crash due to longer brake distance, etc.. But you clarified to me the fact that cracks are not so important, so thank you really

 

It's like motor mounts. You will see degradation of the rubber with age, but if it's not all the way through and still able to do it's job you can let it go by for a little while longer. When you decide to replace it, I found it easier (if a little more expensive, but maybe not--if you don't have bushing presses, etc.) to just replace the control arm/bushing assembly (and tie rods too). since that will also include new ball joints as well. Stay clear of Nylock bolts (nylon insert bolts), and stick with castle nuts/cottor pins. I just don't trust Nylocks. The tie rod tool will cost u $20-30 bucks with various adapters to uninstall/install inner tie rods. Match the thread distance as best you can from the originals, and drive to alignment shop. It will be drive-able to shop, and if they give you a before/after alignment printout when they are finished, you might notice that you weren't too far off, lol.

 

Thank you for the advice !