I bought a set of Energy Suspension polyurethane front bushings for a car I'm building as a dedicated race car (not worried about NVH). I've been tearing the car's suspension apart lately and I've finally got all the pieces apart, intending to replace the bushings with something firmer. Honestly though, now that it's apart, I notice the control arm ball joints have some mild sticky spots, so I think I'll just replace the arms entirely... but since I've come this far, I'm still interested to hear if anyone has solved this problem:

The flange on one side of the UCA bushing prevents a press from fitting against the control arm. The Energy Suspension instructions that come with the kit recommend notching and bending a part of the control arm to create a purchase for the press, but I'd rather not cut up the control arms...

Has anyone figured out a way to get the upper control arm bushings out without cutting into the control arms?

And before Team comes in here and scolds me: I know that the way the bushings twist and deform is designed as part of the spring of the suspension system, and PU is not as "good" as the OE bushings. I'd still like to try them out.

 

Do you have a picture of what you're talking about? I had a ton of trouble with LCA bushings, but I don't remember UCAs being much of a problem.

Have you had the LCA recall done or is your car eligible? That might be a shortcut to the ball joint problem.

 

Sure, I've taken a photo of my old UCA and scanned the instructions from Energy:



The outer face of the bushing inner (metal) sleeve flares out and covers pretty much all of where a press might fit. Energy has a rather brutal solution of carving out a "tab" for the press to sit on:


It seems like these UCAs were designed to be very easy to press together, but without any regard for serviceability later on. I guess the whole arm is just meant to be replaced as a unit. The dealership quoted me $750 Canadian dollars for a pair of UCAs, though, so I may roll the dice on eBay...

I still need to get the local dealership to run my VIN to see if I'm entitled to some free new LCAs, keep your fingers crossed for me.

 

Dealership isn’t too far off with prices then since MazMart has the pair for $540(ish) USD

https://mazmartstore.mybigcommerce.c...trol-arm-left/

 

Oh yeah, this rings a bell. You're not supposed to cut into the control arm, only the insert. It's really not that bad if you're careful.