Hello, I have a 2004 Sunfire and I’m wondering how to tell if my control arm bushings are shot just by looking at them on the car with ought removing them. Someone told me I will be able to see them separate, I don’t exactly understand what he means; does anyone have a picture of this happening? Also is there some kind of lubricant made for control arm bushings to keep them lubricated and in good shape longer? I know some are going to say to get poly urethane bushings, but my car rides hard enough already so I don’t want to go that route. I’m asking this question because I’m hearing a clunking sound going over bumps at slow speeds when I’m going faster I do not hear it anymore. I replaced the upper strut mounts all around new struts, shocks and coils all around and new tie rod ends and the sound is still there, everything is tight I also used loc tight on all the bolts. Please help Thanks in advance.
You can't really tell by looking at them, unless they're torn. My moms bushings gave out around 60K, I replaced my A-Arms at 80
Poly bushings in the arms will not make your car ride rougher, but they will make it turn better. However it may be cheaper if you go that route to just buy the ones SMG Motorsports sells welded with new poly bushings and HD ball joints. Rather than taking it to a mechanic.
-Chris
i agree. i think SMG is the way to go if you have the $. I did mine at home, and i was kinda a pain.
The vertical bushings in the lower control arms have a metal sleave around the rubber part of the bushings now the rubber can become separated from the metal sleave now my cavalier has 211000 mi and I replaced all the bushings and ball joints in the front end because the shop had told me that the bushings where bad but when I started taking the bushings out and the rubber parts the the bushings were were still in good shape but the one vertical bushing had completely separated and was loose in the control arm the only noises i heard was when you started slowing down you could hear a clunk and if you changed direction of travel you can hear a clunk
Click me!
Price:
$250.00
PRND321 Till I DIE
Old Motor: 160whp & 152ft/lbs, 1/4 Mile 15.4 @88.2
M45 + LD9 + 4T40-E, GO GO GO
Reinforcing the control arms with the seams welded will do nothing for the performance of the car and make your car handle just a bit worse.
It's called unsprung weight and the more you add, the more struggle your springs, and struts have to work to keep the tire (now heavier with welded seams on the control arms) planted on the road with heavy bumps or normal every day driving.
And to spend 250 bucks for what I just posted above is ridiculous. Sorry but that's my opinion on this.
If anything, the aluminum control arms once modified are the best control arms you can get with the poly bushings.
You not only lose some weight on the control arms but they're probably just as strong if not stronger than the welded seam control arms.
And to be honest with you, on a 2004 model car, your bushings should be just fine unless you go off roading with it or do alot of track days which will wear out your bushings quick.
Either way, good luck with it and replacing the rubber with poly will help you with your steering control nicely.
Misnblu.com
Newbie member since 1999
Thank you Dave and JBO! 
Misnblu wrote:Reinforcing the control arms with the seams welded will do nothing for the performance of the car and make your car handle just a bit worse.
It's called unsprung weight and the more you add, the more struggle your springs, and struts have to work to keep the tire (now heavier with welded seams on the control arms) planted on the road with heavy bumps or normal every day driving.
And to spend 250 bucks for what I just posted above is ridiculous. Sorry but that's my opinion on this.
If anything, the aluminum control arms once modified are the best control arms you can get with the poly bushings.
You not only lose some weight on the control arms but they're probably just as strong if not stronger than the welded seam control arms.
And to be honest with you, on a 2004 model car, your bushings should be just fine unless you go off roading with it or do alot of track days which will wear out your bushings quick.
Either way, good luck with it and replacing the rubber with poly will help you with your steering control nicely.
Yeah your right its a 2004 with only 31,000 miles on it I lifted it up today and looked at every single bushing and none are separating. I think the noise im hearing is coming from the rotors when I took the tires off I saw that the holes for the studs are a bit bigger and when you move the rotor the studs move in the hole and hit the rotor and makes the same sound I hear in the car, but when I put the wheel back on it will not do it because the lug nuts are tight but maybe I just don't have enough force like pot holes in the road to make it sound with the lug nuts on im not sure.
another thing I think it can be is the drive shaft I think thats what its called. that bar that connects both wheels in the front together there is 2 ends from the tranny to each tire, if I shake the ends that come out of the tranny they have a bit of play in them and it makes the same sound I hear, it has a bit of play up and down and side to side and makes a clunk when moved. is it normal for it to have a bit of play? sometimes but not always I hear it if im turning the wheel back and forth real fast and change direction fast while in one spot or moving, can it be that drive shaft? or the roters?
That would be your swaybar by the sounds of your description.
Yes, that can clunk if the end links are not tight.
If you see some rubber bushings on these ends of this bar then it's the swaybar.
There should be no play in that bar with the bushings in place and if so, tighten up those endlings to where they're taut.
This should solve your problem.
Also make sure that you torque your rims onto your wheel studs to a mininum 150 pounds or so. 180lb ft should be the correct torque rate for bolting down your rims.
Misnblu.com
Newbie member since 1999
Thank you Dave and JBO!
Whoa! The specified torque for the wheel studs for our cars (I know for sure 03+) is 100 ft-lbs, my buddy has an 04 fire and it's the same also.
Blu, I don't know how you haven't stretched your studs yet torquing them that high.
LoudCav wrote:Whoa! The specified torque for the wheel studs for our cars (I know for sure 03+) is 100 ft-lbs, my buddy has an 04 fire and it's the same also.
Blu, I don't know how you haven't stretched your studs yet torquing them that high.
X2 180 ft/lbs is WAY to much, I would be surprised if you could tighten them that much which out snapping the wheel studs
Darkstars wrote:LoudCav wrote:Whoa! The specified torque for the wheel studs for our cars (I know for sure 03+) is 100 ft-lbs, my buddy has an 04 fire and it's the same also.
Blu, I don't know how you haven't stretched your studs yet torquing them that high.
X2 180 ft/lbs is WAY to much, I would be surprised if you could tighten them that much which out snapping the wheel studs
Cavalier wheel studs let go around 160ish. The brother proved this on 5 studs on his 04 cavalier. LOL
PRND321 Till I DIE
Old Motor: 160whp & 152ft/lbs, 1/4 Mile 15.4 @88.2
M45 + LD9 + 4T40-E, GO GO GO
youre wheel lugs should be torqued to 100 ftlbs
Whoops, my bad.
Sorry for the misinformation people.
Somehow I wasn't sure on the torque and thought that it was higher than stated.
Misnblu.com
Newbie member since 1999
Thank you Dave and JBO!
If my control arm bushings in my toyota camry are damaged,could that be the reason that my car cannot be aligned ?
Paul Gates wrote:If my control arm bushings in my toyota camry are damaged,could that be the reason that my car cannot be aligned ?
It's quite possible Paul.
Loose or broken bushings will keep the alignment from getting set because of the variables caused by inconsistencies from the bushings.
If anything, you can get new bushings from the Toyota dealership and replace them.
The best thing to do is look at them or remove them to have a better look.
Good luck with it.
Misnblu.com
Newbie member since 1999
Thank you Dave and JBO!
misnblu dude take ur car to a shop and get new studs ur are fuked and on alloy rims its 90lbs max torque steel is 95 not 100
if it start the next day it can be driven harder
Quote:
Reinforcing the control arms with the seams welded will do nothing for the performance of the car and make your car handle just a bit worse.
It's called unsprung weight and the more you add, the more struggle your springs, and struts have to work to keep the tire (now heavier with welded seams on the control arms) planted on the road with heavy bumps or normal every day driving.
If a few ounces of weld is the least of my worries I think I'll live. I've been running the SMG arms for about a year now, they've given me no problems. If you really want to reduce rotational mass buy light weight rims. It has a larger effect on your handling than the control arms weight, because of reduced rotational mass which affects handling far more than the control arm weight.
The aluminum control arms still have to be altered. For me this was a bolt on solution, they'll also give you a credit if you send in your old control arms. The modifications necessary to the Aluminum Control arms still makes me weary.
-Chris
IamRascal wrote:
The aluminum control arms still have to be altered. For me this was a bolt on solution, they'll also give you a credit if you send in your old control arms. The modifications necessary to the Aluminum Control arms still makes me weary.
I got to inspect a finished set of aluminum controls arms that John and I were sellings and aside from the ginder marks(cleaned up the welds) you couldnt tell that they were modded at all.
Tinkles
2003 Cavalier 1SV
Bagged and Blown
IamRascal wrote:Quote:
Reinforcing the control arms with the seams welded will do nothing for the performance of the car and make your car handle just a bit worse.
It's called unsprung weight and the more you add, the more struggle your springs, and struts have to work to keep the tire (now heavier with welded seams on the control arms) planted on the road with heavy bumps or normal every day driving.
If a few ounces of weld is the least of my worries I think I'll live. I've been running the SMG arms for about a year now, they've given me no problems. If you really want to reduce rotational mass buy light weight rims. It has a larger effect on your handling than the control arms weight, because of reduced rotational mass which affects handling far more than the control arm weight.
The aluminum control arms still have to be altered. For me this was a bolt on solution, they'll also give you a credit if you send in your old control arms. The modifications necessary to the Aluminum Control arms still makes me weary.
Oh I understand your point completely and wasn't really knocking the decision to go with the SMG control arms at all.
It's a great bolt on mod and one that will strengthen the control arms dramatically.
And yeah, doing the aluminum control arms can be intimidating once you get the holes filled in but in reality, it's so dang easy to do.
I've made several of the control arms and am fortunate enough to have Accu-Fab Industries to be able to weld in the holes for me so that I can do these control arms. But the rest is actually quite easy and all I've ever used were a hack saw and a file, that's it.
And your 100% correct with the right rim choice and choosing the lightest possible rim for the money. This is where you'll save the most unsprung weight on your suspension system. I've personally addressed this with a set of Rota Boost rims coming my way very soon.
95gtz, I've never taken the car to a shop for anything and always do all the work myself. I dont' trust shops or dealerships and if I can't figure it out to fix something, I keep trying until I do.
And I guess I never have gone the 185 lb. ft. on the wheel studs and that was just an accidental misstatement.
Matter of fact, I never use a torque wrench when I bolt down the wheels. I always use good judgment torque down when I'm doing so and have never had an issue with it.
I guess when you wrench on your car enough that you tend to have a feel for the proper torque to put on your wrench.
Misnblu.com
Newbie member since 1999
Thank you Dave and JBO!
separated
Not separated
