Control Arm Bushings

[7Andrei7]

Hi all!

Has anyone changed their front control arm bushings? I have 80k miles with my car and I can feel more and more harshness from the road, depending on the road surface. Stuff like vibration or even some slight shimmy. These symptoms are aggravated under heavy braking.

Very important: there are absolutely no problems on very smooth roads. I could go for an hour with no vibration at 85 mph and the suddenly, on a different portion of the highway significant vibrations occur. And if I brake in those areas everything is aggravated.

What I've done so far:
- replaced wheels and tires - no change - (all were perfectly balanced anyway)
- replaced rotors and pads (with OEM stuff) - no change under driving (no braking) conditions. There was a slightly smoother braking for the first 2k miles or so. Afterwards, heavy braking increases the vibrations again. But, only on some roads.
- checked alignment and it's all fine
- there is no clunking or squeaking and the car does not pull.

The steering input si very sharp under normal conditions.
The car feels nice to drive except on rougher surface highways and under heavy braking on some roads.
Visually the bushings look ok but I really don't know what else could I do.

Thanks!

 

[Ohiocruiser]

You can try to replace this bushing. I belive you can buy it separately. That is what i did to mine, to stiffen it up. Worked for around 10k miles and than came out.

 

[oddball]

Usually, a failed bushing is pretty obvious - the rubber will have large cracks, even chunks missing. Since the car isn't very old, there may be a single bushing that got damaged or failed early somehow. Raise the front of the car and try to push/twist/pull the wheel in several directions to see if there's anything obvious. There's a chance it's even the lower ball joint!

Looks like stock bushings are readily available. Replacing bushings is a PITA, and remember that fasteners must be torqued only when all the weight is back on the wheels. The car will likely need an alignment afterward. Replacing bushings is, uh, "easy" with a 10 or 20 ton press. It can be done with the little balljoint tools (are there similar tool rental setups in.. uh... hm. Vienna and Bucharest aren't very close to each other, like Autozone in the US?).

There's not much that could do what you're talking about.... The strut mount might also be a problem. With the car in the air, see if the top of the shock is still solidly in place. The bearing lets it turn, and it can swivel just a bit to follow the spindle, but that's it.

A shop might be able to specifically diagnose the issue.

 

[7Andrei7]

@Ohiocruiser Is that the front lower control arm? The straight one?
What I was curious is if it's possible to only replace the bushing from the back lower arm. The curved arm. Or do I need a whole new control arm.

Looking around on bmw forums (which have very similar front suspension layout for the 3/4 series) people say 80k miles is kind of when you would need to replace those bushings anyway.
The problem is not many Stingers have 80k+ miles on them.
Most (80-90%) of my driving happens on highways at high speed (87mph) so any roughness and instability is very annoying.

As for actually changing it, I'm definitely going to a dealer. I have very little mechanical skills and would not risk messing with the suspension. I am fine with stuff that can't kill me if I mess it up

 

[Ohiocruiser]

@Ohiocruiser Is that the front lower control arm? The straight one?
What I was curious is if it's possible to only replace the bushing from the back lower arm. The curved arm. Or do I need a whole new control arm.

Looking around on bmw forums (which have very similar front suspension layout for the 3/4 series) people say 80k miles is kind of when you would need to replace those bushings anyway.
The problem is not many Stingers have 80k+ miles on them.
Most (80-90%) of my driving happens on highways at high speed (87mph) so any roughness and instability is very annoying.

As for actually changing it, I'm definitely going to a dealer. I have very little mechanical skills and would not risk messing with the suspension. I am fine with stuff that can't kill me if I mess it up

No, that is a big curved one. You can buy the bushing only. Removing the control arm is very easy straight forward process. One bolt on bushing side and one nut on balljoint side.But pushing the old bushing out and installing new one is pretty much impossible without big press. So i would remove the arms and let the shop install the new bushings. That will save you some money. But, from the picture, yours doesn't look bad at all.

 

[7Andrei7]

Thank you so much for the info!
I also think the bushing looks normal but based on the feeling I get while driving and on how many miles I've done, it's the only idea I have.

 

[Rodtheviking]

Front Radius Arm To Chassis Mount Bush Kit - Caster Adjustable Kia Stinger

Control arm bushings form the vital pivot and link between all core suspension components. SuperPro's 'offset' bushing options introduce additional positive caster into the front end suspension geometry. With a small but significant change the additional caster delivers several benefits...

superprousa.com

Only bushing I can find for the Stinger. I wish they made ones for the camber arm too.

 

[Ohiocruiser]

Front Radius Arm To Chassis Mount Bush Kit - Caster Adjustable Kia Stinger

Control arm bushings form the vital pivot and link between all core suspension components. SuperPro's 'offset' bushing options introduce additional positive caster into the front end suspension geometry. With a small but significant change the additional caster delivers several benefits...

superprousa.com

Only bushing I can find for the Stinger. I wish they made ones for the camber arm too.

I saw that one. Didn't quite understand, which one is it? Is it for arm 10 or 11?

 

[7Andrei7]

Based on its shape it looks more like the one from the front arm, no 11.
But I guess if I start changing the back ones from arm 10 I should change the ones from arm 11 as well.

I found this one: 54584J5000 Genuine Kia Bush-Front Lower Arm(G)
And this one: 54551J5000 Genuine Kia Bush-Front Lower Arm (A)
If the prices are right, it would mean 100$ for all 4 + labour. That would be a bargain but prices in Europe are always a little higher because you have to buy it from the dealer.

@Ohiocruiser I meant to ask, why did you feel the need to improve the bushing? Was it just to stiffen the car up or did you have other symptoms?
I'm still hoping someone else on the forum replaced them because of wear and tear and can share some before and after impressions.

 

[Ozstung]

I've had the super pro control arm installed about two months now it was supposed to negate the big pull to the left (Lhd) . It hasn't stopped that, im going to have a tyre rotation and see if that makes a difference.

I'm starting to lose patience parting out might be an option.

 

[Ohiocruiser]

Based on its shape it looks more like the one from the front arm, no 11.
But I guess if I start changing the back ones from arm 10 I should change the ones from arm 11 as well.

I found this one: 54584J5000 Genuine Kia Bush-Front Lower Arm(G)
And this one: 54551J5000 Genuine Kia Bush-Front Lower Arm (A)
If the prices are right, it would mean 100$ for all 4 + labour. That would be a bargain but prices in Europe are always a little higher because you have to buy it from the dealer.

@Ohiocruiser I meant to ask, why did you feel the need to improve the bushing? Was it just to stiffen the car up or did you have other symptoms?
I'm still hoping someone else on the forum replaced them because of wear and tear and can share some before and after impressions.

I was just testing. I think it worked, but didn't last. I wish there was an option for solid rubber bushing for that arm.

 

[7Andrei7]

@Ozstung I don't have any significant pull to the left. I assume you've already tried to adapt your alignment? Sometimes they can adjust it to be a little to the left or a little to the right to negate any pull. Or is it an AWD and you get torque steering?

@Ohiocruiser When you say it worked do you mean it became generally stiffer? Or more stable at high speed?

 

[Ohiocruiser]

@Ozstung I don't have any significant pull to the left. I assume you've already tried to adapt your alignment? Sometimes they can adjust it to be a little to the left or a little to the right to negate any pull. Or is it an AWD and you get torque steering?

@Ohiocruiser When you say it worked do you mean it became generally stiffer? Or more stable at high speed?

Yes. It made it little stiffer

 

[Ozstung]

@Ozstung I don't have any significant pull to the left. I assume you've already tried to adapt your alignment? Sometimes they can adjust it to be a little to the left or a little to the right to negate any pull. Or is it an AWD and you get torque steering?

@Ohiocruiser When you say it worked do you mean it became generally stiffer? Or more stable at high speed?

I've had that many wheel alignments, its also been to two suspension shops. Kia also ran some test on each corner, there is a big weight difference on the rear LH.

I'm hoping the new shock absorbers ordered by Kia will fix it. They're covering the cost under warranty.

 

[7Andrei7]

Wow, that is a super strange problem! Hope that will fix it!

 

[socalvn]

I'm leaning towards something much simpler a bad strut upper damper not really noticeable on smooth roads usly this would make a noise on bumpier roads

 

[7Andrei7]

I'm leaning towards something much simpler a bad strut upper damper not really noticeable on smooth roads usly this would make a noise on bumpier roads

Could that be visually diagnosed?

 

[socalvn]

Could that be visually diagnosed?

afraid not interior it's on the strut. any good mechanics should be able to hear it

 

[7Andrei7]

Was at the dealer yesterday for the 130k km service. I asked them to check the bushings and decided to stay there with the technician while he was doing it.

At the beginning he started with a crowbar and it was clear the forward straight control arm was much stiffer than the rear curbed one. He said the bushings look fine but the rear ones were a little soft. He then proceeded to move the curbed control arm with his bare hands, without the crowbar, and admitted it really is too easy to move.
I'm not sure if that's normal but feels like it should be stiffer since the car weighs almost 2 tons.

In any case, he said the bushings look normal and have no cracks. But, because of them being so soft they ordered 2 new ones for the rear curbed arm and will replace them on warranty. Yeey!
I'm scheduled for the 31st of August.

 

[Ozstung]

Got a call from Kia to say my new rear shocks will arrive on 15-8 hopefully this fixes the pull to the left as the control arm bushing had dissapointing results. Wheel rotations only gave temporary results.