I had my '85 300D in for an alignment recently and the tech said he was having trouble bringing the rear fully into alignment due to rusty trailing arms that he thought might be bent. He recommended replacement of the trailing arms.

I was aware of the trailing arms being a bit rusty, but does it ring true that they might be bent?

Here's a pic of the right trailing arm rust, does this pose an imminent danger or a likelihood of being bent?





My car does seem to be sagging in the rear a bit, and when looking at it from the rear the tops of the rear tires lean inward ever so slightly. However I've thought this could be due to:

• A few years back I cut half a rung out of the rear springs and swapped in the thinnest spring pads. I did this after rebuilding my front suspension and used KMAC springs in the front which sat a bit lower. At the time the rear seems to sit up to high.
• AFAIK the rear bushings have never been done (car has 310k), so at the least I probably need new subframe bushings and differential mount bushing

I guess my question here is whether the trailing arm(s) really need replacement due to rust, or am I ok to just add subframe bushings, new springs/spring pads, etc... to try to improve the rear alignment?