96 C280 Lower Control Arm Bushing Question
 

Hi Group

I have the lower control arm bushings and a jpg attachment is included with a picture of the new bushings. There is a 3/4 inch protrusion of the center metal bolt sleeve on the large metal bushing so I just cannot use flat press bricks to push it into the control arm. I can find an impact sck to solve that problem with pressing the new one in. The major problem is removal of the old bushing without a perfect size tool to press out the old one.

Can I drill or cut out the rubber and remove the center metal bolt sleeve of the bad bushing while still in the control arm and use the new bushing to press out the old one. I can use a impact sck on top of the new one to accommodate the protrusion? At the same time the new one will be installed. Also on the two the smaller bushings that go to the front side of the lower control arm do you have a simple way of removing them. Installation may be straight forward for these after the old ones are removed.

I have a 20 ton shop press

Many thanks

You can do anything you want to the old bushing as long as you don't hurt the control arm. Pushing the new one in is another thing. It is best done with the special tool designed for it but there are numerous universal bushing driver arrangments that do fine. You need to be sure the bush is in the proper orientation to the control arm (its very important). After assemble don't tighten the control arm bolts untill sits at curb height.

Thanks Steve,

Does the pushing tool need to support exterior metal sleeve to keep it from balloning or distorting when it is pressed in?

Martineau

Help!

How tight is the old bushing in the control arm. Will it have to be weakened or cut to push it out. Can it be pushed out with the new bushing.

I am bumping this old thread because it is the only one I can find with any useful information about changing the lower control arm bushings in the W202. But I still have some questions:

Can someone provide a link to the type of spring compressor to use for this job?

Is there any cheap tool for pressing out/in the bushings?

What is a definitive test to make sure mine are bad?

Should I go with the polyurathane kind I have seen advertised?

Thanks

I think I have identified the spring compressor. It is the one in the tool rental forum that has the 2 discs and the big "screw" in he middle. I could not find a bushing tool in that forum. So I might have to buy that. I am still looking for instructions for this procedure. I imagine it is something like this:

1. Raise car with wheels off ground.
2. Remove wheels
3. Remove springs with spring tool.
4. Disconnect tie rod end and ball joint??
5. Use bushing tool somehow, need details on that.
6. Reassemble.

Can someone fill in the details?

Thanks

I just finished this job and I'd like to add a few details for anyone that attempts this job in the future....

1) When you remove the control arm pay attention to the type of bolt that attaches the control arm to the frame - there are two types of bolts used. The first type of bolt has a 'torx' head (T55 I think). It may be removed in the standard way. The second type of bolt has a standard hex-head, this bolt is a camber/caster correction bolt and its purpose is to reposition the control arm to correct caster and/or camber angles of the suspension. When this bolt is removed there are two offset washers that will reposition the control arm +/- 3mm from its standard center location. These washers can be installed in two separate positions 180 degrees apart. Take note of the position of the washers and be sure to reinstall them in the same orientation when you reinstall the control arm. Note: its possible to have both types of bolts (torx and hex) on the same car.

2) the control arm bushings are really, really hard to remove and replace without the correct bushing removal tools. It's very unlikely that the average person is going to have a collection of sockets or even a set of generic bushing instillation tools that will get this job done. The amount of force required remove and reinstall the bushings is also very high. I managed to strip two sets of 1/2 inch 'all-thread' that I was using to provide the pulling force. I finally used a 20 ton shop press and I'd bet I was using at 1/2 to 3/4 of the capability of the press. These babies are in there. For the non financially challenged among us there are complete control arm assemblies available that already have new bushings installed - this route would greatly simplify things but would substantially increase the costs. Pick your poison.

3) The bushings have to be installed in a specific orientation, there are separate procedures for front and rear bushings.

4) The control arm bolts have to be tightened to 120 nm while the car is in its 'ready to drive' state with the suspension fully loaded.

What is the test to determine they are bad? Are there different kinds of bushings (such as polyurathane)?

The mounts are hard to inspect when they are installed in the car, the rear mounts seem to be more highly stressed. Look for deformation of the rubber pieces that hold center metal bushing in place. On my car the rubber had ripped over about half the surface area. This kind of failure would cause the control arm to shift and alter caster or camber (or both)

My car also had a bit of uneven tire wear that I'm hoping the bushing replacement solved, I didn't check the car on an alignment machine before the replacement but I did have an alignment performed at the dealer after the repairs and they set the toe-in and said everything else was "perfect".

The car now tracks better than ever, dead straight and it seems to have a stronger 'on-center' feel. It's a noticeable improvement.

Time will tell I guess.

I'm sure there are other bushing available, I can't really advise you about them since I only use OEM parts when I do repairs.

quote "the control arm bushings are really, really hard to remove and replace without the correct bushing removal tool."

Even with the factory special tool these bushings are probably the hardest and tightest of any of the late model cars. I just did a set of these last week and every time I do them I am amazed how tight they are.

Another option you may consider would be to remove the control arms yourself and take them to an independent shop or dealer to have the bushings installed.

Good luck, Robert.

What should that cost? I have seen the whole assembly new for 190.00 per side and I don't know if that is a decent way to go or not. Thanks.

If you had the proper tools you could replace the bushings in maybe 15-30 minutes per control arm. The front bushings are also kind of a pain in the neck to remove, on my car one side came out pretty easily but I had to fight with the other side for a good hour before I could get the old bushings out. For 'reasonable cost estimate' purposes I'd pay for at least an hours labor with some additional charge for wear-and-tear on the tool. Total cost I'd call reasonable? Maybe $75? There are Chinese aftermarket tools designed to remove and replace W202 control arm bushings for around $180 on fleabay, the real dealer tool is around $650 IIRC.

One thing about having new control arms is that it would really reduce the total time of the repair. I think I could remove and reinstall the control arm in way under an hour per side. Having new arms could reduce the time of repair from an all day affair to a easy half day.

If I was in a hurry or wanted to be 100% sure that the repair would go OK so that I could have the car back in service for a next day commute I'd spring for the new arms. If I didn't have to compete the repair in a day I'd try to replace the bushings myself - it would take longer and be a more difficult repair but you could save at least a couple hundred dollars.