Hello! Even after getting the upper control arm bushings replaced, I've had some complaints about the ride (bit of a vibration through the steering wheel and other "hard" parts, very loose wheel {probably the gearbox, but still}, etc). I went and made sure that the lug bolts were tight on the wheels just now, and noticed something. Both front wheels had some straight forward-to-back play. I thought this would have been fixed with the upper control arm bushings but now I'm thinking more along the lines of the guide rod bushings...

Can anyone confirm this or point me elsewhere? It seemed like the guide rods were moving back and forward with the wheels, but I couldn't tell for sure (bad light and I didn't have a flashlight with me). If memory serves, I was told that there are bushings at the wheel assembly as well as at the mount to the subframe, but I don't remember being able to readily find them, and I couldn't readily tell what condition the subframe-to-guide-rod mounts were in (again, at the time I wasn't that concerned, as I had thought that all of the problems were related to the upper control arm bushings). I didn't see any rubber on the guide rod mounts, but there was enough metal that I figured that the metal was covering the rubber...or are they that bad?

Any thoughts, advice, or comments would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

__________________
2001 VW Jetta TDI, 5 speed, daily driver
1991 Ford F-350, work in progress
1984 Ford F-250 4x4, 6.9l turbo diesel, 5 speed manual
Previous oilburners: 1980 IH Scout, 1984 E-350, 1985 M-B 300D, 1979 M-B 300SD, 1983 M-B 300D
Spark-free since 1999