1) so my car is making quite a noise on the road every time i hit a bump or anything that would move my car up and down. i had a mechanic look at it and he said that my upper control arm bushing had worn out.

however, he said if i would have to replace the whole control arm because it is a one piece. so no way out of this? i am very sound sensitive and this noise has been with the car for about a year already (recently got louder), i can't stand it anymore.

2) steering wheel/ drive shaft? rubbing noise when i turn the wheel, there's no performance issue with this, just the noise, mechanic said there's nothing we can do to eliminate the noise except for replacement which is costly and stupid to spend that kind of money.

 

This can be easily replace DIY, shouldn't cost that much for the upper arm, then do an alignment. There's a diy on this forum somewhere.

 

thanks for your reply, i've searched online for some pricing, i think im looking at around $100 per piece, (i will replace both front left and right) plus labour.

i created this post want to see if there are solutions besides replace the whole control arm, but i guess not. =[

 

There is no other option but to replace it. You can get them from rock auto for under 100 bucks. The nice part about replacing the whole thing is you get a new ball joint as well. Its a VERY easy DIY job.

 

I had a pretty bad noise coming whenever turning or braking, or really doing anything. But i knew it was the upper ball joint because my dust cover ripped. Replaced the ball joint and it sounded great afterward. Thought i would share this with yall. But, what made me think about that was it is very easy to get the control arm off to pop the ball joint out. Getting the ball joint out wasnt bad, but getting the new one in was a pain in the ass.

 

For the upper ball joint replacement, they make a specialty press tool which is capable of removal & installation of ball joints while the control arm is left in place on the car. A nifty tool !

 

which tool you refer? a link for it? thanks.

 

Ball joint remover: 28mm, 07MAC-SL00200

 

I always thought that was to pop the ball joint screw shaft out of the knuckle (without damage) as it gets rusted/fused to it after a while. That's what i use it for anyway.

The other way is to hammer on the knuckle where through which the ball joint screw shaft passes through. Hammering on the tip of the ball joint screw shaft can mushroom it out, which i suppose isn't much of an issue when you're going to replace it. Neither of these is my preferred method.

To pop the ball joint out of the arm, break out the press, or similar shindig you may have put together!

 

I love this method. I use it on just about everything and it works.

 

Hell yeah, wedge it! I've got a crap load of hard wood blocks that I just found use for.

 

Yeah, It's amazing what a good whack will accomplish in a pinch !

It's all about mastering the simplicity of the given technique at task....ahh.

 

A socket wrench/box wrench works best.

 

I would also check the sway bar linkage too. If its bad you get a wonderful clunk when you go over prety much any bump, wouldn't explain the rubbing noise though.

 

wwlc21, did you ever solve the clunking?

 

nop, not yet, i've bought parts over last christmas, new control arms, i haven't had time to do anything about it.

why? are you having the same problem too?

 

Yes, still have a small clunkng sound thats not too annoying but I only here it more pronouced when it extremely cold out. Thinking about changing the upper control arm soon.

 

^ That has been the cause of the clunk sound the 2 times i had it