jegan

Hello AZ members.

My car got a quick inspection by a third party potential buyer's mechanic and the mechanic left a message that the control arms seem to be bad and need to be replaced.
I'm not sure which control arms he meant.

Could you let me know what the common control arms that need to be replaced in general? Mine is a 2005 with about 83k miles or near 138k km manual trans.
I tried looking for the parts price and the entire front and rear control arms replacement seem to be costing too much at this moment.

So I was thinking if changing brushings only would be fine as well?
So far I am not experiencing any symptoms but since I just changed my tie rods (DIY), the wheel alignment service needs to be done but
I heard that I must do wheel alignment service after changing control arms so I'm gonna do it once I figure out what to do finally.

Could someone please answer me? which control arms need to be replaced?(whole?(front & rear?) or brushings only?)


Thank you

BROlando

Usually, its the front lowers. The compliance bushing goes bad.

If you've got access to a press, buy some Honda OEM bushings.

Aftermarket control arms on rockauto should be cheap. They won't last or function like a factory part. But they're cheap...and they work.

860_TypeS

3 bushings in each front lower control arm. I just recently replaced all 3 in both. I agree it's probably the compliance bushings that are going bad. Cheapest option might be to just remove the control arms yourself and bring them to a shop that has a press. I got the bushings cheap from acurapartsforless.com and had a shop press them in, then reinstalled them myself. Just make sure to torque at ride height if you do this.

Maybe ask the mechanic for more details. I just realized you're selling the car so I would probably just replace compliance bushings and be done, I'm sure the others are fine

DMZ

If your mechanic has a press, just buy the bushings and be done with it. I got the Mevotech compliance bushings from rockauto 3 years ago, and they're still fine.
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ALEMIKA

Hello all, I too am forced to DIY both Front LCAs due to cost. Getting labor quotes (I buy my own parts) just to press out and press in the compliance bushings is almost as expensive to replace the whole arm...the argument is you have to remove the arm from the frame anyway to do the work, so why not replace the arm.
Anyway, my question is when removing the LCA, is there any pressure or other parts of the steering assembly that fall or become unaligned? Thanks in advanced.

csmeance

You can rent/buy the tool and do it with the control arm on the car. I did it in my driveway with a home-made tool that failed, and then used a big hammer and the pressing socket to get the old one out and put the new one in. Took me about 1.5 hr/side at home with the DIY on acurazine. I undid a few of the bolts and that gave me enough clearance to replace the main bushing.

jegan

Thank you for your sharing.

Do you also happen to know if I could use 2006gen Accord's bushings? Are those compatible? Looks wise it seems to be the same but parts number seems to be slightly different? (Rockauto)

jegan

Are these the right parts?

Could I know which brushings I need to buy??

It says
-Front Lower Outer
-Front Lower Outer Forward
-Rear
-Rear at Knuckle

I heard there are 3 bushings but no idea which ones to choose.

Please help.

Thank you

BROlando

There is a relatively high probability that aftermarket bushings will not work properly in your factory arms.

Just buy the aftermarket arms. Make it easy on yourself.

BROlando

Oh wait...do you have some agreement with the new owner that you're just gonna supply the necessary bushings to his mechanic?

You clever devil.
That poor mechanic.

Why are you looking at rear knuckle bushings?

csmeance

front lower its ABOUT 4" IN DIAMETER the mevotech supreme is the right one....but buy acura ones for like $28 each they last longer than the mevotech ones by a longshot.