Lower curved arm bushings seem to be shot. Question is do these have any adjustability for alignment? I know them being worn can cause tire wear issues of course, but I mean do the installation of them bolt into a specific spot, or do they have some adjustability that would require and alignment to place properly?

 

I figured I'd add some details to this as well. I am only planning to replace the left arm. The right arm looks fairly new and all noises have been from the left front. The left front looks noticeably deteriorated even at a glance.

 

Did mine a little while ago, replaced them as a pair. Yes they have concentric bolts so I would mark where the old ones were, I also got a full alignment done afterwards. Unfortunately for me I still have a slight wheel wobble! But the steering feels better and the new arms have a slightly re-designed large bush that looks stronger.

 

I'll get a better look at everything this weekend. This bushing reminds me of the issue with the 04'-06' GTO radius rod bushings. They'd prematurely wear out and allow the wheel to move enough to cause caster and toe issues. The one thing though is that my tire wear has been perfect.

 

The adjuster bolts are at the trunnion end, and were improved on later models. If you can, try to put on the later bolts, unless the old ones are OK and are able to adjust the trunnion position. A lot of times they have seized and attempts to adjust them have irreparably damaged them.

 

And problem solved. I was wrong again. Tire wear is perfect, but I got the front end off the ground and removed the wheels. Jerked the steering wheel back and forth and was able to recreate the clunk. The steering rack bolts were loose! No wonder it kept getting progressively worse! I'm going to go look up the torque spec on these bolts to make sure this doesn't happen again. What a scary find!

 

I plan on getting back into my front suspension in a month or so.
My car suffers from a little steering knock on rough pavement. Tightening the lug nuts helped a lot.
When you find that spec let us know.

 

I still haven't found the steering bolt torque spec, but snugging the bolts clearly fixed my problem after a drive. The clunk is gone, the steering is more direct and solid feeling. The wheel shake is gone now too.

It definitely means my ears are still in tune on vehicle noises. It sure sounded too metal on metal to me to be a bushing, especially since the main thing that people have said is that you can usually wiggle the curved arm by hand if the bushing is worn and I couldn't find any slop in it. Not only that in order to get that much bushing slop to be metal on metal I'd have severe tire wear issues. Actually both lower arms both curved and straight on both sides looked way to clean to be original and the tie rods were super clean and solid. The upper arms looked pretty dingy and are probably original but that doesn't mean anything when it comes to the bushings themselves. I don't really suspect any of them to be on their way out right now. The car drives entirely too solid for that right now. It feels like a new car again minus the slightly different feel of coil springs instead of air springs.

 

Glad you found a solution

 

Thanks Torrid, as you know I've been chasing a similar issue with mine. I'm having mine looked at around Wed / Thurs next week and will be asking them to check this for me too


Best

 

When I had to drop the rack to replace the left engine mount the rack bolt torque was listed at 100 Nm or 74 Ft Lbs and the steering universal pinch bolt was 25 Ft Lbs.

 

Yeah I'll get the torque wrench on it this weekend. I'm glad it was such a simple fix. I really didn't expect the bolts to turn at all when I put the ratchet on them and they turned pretty easy with a short handle.