I fitted Magneti Marelli bottom arms to our 2007 1.2 when the steering started to tramline on road repair banding. When I got it apart, one rear bush was trashed the other was well on it's way. Both were original parts. It had passed an MoT with no advisories just 6 months before, so I think they go from OK to knackered very quickly.
They can be a faff to fit. I had to use red rubber grease on the sides of the front bushes because they simply would not go into place. Odd really because the rubber is bonded to a centre bush but the grease is harmless and helped the assembly. One rear bush was very hard to align for it's retaining bolt. The bolt was checked without the arm and threads were fine. I got there in the end but it took a lot of faffing to find the sweet spot.
The bolts go all the way through and the thread ends are always rusty. A smear of anti seize all the way down the threads makes sense.
Drop links may or may not come off easily. They are cheap enough to not bother fighting with. Just slip them down with a grinder and slitting disc. Cut most of the way down but take care - those discs will easily chop into the anti roll bar. Slit the nut and break it apart with a screwdriver. When you fit the new drop links, put a dab of paste into the hex end and along the threads. Next time, clean out the goo for the allen key and the nuts won't jam half way out.
