General Rear suspension bush

[tymauk]

Hi

Thanks to this great forum, I have discovered that the knocking coming from the back of my Stilo is most likely the rear suspension bushes are shot/worn. I have 3 questions:

1. Am I still safe to tow a caravan while the bushes are like this, or is it a disaster waiting to happen?

2. I am obviously looking to get the bushes replaced, so was wondering if anyone knew a relatively cheap/reasonable place in Essex that I could get this done?

3. Is it advisable to get both sides done at the same time?

Many thanks
Pete

 

[Davren]

1. Am I still safe to tow a caravan while the bushes are like this, or is it a disaster waiting to happen?

The extra weight of towing anything will aggravate the problem and could cause the bushes to totally fail much quicker. They are of a fail-safe design, so the axle won't fall out, but it could affect the car's steering if the bushes totally fail.

2. I am obviously looking to get the bushes replaced, so was wondering if anyone knew a relatively cheap/reasonable place in Essex that I could get this done?

Not in Essex, but Shadeyman is a forum trader and can replace the bushes for a reasonable price.

3. Is it advisable to get both sides done at the same time?

Yes.

 

[tymauk]

Davren

Thanks for the info. I have had the car looked at and apparently there is no sign of any rubber left on one side!!! Car booked in next week for a price of £170 supply and fit.

Regards
Pete

 

[Davren]

That price seems too good to be true from a garage. They're not as easy as they look to replace. There's a special 3 pronged Fiat tool needed to fit them correctly, and the bushes need to be aligned in the axle correctly. Many garages don''t realise this, so they fit them wrong and the bushes fail quickly.

 

[tymauk]

Hey Davren

After your comment, I did mention about the alignment and they said they knew about it....

Got the car back this morning all done! They also found that one of the coil springs had broke and the rear brake pipes were very corroded! I did go down and see both coil springs and pipes just to make sure they weren't trying to recoupe costs elsewhere....

So all in all cost £244 for the lot to be done! Hopefully a bit of a bargain going on what you said!

Thanks again