Technical Wishbone Bushes

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Technical Wishbone Bushes

jjustyy

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Jul 25, 2008
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Please excuse my lack of car knowledge - I have a couple of advisories on my MOT this year (45000 miles, 2004 1.2 Dynamic) for wishbone bushes:

"Near side front wishbone rear bush perished and weak
Offside front wishbone rear bush displaced"

Would this be cost much to get repaired and can the bushes themselves be replaced or will it involve replacing the wishbones?

Also, is it a problem to keep driving for too long with these issues?

Any info/advice appreciated!
:)
 
It's quite common for these to wear on most cars, but they last even less on the Pandas. I put it down to it's narrow track and all those frickin speed bumps.

There are aftermarket (pattern parts) bushes available to replace the originals, but I wouldn't bother, it isn't easy to get the old out and new in without a press or tool, it's possible to burn and cut the old out and make some plates to fit around the bush and trap in a vice, but I wouldn't recommend it!

I'd only consider it if there were Polyurethane bushes like Superflex available to replace the original rubber ones as they last better and feel better to drive, but then you have new bushes but old balljoints on your wishbones now, you win some, you lose some!

So your choice really comes down to genuine wishbones or pattern ones (don't mess with used parts)
I alway think that someone made the wishbones for Fiat, if you can find out who and buy thoses it often saves a few quid.
There's the dealer (remove pants and bent over)
With a part number there's www.partsreunited.co.uk or one of them part search websites they advertise on telly these days.
These will get you a genuine part.
Fiat Part numbers are 50703128 (L) and 50703129 (R) I believe.

For pattern try
Ebay about £45 to £55 a side (but could be spankywanky made in China, so check who made them)
and
Your local spares shop will sell you something made by QH or Firstline which won't be too bad a quality. (these would supply your local non fiat garages and aren't a bad choice)
Some pattern numbers
Delphi -tc1408 (R) tc1407 (L)
Firstline -fca 6235 (R) fca 6234 (L)
QH -qsa2112s (R) qsa2111s (L)

If you have the tools, they're fairly simple to replace,
jack and axle stands, you'll need it up highish so the wishbones have room to drop, sockets and spanners to undo the blots,
hammer and balljoint fork to split the balljoint.

I wouldn't have thought it would take a garage more than an hour, maybe an hour and half.
 
Forgot to add, with regards to driving.
Weak bushes tend not to fail completely as they have big bolts and steel sleeves throught them, but give free play (movement) in your suspension. This will give you knocking and clonking over bumps, vague steering, uneven and rapid tyre wear and will probably stress other componants.

If you have been advised to replace on the MOT, plan for doing it before next MOT, but I would do it sooner.
 
As Goudrons says, get new wishbones rather than replacing the bushes, the labour on getting the wishbones off, getting the bushes out of the wishbones and then getting them back on the car will mean it's quicker and cheaper just to replace the wishbones. I had the bushes done on the wifes Subaru, but only because as Goudrons said, I got polyurethan bushes for it. Simply not worth it otherwise.
 
Thank you very much guys - from your advice, I'll get the wishbones replaced pretty soonish.
 
This thread has just helped me massively as I've had the same problem - thanks. One question - after replacing the wishbones, will I need to get balancing / tracking done ?
 
Seems like they haven't really gone up in price since this post was created. I recently paid £53.39 for a offside lower suspension arm from Unipart.

EDIT: This was for a 2007 Panda, I'm not sure if they changed through the life of the car.
 
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