What are bushings for and when should they be replace? The last time the car was at the dealer for service he recommended the next time that I bring the car in that I have him/them replace them.

Where are they located on the car?

 

Hmm. There are bushings everywhere in cars. Bushings are similar to bearings but have no actual ***** or rollers. They line the inside of holes where any moving shaft or lever goes through. Does your gear shifter rattle as you drive down the road? A common bushing failure on c-class are the 2 shift linkage rod bushings which results in vibrating noise from the gear shift while driving. I just replaced my own shift bushings a few days ago in my C220 so I know these firsthand. Could be any bushings though that they are talking about unless you had a specific problem with something..

 

I haven't had any specific problems with the suspension or gear shifter. The SA at the dealership just mentioned that I should have them replaced- and he wasn't nearly as specific as you were. You think this should be taken care of since the car has approx. 72k miles or do you think the SA was just trying to sell that to me?

 

It's hard to say without knowing exactly what he was talking about. There are many things that can happen to a car after 72,000 miles.

This could be a very involved service, or maybe even something you could tackle yourself so save some money.

 

The service advisor is most likely referring to the bushings that are known issues in the steering tie-rod ends and front stabilizer bar. If your car squeeks as you drive diagonally up curb cuts, that's the problem. Most likely. Er, I don't know really. Ask the silly service advisor what he means.

If your car is still under warranty, they will replace them free. or they MIGHT grant you a courtesy service on these, since there is a service "campaign" out on this problem.

Had them replaced on my car at 4 years and 38,000 miles... under warranty.

 

service campaign on wat specific bushing in the front??? i only know of 3 major bushings up front, one lower arm, one control arm, and stabilizer bar bushings.

replaced my control arms at 10,000 miles, and the car still has slight rattles.

 

If they just noticed the bushings needing replacement, they are most likely talking about the front thrust arm bushings. They wear out faster than most of the other bushings due to the extreme amount of stress they are under while driving. A lot of times you wont even notice it when they are torn but sometimes they will make a clunking sound when hitting the brakes or hitting bumps sometimes. If you get a knocking sound when hitting bumps sideways (if you hit a speed bump with one front wheel at a time) then this is usually the sway bar links going bad. Hope this helps a little.

 

Sorry to bring this topic but I was doing a search about bushings and I came up with this thread. I do have this clunking noise coming from the front-end of the car, not turning or anything, just "clunks" even en I go over uneven pavement. I'm not sure what it is but I am kinda worry something big may happen. How can I inspect those "bushings" ? is there a way to tell without having to take the car apart? can a simple guy change those bushings? BTW, I drive a C230K '02

Thanks in advance

 

It sounds like this is what MBTECH1 was talking about. He stated that it might be the front thrust arm bushings.

 

i think the "thrust arm" bushings are probabley what we call guide struts or torque, they go bad on a lot of our car (especially 203s) usually you'll see the hydraulic fluid that they leak out. They also had updated sway bar end links and sway bar bushings for front end related compliants.

 

It's becoming very noticeable lately , well... another thing is a constant hardly audible but that you can feel in your feet under the passanger seat. something that is rotating, constant "thump"... kinda weird and I hope is bushings-related , any ideas?