At 208K miles, my GL is starting to feel pretty disconnected from the road. After lifting it up on the quikjack and using a prybar to check the suspension bushings, some of them are obviously pretty worn. Has anybody replaced the bushings rather than just replacing the entire lower front control arm? The difference in price is significant. If so,

1. What kind of a tool did you use to pop the ball joint loose? Does this style of tool: work?

2. Does the bearing housing/bearing at the back of the arm that bolts to the chassis slide off the arm, or does the assembly have to be pressed off (I assume the bearing has to be pressed out of the housing).

Thanks for any help.

 

Yes the rear lower arm bushings have to be pressed on. Usually the old ones are loose enough to get pounded off and that’s where you can royally screw yourself.

i tried doing this with the car on a lift without taking the LCAs off. if I had to do it again, just buy new lower OEM control arms with bushings preinstalled.

they have to come off to do the job properly anyways.

 

Thanks for the info. The arms would definitely be easier, but it is ~$60 of bushings vs $369 per arm. I'm thinking about taking the arms off and dropping them off at a machine shop with the bushings and letting them remove/install the new ones.

 

If you have the time to let the car sit on a lift while a shop replaces the bushings, that's preferable to shelling out for new LCAs.

 

Apologies: somehow I missed that this wasn't the W211 forum.

Sorry (sort of) to hijack: are there any options other than stock bushings for replacement? Something more performance oriented, like the bushings in these for example?
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/mer...sdw-mbcakit211

 

If you can find anything like that for the x164 you can, but you'll ruin the couch on wheels feel that any Mercedes comes factory equipped with.
That may be why there aren't many options for the x164.