New Bushings - Rear Lower Knuckle

[Nickelrw87]

Hi Everyone! I went to go get an alignment for my 2017 Livery, and the guy said to replace the bushings first or the alignment would be a waste. What do you think? And also, Im having a hard time finding a replacement bushing for this - does anyone have any recommendations? I see the whole replacement with the bushings already in, but I am looking for the most cost effective way to do this.

 

[batchman]

How many miles on your Livery?

For the past while now the usual play is to replace the arm with the integrated bushing. From dealers to independent shops "remove and replace" is SOP. That, and the efficient way to make them is to mold the rubber onto the arm.

With degraded bushings, they are correct - alignment is of little or no benefit unless something is really whacked out. OTOH there are degrees of degradation; f'rinstance on our Focus ST the correct arm/bushing is NLA so since they were still attached, I deferred rather than downgrade or go aftermarket.

The good news is replacing with OEM, while available, should last roughly as long as the original.

Best,
- Jeff