[Chassilla1]

Hey Y'all,
I am going to be replacing the control arm bushings on the control arms with poly bushings. I can not for the life of me find anything anywhere on how to actually remove them. I did read somewhere that you just cut the OE ones off and replace them with new ones. I know the whole control arm will come off, and then how do you get the bigger one outta there?


How true is this and has anyone on here swapped out the rubber bushings with poly?
Bushing in question is of the photo:

 

[LittleRedRidingHood]

Once unbolted, that bushing can pull off of the control arm. You can then press out the interior and scrape off whatever doesn't come out to make way for your new poly bushings.

 

[Chassilla1]

Once unbolted, that bushing can pull off of the control arm. You can then press out the interior and scrape off whatever doesn't come out to make way for your new poly bushings.

That is what I had thought, but I wanted to be sure. I didn't want to damage anything. Do i need to preserve that bigger nut looking thing on the end of the bushings ( not the two bolts )

 

[LittleRedRidingHood]

Likely not - your poly bushings should come with a metal sleeve that replaces its function. I'm sure your new bushings come with some instructions, though.

 

[Chassilla1]

Fingers crossed they do! Aside from that I plan on spending a day to do this next week. Getting the arms off is so easy.

 

[LittleRedRidingHood]

Good luck! Most people suggest using brand new bolts for that bushing since they are torque to yield (i.e. torque and then turn 90 degrees) which weakens the used bolts. Many people also reuse them. Personal preference on your own car. I used brand new bolts on mine.

Rear bushing bolts (the ones in your photo): part number 999259 - 2 per side
Front bushing bolts: 999256 - 1 per side, not necessary to replace, just in case yours are in bad shape

 

[Chassilla1]

Awesome! I appreciate that. I know the Whiteline set comes with new bolts for it. So that will be very nice. The rear bolt I think I will just order to be safe.

 

[Facusan]

I did the upgrade on mine, and I didn't have to replace the front bushing bolts. Yes, the Whiteline kit comes with new bolts, washers and nuts for the rear bushing:

To remove the big bushing, ideally you press it out with a shop press like this:

However, I didn't have access to one when I did it, so I drilled the rubber portion of the bushing several times around the inner sleeve to weaken it (Keep in mind the OEM bushing is filled with some kind of glycol and it will leak). Then, I twisted the outer bushing sleeve to break the remaining rubber and the bushing came apart. After that, I scraped off the remaining rubber of the inner sleeve of the bushing to expose the metal, and then used a dremel to carefully cut the sleeve and get it out. It takes a little bit, but it's totally doable.

 

[Chassilla1]

I did the upgrade on mine, and I didn't have to replace the front bushing bolts. Yes, the Whiteline kit comes with new bolts, washers and nuts for the rear bushing:


Oh man, that is super helpful. How was your experience getting the bigger bushing off?

 

[Facusan]

Oh man, that is super helpful. How was your experience getting the bigger bushing off?

I just updated my comment above. I accidentally posted the reply before finishing......

 

[Chassilla1]

This has all been super friggen helpful and makes me feel much much better about taking this on. BTW, how did you feel about the new bushings after they were installed? notice anything wildly different?

 

[Facusan]

This has all been super friggen helpful and makes me feel much much better about taking this on. BTW, how did you feel about the new bushings after they were installed? notice anything wildly different?

They totally worth it, especially for my car which is the heaviest P1 model. The steering now is very responsive, I don't feel the car wandering anymore when braking hard (Yeah, I've seen the wheels shifting back a little bit when the car was braking.....).

Regarding riding comfort, I don't think they're much different compared to stock bushings. But I can't 100% confirm that, because along with the bushings, I also installed sport struts and shocks, new strut and shock mounts, and a lower tiebar brace.

If you're going to do the rear bushings, also upgrade the front ones since you're already there (In my case I went with Whiteline W53286). Not having to battle twisting with that bushing anymore when having to pop off a ball joint is a game changer. Also with a poly bushing you don't need to torque that specific bolt with the suspension loaded. And if you go full send and also drill out the ball joints and install bolts instead of rivets, now you'll have a fully serviceable LCA. On which you can finally replace only what's worn and not have to replace the whole thing instead......

 

[JA VOLVO]

What grade bolts did you use for the ball joints? Did you use lock washers or nyloc nuts? Curious as I think I will do this at some point. Just makes sense for the long term.

 

[Facusan]

What grade bolts did you use for the ball joints? Did you use lock washers or nyloc nuts? Curious as I think I will do this at some point. Just makes sense for the long term.

10.9 class M10-1.25x30mm bolts, flat washers (nut side) and class 10 nyloc nuts. I honestly would liked flange bolts and nuts instead, but that was the hardware that came with the Delphi TC1971 ball joints I bought. Then painted the fasteners to protect from corrosion and finished them with that white paint stripe on both sides that will tell me if they're getting loose.

Here's the post I made when I installed all of that: What did you do to your C70 today?

 

[Chassilla1]

They totally worth it, especially for my car which is the heaviest P1 model. The steering now is very responsive, I don't feel the car wandering anymore when braking hard (Yeah, I've seen the wheels shifting back a little bit when the car was braking.....).

Regarding riding comfort, I don't think they're much different compared to stock bushings. But I can't 100% confirm that, because along with the bushings, I also installed sport struts and shocks, new strut and shock mounts, and a lower tiebar brace.

If you're going to do the rear bushings, also upgrade the front ones since you're already there (In my case I went with Whiteline W53286). Not having to battle twisting with that bushing anymore when having to pop off a ball joint is a game changer. Also with a poly bushing you don't need to torque that specific bolt with the suspension loaded. And if you go full send and also drill out the ball joints and install bolts instead of rivets, now you'll have a fully serviceable LCA. On which you can finally replace only what's worn and not have to replace the whole thing instead......

This is exactly what I did actually. I also upgraded the front sway bar bushings on mine to poly as well. That was a pain in the ass to track down because my OE sway bar is 24mm. Thankfully powerflex makes some for Ford models and I nabbed them.

 

[JA VOLVO]

10.9 class M10-1.25x30mm bolts, flat washers (nut side) and class 10 nyloc nuts. I honestly would liked flange bolts and nuts instead, but that was the hardware that came with the Delphi TC1971 ball joints I bought. Then painted the fasteners to protect from corrosion and finished them with that white paint stripe on both sides that will tell me if they're getting loose.

Thanks, I did not even think about the ball joint coming with hardware. That helps.

 

[V50_M66]

Here's the writeup I did about the front control arm bushing job on my V50. @Facusan's writeup here is also pretty good.
P1 Whiteline Anti-Lift Kit Install How-To | SwedeSpeed - Volvo Performance Forum

 

[Chassilla1]

Here's the writeup I did about the front control arm bushing job on my V50. @Facusan's writeup here is also pretty good.
P1 Whiteline Anti-Lift Kit Install How-To | SwedeSpeed - Volvo Performance Forum

Also a super good one. I appreciate you chiming in on this too. I think I should be able to handle this and get this taken care of. I ahve all the right cutting tools to get the old bushings off. that was my biggest concern to be honest. The only thing that is different for me is that I ended up doing - W53528 Whiteline Control arm - lower inner rear bushing

still an improvement and poly bushings, but not as fancy.

 

[avenger09123]

So I intend to redo mine this upcoming time with a little more care and planning similar to this.

For example I intend to make a plug out of poly for the back and frontsides of the bushing to keep debris from entering the bushing and messing with the lubrication. But I do SO love the poly feeling. The poly fill on stock bushings is great too, but not as firm as an all poly bushing.

Also FWIW I did torque my rear bolts down to factory torque, but skipped the 90* stretch, and so far I haven't had much issue with them, they don't slip and slide on the subframe and they don't knock while driving. This way I can reuse them if they're still good when time comes.

 

[Chassilla1]

Do we have the actual torque specs for all bolts on the control arms handy?