I have a 09 coupe that has 18k miles on it. It's been handling like a boat lately and I think I've tracked it down to the front A arm bushings toward the back. They have a crack around the innner and outer sleeve and I get a lot of front to back movement when I put a bar in there and pry a little. I was going to do just bushing but the ones from lethal are whiteline at $300. At that price I might as well buy all new A arms. Anyone know of any other bushing worth putting in?The cars mainly street driven but I run it when it's out. I'm not lowering it in the front any due to the shitty pa roads so If I go the A arm route should I get adjustable or stick with non adjustable?
Front A Arms bushing?
- Thread starter nate8509
- Start date
Are the front LCA bushings available from Ford (or anyone else, Moog etc.)? Last I knew the LCA bushings are pressed on the LCA and the arm was serviced as an assy. oem. There is an upgrade 18mm direct fit arm offered by FRPP for the 2007-2010, and there were multiple variations of it. I picked up a set that are the newer design, and they also have the drilled tabs for mounting the heat shields over the rear LCA bushing on each side. Heat from the exhaust has been an issue with the rear bushings and the heat shields provided by Ford are the "fix" to protect those rubber LCA bushings from future heat damage. There was a TSB related to these front LCA rear bushings also.
R
R
Last edited:
Double post.
The OEM bushing is not replaceable. You would have just get new lower arms. I just checked Tasca's website and they're like $98 a piece with bushings. You could replace the bushing with poly from whiteline or energy suspension, but if it's a street car, and you drive crappy roads, I think it will probably be a lot harsher ride than the factory bushing.
On edit, I looked up later model arms above. Looks like the earlier arms are twice that. The Ford Performance arms Robert talked about seem to still be available for around $300 for the set.
On edit, I looked up later model arms above. Looks like the earlier arms are twice that. The Ford Performance arms Robert talked about seem to still be available for around $300 for the set.
Last edited:
Prothane sells replacement bushings....
Sent from my SM-G532M using the svtperformance.com mobile app
Sent from my SM-G532M using the svtperformance.com mobile app
I really don't want to go back to factory bushing, and if I'm going to spend $300 on stock arms I'll just spend a little more on the BMW ones thanks though. I wanted to upgrade to better bushing just wasn't sure if whiteline was my only choice. Im fine with a little harahnesss to get better performance. I'm going to check out energy suspension and prothane. Ill also check out the tsb for the heat shields. Anyone have any experience with the bushing from any of these 3 places?
Not these specific bushings, but I've used Energy and Prothane in other applications and there's no problem with them. You should be able to find the instructions for that kit on line too. It's a more difficult install than most poly replacement bushings. I've looking into it. My impression is that whiteline's bushing might have a bit less durameter rating, which might not be as harsh, but then the OEM bushing is liquid filled. How well they hold up, I can't say.
Ford Racing sells a replacement bushing kit for the LCA. Unfortunately they used to sell it as 2 separate kits. 1) poly rear bushings and mounting brackets, 2) aluminum and delrin front bushings.
Now they sell the complete kit for a lot more money, part number M-5638-C
https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-5638-C
https://fordracingpartsbydonwood.co...nt-m-5638-c/?gclid=CN75g5fYxNMCFVtYDQodWaUANg
Now they sell the complete kit for a lot more money, part number M-5638-C
https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-5638-C
https://fordracingpartsbydonwood.co...nt-m-5638-c/?gclid=CN75g5fYxNMCFVtYDQodWaUANg
The kit Bad Company points out is Delrin, not poly. There's not much give in those bushings and the reason Ford states for off-road use only. This is what I was talking about.
https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-3075-E
https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-3075-E
Ah come on Catmonkey delrin isn't that bad LOL
I've run delrin bushing in the past on the street. The biggest thing is you have to constantly grease them, otherwise they won't survive long. They transmit every pebble on the road you drive over into the car. They are only for someone willing to take the time to grease the bushing often and doesn't care how harsh the ride or NVH is.
The rear bushing in the kit is poly and was sold in a separate kit of the bracket and poly bushing a few years ago. The front bushing in the kit is the delrin and aluminum bushing. It used to be that you bought the 2 separate kits to upgrade both bushings in the LCA. So if you didn't want the aluminum/delrin front bushing, you didn't have to purchase them. I don't know when Ford decided to force you to purchase both bushing as a complete kit. If memory serves me, you could purchase the rear bushing and brackets for less than most of the aftermarket kits available now. Unfortunately now that you have to purchase the front bushings, along with the rear, the cost is higher.
If he doesn't like potholes, he surely won't like delrin's reaction to them. 
It's OP's choice in the long run. I just wanted to point out some of the charateristics of those bushing choices. Personally, I'd like something in between poly and OEM. Whiteline might meet that criteria, but it's only listed through 2010 models. If my car was tracked a good bit, I might look at poly. If my car was only tracked, I'd might choose delrin. Steeda had a sort of bushing insert as a solution to those liquid filled bushings, but I no longer see it on their website.
It's OP's choice in the long run. I just wanted to point out some of the charateristics of those bushing choices. Personally, I'd like something in between poly and OEM. Whiteline might meet that criteria, but it's only listed through 2010 models. If my car was tracked a good bit, I might look at poly. If my car was only tracked, I'd might choose delrin. Steeda had a sort of bushing insert as a solution to those liquid filled bushings, but I no longer see it on their website.
If he doesn't like potholes, he surely won't like delrin's reaction to them.
It's OP's choice in the long run. I just wanted to point out some of the charateristics of those bushing choices. Personally, I'd like something in between poly and OEM. Whiteline might meet that criteria, but it's only listed through 2010 models. If my car was tracked a good bit, I might look at poly. If my car was only tracked, I'd might choose delrin. Steeda had a sort of bushing insert as a solution to those liquid filled bushings, but I no longer see it on their website.
I looked at the FRPP arms with the Delrin bushing kit, if I remember right, it was going to be $600+ to build out those arms. Weren't those the production arms for the BOSS LS?
I also had a pair of the BMR non adj. tube control arms at one point, I liked the fact that they could be greased, but I ended up selling them before I ever got the chance to install them.
I ended up settling on the updated version of the FRPP 18mm ball joint arms for the 2007-2010 because I felt that "if" they were good enough for a street BOSS 302, they should work fine for my street use, the only difference being the street BOSS has a 19mm ball joint as used in the 2011-up vs. the 18mm ball joint in the earlier cars. I also realize that the street can be very unforgiving to front LCA's.
The heat shield and fasteners I also bought from Ford and the look like they will do a very good job of keeping exhaust manifold/header heat away from the rear LCA bushing on each side.
I don't remember the bushing heat shields being listed in the Ford parts, I had to find the part numbers through the TSB as a retro-fit. I don't believe any 2007-2014 Mustang or Shelby came with the heat shields factory installed, but many oem control arms have the tabs to mount the shields, some are drilled for the fastener attachment and some are not. On my 2008 the tabs were there, but no drilled holes and it is so tight in this area that it would require removal of the LCA to drill out the tabs for mounting the shields, so I just decided to buy the updated arms (which are different from my originals), and also make sure that the tabs were there for shields and also drilled. Sometimes it takes some shopping to find the right ones since FRPP made changes over the years.
R
Last edited:
Robert I think you're thinking of these arms
https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-3075-RA
Ford has raised the prices quite a bit on this stuff since the last time I looked at it a few years ago.
The bushings and arms were used exclusively on the Boss 302S race cars sold through Ford Racing in 2013. Ford Racing also sells a special ABS brake module from this car that will allow much more aggressive braking without the ABS activating as quickly for track use.
https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-2353-CA
https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-3075-RA
Ford has raised the prices quite a bit on this stuff since the last time I looked at it a few years ago.
The bushings and arms were used exclusively on the Boss 302S race cars sold through Ford Racing in 2013. Ford Racing also sells a special ABS brake module from this car that will allow much more aggressive braking without the ABS activating as quickly for track use.
https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-2353-CA
I went ahead with the prothane bushing, liked that it didn't reuse any of the OEM bushing stuff. I never realized there was that big of difference between those two type of bushing, you guys produced a ton of good info, thank you. I'll run down those heat shields and get them installed also Hopefully between this and the new front tires it takes care of the problem. Ive been very impatiently waiting to install 3.73's, MGW shifter, alum one piece driveshaft, and rear springs But I didn't want to do anything till I nailed don't my current problem.
Wanted to give an update on the prothane front bushing I installed. Installation was smooth and straight forward, took care of any free movement I had with the stock bushings. Overall very happy with them. The only kicker is it didn't fix my car riding like a boat above 65 mph, I was pretty optimistic this would be the fix after seeing the stock bushing play. I have new front tires coming as they weren't in the best of shape so hopefully they fix it. If not I think a call to Van at reven racing is in order to help me track this down because I'm about out of options
Yes we checked all the ball joints and tie rod ends, sway bar bushing, and end links. No it goes this week for an alignment. It's weird, you don't notice below 60-65 or if your into the skinny petal but as soon as you let off, go above 70 or take a turn at speed it's all over the place.
I did notice a little more NHV but it's very minor, nothing compared to the poly bushing I put on top of the rear end lol. Mainly you feel the bumps just a tad bit more then you would of before. The grease they give you is some sticky stuff.
I did notice a little more NHV but it's very minor, nothing compared to the poly bushing I put on top of the rear end lol. Mainly you feel the bumps just a tad bit more then you would of before. The grease they give you is some sticky stuff.
I did both A Arm bushings, prothane makes both. What I liked about them is they don't use any of the stock bushing pieces, the other company's you had to use the shell of the liquid filled stock bushing. The outer shell that bolts to the frame on the prothane was much beefier then stock. Wish I would have gotten pics now. I could stick a bar in there with the stock bushings and move the A Arm front to back at least 1/4" to 3/8th".
Users who are viewing this thread
