Ball Joints or Control Arms?
Discussion
Hi Folks,
My Mini Cooper S needs some suspension work but im unsure if its control arms or just the ball joints?
The car can wander a little at speed, over bumps and rough road it can feel crashy and when parked up you can put your foot on the front wheel and rock the car back with quite a bit of movement.
Is this is the control arms or ball joints? The ball joints I can do, but the control arms mean you need to drop the sub frame and this is a little past my technical skills.
The car is going in next Tuesday for the serpentine belt to be replaced, so if all else fails i can get them to check, but rather do the work myself if I can.
Cheers.
My Mini Cooper S needs some suspension work but im unsure if its control arms or just the ball joints?
The car can wander a little at speed, over bumps and rough road it can feel crashy and when parked up you can put your foot on the front wheel and rock the car back with quite a bit of movement.
Is this is the control arms or ball joints? The ball joints I can do, but the control arms mean you need to drop the sub frame and this is a little past my technical skills.
The car is going in next Tuesday for the serpentine belt to be replaced, so if all else fails i can get them to check, but rather do the work myself if I can.
Cheers.
You need to raise the car off the ground and check for play in the joints/bushes.
What you are describing sounds like the rear lower arm bushes, you can check this to some extent by kicking the front of the tyre towards the back of the car, a lot of movement indicates they are shagged. As above, it's much easier to check on a ramp.
No advisories on the last MOT that might give a clue ?
PS; if it is the rear bushes, get some of the soft compound Poly bushes if you plan to keep the car for a while. The standard ones from aftermarket manufacturers will have play in them within a year, even the BMW ones don't seem to last that long. Make sure you get the comfort/soft ones though, the hard ones make the already bashy suspension much worse unless you are on a race track
What you are describing sounds like the rear lower arm bushes, you can check this to some extent by kicking the front of the tyre towards the back of the car, a lot of movement indicates they are shagged. As above, it's much easier to check on a ramp.
No advisories on the last MOT that might give a clue ?
PS; if it is the rear bushes, get some of the soft compound Poly bushes if you plan to keep the car for a while. The standard ones from aftermarket manufacturers will have play in them within a year, even the BMW ones don't seem to last that long. Make sure you get the comfort/soft ones though, the hard ones make the already bashy suspension much worse unless you are on a race track
Edited by Jimmyarm on Sunday 29th June 12:56
Jimmyarm said:
You need to raise the car off the ground and check for play in the joints/bushes.
What you are describing sounds like the rear lower arm bushes, you can check this to some extent by kicking the front of the tyre towards the back of the car, a lot of movement indicates they are shagged. As above, it's much easier to check on a ramp.
No advisories on the last MOT that might give a clue ?
PS; if it is the rear bushes, get some of the soft compound Poly bushes if you plan to keep the car for a while. The standard ones from aftermarket manufacturers will have play in them within a year, even the BMW ones don't seem to last that long. Make sure you get the comfort/soft ones though, the hard ones make the already bashy suspension much worse unless you are on a race track
Thanks. The local MOT place put it on the ramp and the control arm bushes are shot.What you are describing sounds like the rear lower arm bushes, you can check this to some extent by kicking the front of the tyre towards the back of the car, a lot of movement indicates they are shagged. As above, it's much easier to check on a ramp.
No advisories on the last MOT that might give a clue ?
PS; if it is the rear bushes, get some of the soft compound Poly bushes if you plan to keep the car for a while. The standard ones from aftermarket manufacturers will have play in them within a year, even the BMW ones don't seem to last that long. Make sure you get the comfort/soft ones though, the hard ones make the already bashy suspension much worse unless you are on a race track
Edited by Jimmyarm on Sunday 29th June 12:56
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