Pedders Lower Control Arm Bushings for BJ

[meGrimlock]

Long story short: hit a massive pothole. dented up my front right wheel badly. the shop said i also had torn LCA bushings. turns out the torn bushings were probably from wear and tear rather than the pothole. anyway i brought it to another shop to replace the bushings. they offered to replace new control arms for less than it would cost to press new bushings. i opted for polyurethane bushings cuz i've had some good luck with polyurethane parts lasting a while.

bushings were as described. part numbers, EP6519 and EP6518, these are for the front control arms only. matched the pictures on the site. cross referenced with Pedders AU website just to be sure. also included was a packet of grease which was nice but i bought some Prothane grease as backup incase.

the bushings were pressed in by the shop with no problems. they replaced the wheel and remounted the old tire, did a 4 wheel alignment.

initial thoughts: very noticable difference in ride comfort. less than 100 miles on it so far, it felt like i was driving on a dirt or fine gravel road on the front of the car, but the rear of the car was smooth. i'm driving on the same roads i drive everyday to work. not all of it is in the best of shape but the rubber bushings do a phenominal job cushioning the tarmac. as i expected the urethane bushings had a rougher ride due to the stiffer nature of the material, but by all accounts it was supposed to be negligible.

as soon as i got the car back the alignment was still off and the wheel that was replaced would lose grip, like a hydroplane, even on dry road. so i'm still troubleshooting that. i don't believe its a side effect of the bushings, but perhaps of the tires. swapped the tires and now im getting a torque steer effect. i'l report back any changes when i buy new tires and let the bushings break in a little further.

[meGrimlock]

i had posted in other mazda forums about help troubleshooting the pull/torque steer:

after 4 new tires were mounted and balanced and still getting torque steer. the pull is basically gone except when i accelerate. as soon as i let off the gas the steering wheel returns to straight position.

after 3-4 weeks of driving (it had been raining nonstop so i assumed it was just the roads). this finally happened, it would explain the pull:






my assumption the fluid leak is transmission fluid. couldnt move any more, no steering or forward/reverse gears.

my mom and dad were in the car when it happened. pretty loud noise from the wheel well and my mom totally freaked. my dad found this bolt a few meters behind the car. you can see the tire tracks on the street from when this occured and i managed to direct it towards the closest intersection and as far off the road as possible.

it will be hard to give an unbiased review of this part. i can say after a month of driving, the NVH levels seem to have gotten a little better, but i could also have gotten used to them.

[JDM Sam]

It looks like the bolt was improperly torqued. The bushing kit would not cause the bolt to back out as such. Remember to top off your transmission fluid as it has now drained out through the axle hole.