Need New Wishbone.

[ajt]

Had MOT last Friday, passed with an advisory:

"Offside Front suspension has slight play in a lower suspension ball joint"

So I thought I would just go ahead and replace the ball joint. Two hours saturday morning, job done (took so long as the original is rivetted on). Whilst doing the job I ended up taking the wishbone off, and noted the rear bush was actual split. I think if this had been spotted it would have been a failure, so got lucky there.

I want to replace the wishbone, and should probably do both sides at the same time. I was quoted £75 +vat per side at my local motorfactors, but spotted these on eBay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FORD-FOCUS-MK2-2005-FOCUS-C-MAX-CMAX-2-LOWER-WISHBONE-SUSPENSION-ARMS-NEW-/330647086577?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&fits=Car+Make%3AFord%7CModel%3AFocus%7CPlat_Gen%3AMK+II&hash=item4cfc1a25f1

Half the price! The guy has 100% and over 84000 sales!

My question is "Has anybody on here purchased these and can give any idea of build quality".

I already understand "You get what you pay for", but there is also "A fool and his money are easily parted".

So I am only after peoples real life experience, thanks.

[dezwez]

i would go with the eBay ones as he has got good feed back

and i would fit them my self and save some money

[ajt]

That was exactly my thinking, and diying it is not a problem. In a perverse way I like to work on my car!

I was just hoping someone on here has used these ones, and any real life feedback on the quality, but as you say and I pointed out 84000 people can't be wrong! If I don't hear anything to disuade me I shall probably be ordering tomorrow. Thats next weekends project sorted. I'll take of the newly fitted ball joint and put it somewhere safe.

[stef123]

The only thing i find with these aftermarket parts is the bushes dont tend to be as good quality as the originals and tend to fail sooner as a result.

[artscot79]

I Agree with stef i changed my old mk1 and the quality of the bushes was evident and the eBay ones just werent as good so i returned them and got oem parts

[ajt]

The £75 + vat for one from motor factor was not oem either, dread to think what oem would be.

[artscot79]

Ide be tempted to buy the eBay ones but buy polybushes and replace them or just get the eBay stuff then smear the face of the bush with good grease to help stop it cracking they will still do you a few years all comes down to cash flow

[Pidu]

I had the same situation - bought TRW bushes, changed them and all is fine. Those cheap suspension parts don't last long, waste of money unless you want to sell the car soon.

[ajt]

I had the same situation - bought TRW bushes, changed them and all is fine. Those cheap suspension parts don't last long, waste of money unless you want to sell the car soon.

I have been thinking about changing the trailing bushes, but was put of by something I read about needing special equipment, spacers etc, presses etc to get them back in the right position. Did the bushes you used replace the ones as in the link I posted, and if so how did you do it? Been googling bush replacement, but not got anything definitive.

[artscot79]

the arms are very easy to bend so it depends you can get poly bushes for the rear but the rear suspension needs dropped if the suspension bolts are ceased my mk1 was and i had to take it to ford 240 quid with me supplying the bushes that involved dropping the whole rear end down then refitting the bushes doing the tracking etc thats better than the 500 an independant wanted to do the same job it was easier just buying the arm complete with bush even ford dont like doing just the bush

[Pidu]

I have been thinking about changing the trailing bushes, but was put of by something I read about needing special equipment, spacers etc, presses etc to get them back in the right position. Did the bushes you used replace the ones as in the link I posted, and if so how did you do it? Been googling bush replacement, but not got anything definitive.

The link you posted was with whole wishbones as far as I can see. I decided to change wishbone rear (trailing?) bushes because it was much cheaper than good quality wishbone. TRW does a lot of oem parts, so no risk.

Special equipment would speed up the job, but I do not have any. First I got rid of the rubber and outside part of the bush by putting it into fire. All that has left was metal muff, carefully removed with hammer and few simple tools. Then position new bush properly and put it into place - again hammer was very helpful. All straight, there was no problem to do the tracking / wheel alignment.

Unfo my technical vocabulary is poor so please excuse possible mistakes.

[Stoney871]

All that has left was metal muff, carefully removed with hummer and few simple tools. Then position new bush properly and put it into place - again hummer was very helpful.

You needed a large american army jeep to remove them?

Blooming strong bushes. :P

Careful about mentioning bushes and muff in the same post too.

You'll be giving people ideas.

Sorry, couldn't resist... again

[ajt]

Thanks for the advice/opinions guys, I really do appreciate it (love this forum, the way people like to share).

Just to clarify the bush I am talking about is the front lower suspension arm, rear/trailing bush, just like the one shown in the eBay link. My choices seem to be

1. Replace just the bush.

Pros: Overall potentially the chepest solution, and giving perhaps longer life than an after market complete suspension arm.

Cons: Removing the old bush and putting the new one on in exactly the same rotational angle as the original, also getting it pushed on exactly the same distance as the original. Not sure I would ever be happy that I had got it spot on. Cant find any guides on the net for these bushes (they are different to the MK1).

2. Get the cheap arms I linked to in OP

Pros: Assume geometry is correct, relatively simple to do (I have already had one arm off to do the ball joint). Could then try to get the originals refurbished with new bushes at my leisure, waiting in the wings for the cheaper ones to fail.

Cons: Might be a ripoff and they fail catastrophically going 69.9mph in the outside overtaking lane ( :) ) of the motorway, if they last 40,000 miles then I would still be happy.

3. Get a quote from dealer/independent

Pros: Cant thinks of any

Cons: Where's the fun in that, and I would not gain the knowledge or satisfaction of doing something myself.

I think I have convinced myself to go with option 2, and get the complete arms (keeping the old ones in reserve).

[ajt]

Quote "metal muff" = brillo pad? Ouch.

[Pidu]

You needed a large american army jeep to remove them?

Blooming strong bushes. :P

Sorry, my mistake, funny indeed. Will correct it immediately.

Careful about mentioning bushes and muff in the same post too.

You'll be giving people ideas.

Sorry, couldn't resist... again

Quote "metal muff" = brillo pad? Ouch.

<_< Sorry, but I do not understand. I know my English is far away from perfect so I will refrain from posting

Aaaaa....... no, you will not get rid of me so easily :P :D

[Stoney871]

I do love a good sense of humour.

Anyone know where I can get one?

:P

[ajt]

Here is a picture of the damaged bush, sorry about quality, used a boroscope.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/I-D4lERI-ATz5KWVIt2fE9FBFaMcCC4HpGYwgurXXgo?feat=directlink

and a couple of others

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/T7MIgRQz9ElgwXyRO5RpkNFBFaMcCC4HpGYwgurXXgo?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/kfJPIRGOEsCHC8-kTa8G3tFBFaMcCC4HpGYwgurXXgo?feat=directlink

[ajt]

I've just placed the order!

I'll let you know what they are like.

[stef123]

I dont think the split bush is an MOT failure, from what i have always been led to believe it needs to be hanging out or causing excessive movement to fail.

have you gone for the eBay arms? it might be worth trying ford to see if they can get you bushes for the arms, i done this with a car in the past. bought arms from eBay and fitted genuine bushes (about a fiver each) to them

[artscot79]

the bushes will pass an mot but wont do the rear end handling any favours if they move too much youl find youreself going sideways round the roundabouts

[NorthSussex]

I don’t have any real life experiences of these eBay parts, but for what it’s worth, I did hear on the radio recently that a lot of cheap dodgy car parts were being imported from the far east, these were deemed to be unsafe to use, and should be avoided.

I hope the parts you have ordered are not part of this consignment, if you have any doubt return them for a refund; you and other peoples lives may depend on your car being safe.

[Pidu]

have you gone for the ebay arms? it might be worth trying ford to see if they can get you bushes for the arms, i done this with a car in the past. bought arms from ebay and fitted genuine bushes (about a fiver each) to them

I don't know how it looks in UK, but in Poland Ford does not offer bushes for wishbones. You can get only the whole wishbones.

[artscot79]

Well i just had new front rear upper bushes done under warranty thank god it was as yet again like the mk1 ford didnt use grease on the bolts so the drivers side had to get the spring cup cut off bolts drilled out and a whole new piece fitted along with the arms and bushes

[ajt]

I fitted the new wishbones yesterday, and true to form not straight forward!

Firstly quality: I had no cause for concern, very sturdy contsruction, bushes looked fine. Don't know if I would recommend (because they have only been on the car hours). For the money I don't think you can go wrong. I think a lot of the eBay sellers are selling exactly the same quality at twice the cost (cheap!=crap as expensive!=good, but a lot of people think this subconciously (my self probably included)).

Secondly my own stupidity!

A week ago I replaced the lower ball joint on the off side arm, and this is when I found out my taper was 21mm. So I promptly ordered 18mm wishbones. Doh!

Had to go to motorfactor and pickup another ball joint and swap over.

Had tracking done for 35 quid yesterday afternoon (front and back checked, only front needed doing). Front was 30mm out, no surprise there. Car feels a lot firmer now. Very happy with results.

Cost:

Both front wishbones £74.95

Replacement lower joints(!) £30

Tracking £35

Total £149.95 (<-about the cost of one genuine ford arm, and take £30 quid off for my own stupid mistake, £120)

[Stoney871]

Job's a good'un.