Hello All,

Was at the dealership yesterday getting an oil change and this was noticed on the front driver side...





Questions:

1) Is this the front lower control arm? (I thought the LCA was the curved piece to the left, in the first picture)
2) If so, can just the bushing be replaced or would I need the whole piece?
3) And, would this be the front lower control arm inner bushing?
4) If not the front lower control arm, then what is it and what piece, part would fix this situation?

Your help, as always, is much appreciated!

 

The service manual calls it the transverse link.

 

a while back the dealer told me i needed to replace my bushings i believe, not sure if the arm itself, "due to you riding around lowered without getting an alignment", I still havent got the bushings replaced, Im saving up for aftermarket arms

 

So then the front lower transverse link bushing would correct this? Like this one offered at mynismo.com?

http://www.mynismo.com/products/?id=5348

54560-RRZ30 NISSAN 350Z 2003-2006 Front Lower Transverse Link Bushing $35.00

 

You got it. That's the only bushing that Nissan seems to sell for the transverse link. I had the exact same thing happen to my tranverse link bushings (one side first, then the other). I just replaced each one, because the Nismo bushings took 6 months to get in from Japan. Now I have the Nismo bushings just waiting until I need them. Maybe Mynismo.com has them in stock now...

 

What did it feel like when the bushings failed?? Did it vibrate your steering wheel?

 

I honestly didn't even feel that it had failed. My tech showed it to me.

I am also seeming to find that there might be different names for this "arm" or transverse link. Here is a product from Whiteline...would anyone know if this would work also? I called the retailer directly, and they weren't sure.

http://www.oakos.com/Merchant2/merch...ory_Code=10800

 

How much they going to charge you to replace all ur bushings?

 

I will probably only do the two bushings (one on each side). But I need to find out which ones exactly will work. I am having a friend do the install, so shouldn't be too bad as far as cost.

 

FYI Folks...it looks like the "transverse link" is also called a "lower control arm". Apparently one term or the other may be used when searching for this bushing. So from what I gather it would be either the "front lower transverse link bushing (inner)" or the "front lower control arm bushing (inner)". The outer bushing would be the bushing closer to the wheel while the inner is closer to the center of the vehicle. I hope I got this right.......

 

I considered the Nismo hard rubber part. But after reading the Noltec product discription I went them them instead.

oem bushing and arm


oem bushing out of arm


Noltec bushing


Noltech bushing pressed into arm

 

Looks familiar.

I dealt with this last summer.















Check here for my experience.

https://my350z.com/forum/brakes-and-...hlight=failing

 

It made a strange cement-mixer sound while turning, and the wheels kept jerking, which I felt through the steering wheel. My car would pull to the side when driving straight.

 

Thanks for the pics Gsedan35 and Spork! Much appreciated and I think these pics will be very beneficial to people in the future who go through this!

Gsedan35...how are the Noltec bushings treating you?

 

Gsedan35, also where did you purchase the Noltec's from? Thanks...

 

from past experience with urethane bushings, they wear out really fast needing replacement in less than a year. i've never delt with polyester bushings though. are they supposed to last longer? how long have you had yours? are they still nice and tight?

 

so if the bushings are failing, do i need to replace the lower control arms as Spork did?
I went in for an alignment and the dealer said my lower control arm bushings are torn, they quoted me $208.24

 

The Noltec bushings are polyurethane (essentially the same as urethane). Not to be argumentative but as far as your experience, it really comes down to the quality of the bushings you use. There are crappy polyurethane bushings and excellent polyurethane bushings. For example, we have been running polyurethane bushings in Adam's 600+hp 280zx for over 10 years without any issues and thats just one of the shop cars that we have completely outfitted with urethane/polyurethane bushings without any issues.

I have recently ordered all of the Noltec (Noltec, Whiteline and Nolathane were all bought out by Red Ranger and are the same company. Noltec = Whiteline Plus) bushings for my car. I wont be able to post a review for some time however due to the fact that the rear subframe bushings wont be in the U.S. for some time.

For anyone looking to purchase any of the bushings we have a of couple sets available, with the exception of the subframe bushing.

Front Bushings:
http://www.z1auto.com/prodmore.asp?m...ng&prodid=3783

Rear Bushings:
http://www.z1auto.com/prodmore.asp?m...ng&prodid=3784

 

IIRC, youcan replace just the bushings if you wanted.

I just have a thing where I insist on putting new parts on whenever I can.

 

thanks for the lesson Kwame, i just thought that urethane was urethane, didn't know there were good and crappy ones

what brand is adam using in his car?