$2 Ghetto Poly Control Arm Bushings

[funcrew]

Haha, Ingenuity is a must when you own an E30, But CAB's are only like 17 bucks each.

True. But I'm an old geezer and have things I'd rather do on weekends than fix cars. If and when I get inspired to take the suspension apart, I'll put in M3 CAB's, springs, shocks, and camber plates. For now, this hack job made a nice improvement.

[dashboardmonkey]

Haha, Ingenuity is a must when you own an E30, But CAB's are only like 17 bucks each.

[Teaguer]

Uhhh good job ?

[funcrew]

In "odd couple" terms, this one is for the Oscars. Felixes have your barf bags handy.

I was crawling under my cabrio, trying (as usual) to locate yet another leak (the steering rack this time) when I noticed that the control arm bushings were totally shot. I had noticed this condition many times before, and Rob at e30motorwerks.com had also mentioned it to me. This was one of those non-life-threatening things that I had intended to put off for a couple more years.

But then I got to thinking (never a good thing in my case). So I grabbed my trusty caulking gun, conveniently loaded with polyurethane sealing caulk left over from my subframe bushings mod, and the stuff just so happens to be EXACTLY 75D (more or less, unless it's not) hardness. I'm counting half the tube as my cost for this project.



I cleaned the bushings & surrounding area with some purple power cleaner, then repeated that process a few times. Rinsed thoroughly with pure Colorado River tap water and dried it all out with an electric heat gun. Applied Griot's Garage best-of-show wax to the control arm only, careful to not get any on the bushings or lollipop.

Squirted poly caulk into all the voids in the CAB's, then built up some more on the outside, tapering from thicker at the center, actually touching the waxed-up control arms, then thinning out gradually toward the outer edges of the bushing/lollipop. This on both sides of each bushing. Let the goop set up for 24 hours without moving the car. Done.

TEST DRIVE: Steering is more precise, less drama on braking, considerably more vibration in the steering wheel.

LESSONS LEARNED: It was cold (for the desert, anyway) when I did the project, and it was a pain waiting for the poly to set up good and hard when I needed to drive the car. This would be a much faster job in July, when the poly would cure in half a day or so. BTW don't tape over the poly with your daughter's purple craft duct tape :) to hold it in place - this will totally prevent it from curing (Ask me how I know).

SUMMARY: The fix did everything I wanted & I would do it again without reservations.