I was just told by a MD State Vehicle Inspection station that my LCAs need to be replaced. Now, given that the tech who looked at the car had only marginal command of the English language, I was unable to get any clarification about exactly what it was he had looked out, or what it was that made him suspect the arms were bad.

...But the tech also said that my windshield wipers were bad, which I know to be false. So before I go out and spend $500 on LCA parts and lose a weekend replacing them, I'd like to inspect them myself. Now, I generally know what I'm looking at with ball joints -- cracked rubber, grease leaking out, that sort of thing. Bushings, similarly, are pretty straightforward -- is it cracking, brittle, failing, etc. I don't have any of the classic driving-related symptoms of failing LCAs (shimmy, vibration under braking, etc.), so I'm curious if there's something that I missed last time I was under the car.

So when you're looking at your own LCAs, when do you decide to do the replacement?


Thanks in advance,

Dan

Visible physical damage to the ball joint dust boot or the bushing is one sign that replacements are indicated. To check the ball joint I find that squeezing the joint with a large pair of channel-locks is a good test. Any motion in the joint is cause for replacement.

Ok, I just got back from inspecting them personally myself -- the rubber is still pliable, no signs of tearing, brittleness, etc. The joints are still very tight, no motion when channel-locks applied. I'm going to go back to the inspection place and call the tech on his lie. If he doesn't own up to it, I'll call the state police on him. People like that need to pay the consequences for their actions.

Dan

To check the bushings themselves, you need a pry-bar or something which you can get between the bush and its mounting point on the body, and lever to see if you can get any movement. Easier if there is no load on the suspension too, so if you have a hoist this would be a bonus. Lateral movement = bad, no appreciable movement = good. Generally the thrust arms go first, as they have to absorb more dynamic forces and they are easier to examine that the LCA bushes as you can see part of the bush itself - the inside will start to separate from the outside of the bush, you might see cracks in the rubber or even a big gap.