Ford Focus Wishbone Arms

Jonners

Jonners

Jonners

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The time has come to get the bushes replaced on the Wishbone arms.

I dont know if the bushes have to be bought with the arm as a complete unit.

Can anyone shed any light on this?

Garage A doesn't tell me much and quoted me £120 to get the front corners done, which is suspiciously cheap?

Garage B says the bushes come complete with the Wishbone Arm and quoted me £226 for both NSF and OSF.

I'd be tempted to use Garage A but if they get hold of the car, strip it apart and then say it's going to cost more they got me over a barrel.

Please note non of the mentioned places are Kwik-Fit :p
 
What year?

I had an upper arm replaced on my 99 Focus as the ball joint was gone, but it's riveted rather than bolted to the arm and the whole lot had to be replaced. I'm not sure if I still have the invoice, but I will have have a dig around to see what I can find, but Im sure it was nearer to £226...
 
Jaymond said:
It's a 2007 07 reg.

I'm just on Unipart now and they seem to sell bushes for £10.75 inc vat....

http://www.unipartautomotive.co.uk/...~Flexible+Mountings~BUMT-FM~Bushes,+Mountings

Can't quite fathom why it'd need the Wishbone arm replaced also?
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Ahh my experience probably not relevant. And it looks like Ive binned all the paperwork.

The bushes for the ball joint on mine were riveted to the wishbone and couldn't be removed so the whole lot was replaced. I have a memory that this was not the same for later models though.

As for replacing both, it's generally better to replace suspension components in pairs, to ensure you don't have one side with brand new parts, and the other side worn, which could upset stability.
 
Jaymond said:
It's a 2007 07 reg.

I'm just on Unipart now and they seem to sell bushes for £10.75 inc vat....

http://www.unipartautomotive.co.uk/...~Flexible+Mountings~BUMT-FM~Bushes,+Mountings

Can't quite fathom why it'd need the both Wishbone arms replaced also?
Click to expand...

a lot of the time its easier to replace the wishbone arms rather than have to cut out the old bush from the wishbone and press in new ones.

you either pay more for the part and less for labour or the other way round.
 
We always recommend new wishbones, you get nice new bushes sat in on clean metal with no worries regarding poor seating due to corrosion or distortion and you get a new ball joint at the same time.

Also bush replacement scan be a faff around at times while swapping the arms over is about as simply as it gets so the mechanic will appreciate the less annoying job.
 
Its MUCH easier to replace the arms instead of the bushes. Some garages will change bushes, some will just change the arms, makes no difference really.

Getting the arms done on the front on my fezza for £150
 
I would just change the arm too, you'll be able to do it yourself with little more than a socket set, ideally 2 jacks and balljoint splitter (unless the focus has anything peculiar going on). Will save you any labour, just get it tracked afterwards
 
Had a shocker of a quote this morning.

£520 for two arms fitted.

But in the real world they seem to be around £220-240 for two wishbone arms.
 
i have to do this on my mondeo soon .. 2 arms = £50 track rod ends £20 droplinks £20 rear subframe bushes £80 . Will fit myself but no idea on the labout "time" to fit but i would guess an hour a side and 2 hrs for rear
 
Had the pattern parts fitted, the mechanic claimed to be unhappy with the stance of the tyres whilst the car was up in the air on the ramp.

It was giving this effect:

46-3.jpg


Toe out???

Is the car potentially a wrongun? Or are pattern part track rod End/Wishbone arm at fault?

:confused:
 
They are obviously the wrong ones then. What on earth is the mechanic bothering you with this for though? A normal mechanic would have exchanged the obviously incorrect parts for correct ones and then contacted the owner with the happy news that their car is ready. :confused:
 
Mr Incompetent @ some back street garage.

He claimed to have 4 sets, all incorrect, yet only saw 2 sets, no contact was made to tell me they were all wrong and the car wouildn't be repaired with new bits, nor was any word said to collect the car, I had to turn up on spec just to pick a car up.

I have the old knackered track rod arms on the car again. Good job he didn't bill me for the time of his own he wasted.

Off to OMC Ford tomorrow, £56 just to have the car inspected for 30mins. To see what parts may need replacing, not quite sure how they are able to give a car the once over in such a short space of time...:confused:
 
So OMC Ford Confirmed the old existing track rod arms and bushes are fine, with their checklist report. Rebalanced all my Cars wheels and done the tracking. Stating the front tyres are fine and the wheels aren't buckled.

However the wheel shimmy through the steering wheel is still there stating @ 60mph, however they blame the rear tyres for this. I didn't think the back end could cause any shimmy on a FWD Car :confused:
 
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Jaymond said:
So OMC Ford Confirmed the old existing track rod arms and bushes are fine, with their checklist report. Rebalanced all my Cars wheels and done the tracking. Stating the front tyres are fine and the wheels aren't buckled.

However the wheel shimmy through the steering wheel is still there stating @ 60mph, however they blame the rear tyres for this. I didn't think the back end could cause any shimmy on a FWD Car :confused:
Click to expand...

By shimmy, do you mean its pulling? If its pulling to one side, you need a full geometry check of the car. You get a print out at the end of all the angles they've checked.

Mums 59 plate polo was pulling, heritage vw bristol morons said its fine. Bath VW checked the full geometry and found several of the angles were wrong!
 
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