Rusted bolts shouldn't be a problem. They rust only on the surface. A good penetrating oil will get it to move.

The torque specs on the bolts for the bushing is only 20lb-ft. Aligning them according to the diagram should hopefully keep the bushings from under stress.

 

Sorry, another thought on the marks on the upper arm. Those marks are for standard height? If I'm lowered about an inch, I would have to compensate for that correct? So I wouldn't use those marks??

By the way, after putting on the used arm which was installed on a stock height car, my inside tire is wearing out, which is why I'm trying to fix this. And hopefully fixing the steering wander in the ruts at the same time. I'm just not convinced the rack is shot.

 

Makes sence to to me to turn the bushings a bit for the lowered car, just picture in your mind how they will be I guess. However... it also makes sence to me that using stock parts on a lowered car WILL lead to worn out tires on the inside. The Control arms (upper and lower) are not the same length (if they were the same length, as in a parrallelagram, your tires would stay perfectly straight up in hard turns, not good traction, and in bumps). When you hit a bump or go into a turn in a factory setup, the tire normaly will lean into the car and then the springs push the tire back down to where it's upright again. When your car is lowered, your supension (with stock parts) is un-naturally set up to start out in a leaned in position at all times. When you hit a bump in a lowered car it leans in even more. If you don't get all the right parts when you lower a car, it's going to handle funny and wear out tires and it could be unsafe! That's why they make ball joints and other parts to compensate for the lower stance.

And now I just read through all the above posts. Having a bad ball joint will for sure wear out your tires on the inside very fast.

 

Thanks for the thoughts. I 'm going to have to spend some time with this and see if I can get some better handling. I didn't think the H&R OEM sports would make much of a difference, but I guess it did. I may just go back to the stock springs with my Bilsteins HD's since they aren't meant to be used with shorter springs either.

 

Now I have a question for you. I just bought a used upper control arm. It's very easy to take apart with a jaw puller. How do you put it back in? Will turning the hex nut snap it back into the knuckle? A jaw puller will have to push the entire ball joint back in and there probably isn't enough clearance to do so.

 

Yes, just tighten the nut and it will slide in, just like a tierod.
By the way, I took off the used arm and replaced the bushing side with the good one from my "new" arm. Then I just positioned the car so that it was level on both sides with the same amount of suspension load and tightened the bolts for the bushings. Big ass difference in handling feel. We'll see if helps my tirewear any. Steering is still loose over ruts but nice on flat pavement.

 

I just replaced mine the other night. Now I know why you have to remove those bolts to get it out. If it wasn't for that piece of metal at the back, it would've come right out. Cool.

 

I was able to drop the strut and pull the Control Arm over the top of the strut without taking the assemble apart on my step mom's car. Going to replace all my ball joints this week.

 

I thought long and hard about that one. I didn't want to undo any of those bolts since they have never been removed (13years ).