May we all Have a Great 2015!

So my left control arm has bad bushing. And I am stuck in a toss up. Should I just replace the bushings, they look like they have to be pressed in and out, or replace the whole arm? I was looking at Dorman, Moog and Mevotech.
I've been replacing rubber bushings with polyurethane but I haven't found either bushing or control arms that specifically say the bushings are polyurethane.
Can anyone point me to the right Web sight! Rock Auto doesn't have them. Although I got polyurethane Stabilizer Bushings and end links from them.

 

The big donut/vertical bushing is pressed in. I've replaced it on some of the Grand Ams. You have to extract the rubber part, then it leaves a metal ring that needs removed.

I have found the easiest way to remove the vertical bushing is take a nut and a bolt and tighten them on that bushing (as tight as you can). Then either hold the arm in a vice or lay it on the ground (I did it on the ground), using a breaker bar or a pipe over your ratchet continue to tighten one side of the bushing (this should start to pull/spin the bushing out). This process also works for the horizontal bushing (but you must remove a flange from the bushing first).
To remove the metal ring, I've used a Dremel with a cut off wheel and put a slice into ring (must go all the way through the ring, you are trying to compromise it's integrity as a circle). Then using a flat head screw driver and a hammer, begin trying to chisel it out.

I have no good tips for installing new bushings. I've tapped the vertical one in and it's an annoying pain. The horizontal one, use dishsoap, wd-40, or something that can act as a lubricant to get it in there.

It depends on price of a new control arm and condition of your control arm if you want to full replace it. The pics below are from my old '94 Grand Am in 2009. My control arm rotted around the vertical bushing and when making a left turn, allowed the car to turn into the steering wheel. I had to replace the arm, the CV joint (it was over extended and pulled the boots apart, making a grease mess), and the car pushed the fender into the wheel (note the damage at the lower fender). I never replaced the fender (car was too old and rotting bad at that point, granted a month prior I changed the head gaskets on it at 180K). Wish I had seen that one coming to prevent it.

I've heard supposedly Dorman are not good with control arms, I know nothing about Mevotech, but anything MOOG has always been good (usually as good or better than OEM).

You asked about poly bushings. I'm not aware of poly bushings for these control arms. But I am going to warn you about something if you do find them. Some of the Grand Am guys have found a poly kit for there control arms (it's the same kit for the Cavalier) and I've heard a bunch of people who put it on a daily driver complain about it making the ride rough (feeling every bump in the road). Also during re-installation, it because poly is significantly stiffer, pushinig the control arm down by hand to get the ball joint seated is almost a two person job. This spring I'm doing a mod with my Grand Am (I'm rebuilding a set of '99 Grand Am FE2 aluminum control arms, I will be using new MOOG ball joints, and the vertical bushing will be MOOG rubber and the horizontal one will be poly, my belief is that the vertical poly bushing is what is making the ride rough).
You may have to contact a company like Energy Suspension with the dimensions of the control arm bushings and they might have something that fits. But I would recommend considering the plan I am taking with my Grand Am.

One thing I don't completely understand, the control arm goes up and down, why did GM design these this way? Since I've been in the Grand Am arena for a while, I had a '93 Grand Am and it's control arms used two horizontal bushings. I later got a '94 Grand Am (same generation as the '93) and it now had the horizontal and vertical bushing design. In my opinion, the ride quality between the two cars was the same, so i don't get why the change.

I hope that help answer everything JC (I know I threw a lot of stuff out there).

 

Hay Jason. Thanks! You are always the man with the useful Info.

I think I am going to go with a new Moog control are. Just one for now cause I got laid off, I only need one right now and the other I can do in the spring when the weather outside is warmer. When we move to Seattle next Summer a I will have a Heated Garage to work in and all The Toys I need, ORGANIZED!
For now I'll do the one so I can get thru the winter.

You never give me too much info. Although sometimes I do think you want to Data Dump some of the info you have in your head into mine! Lol I love knowing this, except when my car acts Stupid and I have to use it! But it is alway good info you provide me. From my first problem with the car back in 2012 to now! So spill you brains out. I'll absorb it and keep on keepin on.

 

lol, glad I could help JC. Trust me, I also have an equal amount of useless information in my head

Hopefully that control arm swap goes easy.

BTW - I don't know if this will work with the ball joint on the lower control arm, but I have used it on tie rods and other ball joint items. In my opinion, worth the $20 and superior over an old pickle fork almost everytime:
3/4" Forged Ball Joint Separator

 

I did both the outer tie rods. I just unscrewed the nut to the top the hit it with my 3 pound mallet. It cam right out.
Yeah I have an equal amount of "Trivia" in my brain too. And a map of the north east that I would LOVE to Data Dump! But hay, you never know when you might have to pit your brain against a N.A.S.A. scientist?