Well group, I am up to some unplanned stuff and it all started with "so I need new tires this year". I'll spare the details. As of tonight, I removed the front struts (going to replace the rusty bearing plates) and lower control arms. The vertical bushing on the lowers is showing signs of ripping (they are factory original, 86K miles on a 2004 Monte). First, I HATE this design since the first time I saw it. I had a 93 Grand Am where the lower control arms had two horizontal bushings (which make sense, it works like a hinge) and then my first experience with this vertical bushing was in a '04 Grand Am (same gen, one year newer). GM has used this setup for YEARS. Best I can assume is maybe it dampens road vibration (and again, that's a guess).
Sorry, I went off the rails a little bit.

So, I need some input, I am looking to rebuild my control arms.
1. - MOOG sells K200787 replacement lower control arm bushing. Claims you use a ball/socket configuration for longer life vs the stock rubber bushing.
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...424067&jsn=469
Anyone here use this? Is it truly worth while or is it still better to use the rubber bushing?

2. - I tend to be a fan of Energy Suspension poly bushings. Anyone know of a Energy Suspension poly part number for the horizontal bushing on the control arm?

Thanks group!

 

Well, I know you wrapped up this work. Do you have any pictures and/or information from this project you can share?

 

Admittedly, after getting the car back together, going 4 hours to the Michigan meet and 4 hours back, all was fine. Now that I am home... I have a noise from the front passenger side wheel to to research and resolve (I am hoping it is a matter if I need to tighten something, but I need time to get under with some wrenches).

But, all that aside.... I ended up with:
- Dorman control arms
- Moog ball joints (as I don't know how good Dorman ball joints are).
- Moog vertical bushing K200787 (this is NOT a rubber bushing, it's a ball and socket design).
- I stuck with the Dorman horizontal bushing as I did not like the fit of the MOOG poly bushing.
- I also pulled the front struts to change the front bearing plates (tired of popping the hood and seeing some rusty strut plates, now, nice new and black).

Something I want to point out about the Dorman arms vs my factory original arms. On the opening for the vertical bushing, Dorman has 4 small welds to hold the two pieces of steel together. The factory ones do not have any of those welds. I believe that simple change actually adds strength to that stamped steel design.
And drilling out the rivets without a drill press and using a ball joint press to get the bushings in, you get quite the work out!!

I admit, for the strut plate swapped, I took the struts and new plates to a friend's shop and let his guys do that (they have a better and safer compression tool to do the job than I have access to).

And below are some pics.