Hello, the title and description pretty much say it all.

When I first bought my car in May, I went to get an alignment and they told me they couldn't because my some of front upper control arm bushings were seized. Unfortunately Honda only sells the entire control arm, not just the bushings. So I had them order me some Mugen bushings. Turns out they were on back order from Japan, apparently it took several months to find this out though. So I, myself, ordered some bushings from powerflexusa.com. They get them from the UK so it took about a month to finally get them.

Today, I go down to a local shop to get the new bushings installed (different shop, the first one is far north) and I tell the mechanic the story, and he tells me that the front upper control arm bushings do not affect the alignment at all and it would be pointless to replace them.

Sorry for the longevity, I appreciate your responses, thank you.

 

I wasn't aware that there was any adjustment on the front upper wishbones.

It won't hurt to replace the bush and bolt...you'll may need to replace some of the rear ones too if the car has been around a while (like mine!) then you may as well Polybush all of the car which can be a little costly.

Reading my recent thread on seized alignment bolts may offer some advice on removing old bushes/bolts.

 

Hey, thanks for your response. There aren't any adjustments for the front upper wishbones, that's why I'm so confused, does that mean it can't affect the alignment? Thanks, I'll check out your other thread.

 

Anyone else have any input? Question is in the title and subtitle.

 

what do you mean seize? how does a rubber bushing seize? bolt seized to the inner sleeve? cant take the bolt off?

in any case, no, you dont even touch the front upper control arm bolts during an alignment.

 

Well if it's stuck (seized) in a crooked manner, it will put pressure on the rest of the A-arm-spindle-lower A-arm. It could be 'pulling' in a certain direction. That in turn can create unnecessary stress on other balljoints.

 

My car is in the shop now, and the mechanic called and told me that the front control arm bushings are seized and that they cannot finish the alignment! I thought this was kind of bogus, but am going to the shop tomorrow to examine and take pictures. I'll post them tomorrow in this forum.

-Ryan

 

The caster adjuster on the front LOWER a-arm seizes all the time. Very common.

It will take serious skill to free it up.

 

If you have driven the car during any kind of wet conditions they will look like this:


These are some of the alignment bolts front & rear including the rear track rods.