Kansas City MINI Enthusiasts

My sister has a 05 MCS and we are getting ready to repair the control arm bushings. The car has about 103k miles on it and I was wondering what are some other things that should be considering on being replaced.

Thank you in advance for your advice!

Hilary

BlueBerry03MC wrote:My sister has a 05 MCS and we are getting ready to repair the control arm bushings. The car has about 103k miles on it and I was wondering what are some other things that should be considering on being replaced.

Thank you in advance for your advice!

Hilary

Have the upper strut mounts been replaced already? I remember mentioning that last time. I think maybe the swaybar bushings could be replaced and check the wear on the engine mounts as well since those could affect performance.

Upper Strut Mounts replaced in 2014. I am looking at anything that would need to be replace within the control arm bushing area....Ball joints maybe? Is it just one part or two separate parts for ball joints?

Edit: I was looking at a recommendation repair list that was made by Baron and it said inner and outer ball joint? What website could I find that? My usual MINI car part website only offers ball joint for control arm bushing.

BlueBerry03MC wrote:Upper Strut Mounts replaced in 2014. I am looking at anything that would need to be replace within the control arm bushing area....Ball joints maybe? Is it just one part or two separate parts for ball joints?

I think the others would need to chime in on this. I don't remember what I replaced bushing wise on my old R53. If you're going to do the lower control arms I would recommend getting them pre-pressed with a core deposit. They send you pre-pressed bushings in a set of lower control arms and then you send back your old control arms.

Inner and outer ball joints, and I agree with Zack about getting the bushings pre-pressed. However, I recommend Polyflex bushings instead of the OEMs, they'll last forever and are fairly easy to install, once you have the old ones out.

This is not an easy job to do, you need to drop the subframe or take it to one of the specialists who have engineered a tool to do them in the car - like George's Imports.

Replacing the sway bar bushings and ball joints only make sense if you're going to drop the subframe. You can't replace the inner one unless you do. If you're dropping the subframe take a good look at the power steering hoses, especially the one from the reservoir, it's easy to replace once the subframe is down. I do not recommend polyflex engine mounts, too much NVH.

If I remember correctly, I think I got my pre-pressed lower control arm bushings, Polyflex, from WayMotorWorks. Price was reasonable as well. He does have all the bushings you could possibly need, among other things. Spent so much money there.