Hey guys, I have a 2003 MINI Cooper with about 115,000 hard miles on it. My question is, when should the rear trailing arm bushings be replaced? How long do they last? What are some of the signs of worn rear trailing arm bushing while driving in terms of handling and stablity? My suspension mods now are Powerflex front control arm bushings, new front ball joints, OMP lower front strut brace, Ireland fixed camber plates, HandR 18mm rear sway bar, H-sport springs, H-sport rear control arms, and Koni yellows.

The car now is pretty netural, but feels like it wants to understeer sometimes at the limit. Also sometimes the steering is twitchy and heavy feeling in some turns. The back end sometimes gets light but I though the camber plates would help out more.


Alignment:

Front camber: passenger side: -1.5
driver side: -.1.9
Front toe: 0
Rear camber: -1
Rear toe: 1/16 toe in

settings for the street:

34 psi: cold front and rear
Koni yellows: front:1 turn from soft
rear:1 turn from soft
HandR rear sway bar: full stiff

Note: 3 of my BfGoodrich G-force sport tires are kinda close to the wear limit, while the 4th one on the driver rear is only like one month old(I had a tire blow out) Could this have anything to do with the way the car is drivng?
Thanks! Sorry for the long post!!

 

Unless you look at them, it's hard to tell, but I'd put a buck on it that they are pretty shot with your mods and miles. Just replace'm.

 

Is it expensive to replace?

 

Depends what work you can do yourself. The hardest part would be pressing out the old and in the new bushings.
I should though take back what I said as I was thinking about the front arm bushings when I was talking about the rears. The rears 'might' still be OK.
Best way to check them is to jack the car and remove wheels. Disconnect shocks and sway bar links. Might want to remove calipers and rotors. Now you arm should just be hanging by the bushing. Raise, lower, twist, push and pull. If it's all pretty stiff then you may be OK. These are filled with oil as I remember so check for leaks or cracks in the rubber.
Hmmmm, sounds like a lot, but as I say, with your mods and hard miles I think you really need to check them out.

 

thanks!

 

If you have the early model bushing you could use a mirror to look for cracks. In this photo there is one at 12 o'clock and another at 7.


I say don't bother looking, just change the brackets; it is time.

 

How do the worn bushing effect handling?

 

All rubber bushings get hard with age. Any cracking, as noted above, would be reason for replacement as well.. If the car has gotten harsher, expecially with age and miles, look at shocks and bushings to restore that "New" feeling..

 

Just about all the suspension has been replaced except my rear sway bar endlinks, upper rear control arms, and rear trailing arm bushings. I think I am going to have someone look at the rear trailing arm bushings.