Hi all,

During my 72000km service the dealer noticed that my drivers side rear wheel has some play (you can wiggle it very slightly). His recommended fix was to replace both drivers and passengers side upper control arms in the rear suspension. His quote was $700. The warranty on that part expired at 60000km. This ticked me off a bit. I'm sure the problem was diagnosable at 60000km when I went in for my service. They just waited until now so that they can bill me.

I jacked the car up and it looks to me like just the bushing is worn out. Thats clearly where the linkage is moving around. So my question is: How hard is it to replace the upper control arm bushing?

thats a rediculous attitude, as the dealer gets GARANTEED money if they find the problem under warranty. A customer isnt always going to buy it, but warranty will.


you cant get the upper bushing separately; only the lower. the upper comes with the arm.

The rear upper control bushings and the dogbone bushings do wear out prematurely but 700$ is rediculous. The upper control arm cost is 80$ in Canada and is held in place by 2 bolts torked at 70 foot-pounds and takes 15 minutes if you take your time. There is no need to realign rear if it wasn't aligned with worn bushing. The dogbones cost 32$ but those are a little harder to change. Had mine changed at my local garage for 45$ including torch charges. You can see these pictures (with mods)in the suspension area of my garage OUTY.

Just noticed in the picture you even have the part number for the control arm but this one is for the AWD.

I hope it's help for you

Thanks a lot. Do you know where I can buy the arm in Canada? As well as other mitsubishi parts? I've had trouble at my local canadian tire in the past.

Also, I have the AWD as well, so the part number in your picture should be perfect.

Again, thanks for the help.

Your Mitsubishi dealer is the best place for best price on those parts. If you replace the dogbones your also going to probably have to replace ecentric or toe bolts. 3.62$ at dealer 19.99$ a set at car part store.

Okay, thanks.

the dogbones are not the commonly wearing part.

the upper arm "pillow" bushings commonly wear in cold climates, as do the lower control arm "pillow" bushings.
the lowers are replaceable separately, whereas the uppers require a complete arm.

You will know quick enough when the dogbone outer pivot bushing is worn-out you will start to wear inside of tire and won't be able to align toe and it's not the cold it's the road salt that gets in past the seal on the pivot ball bushing.Thats why I added grease nipples on my new ones as seen in the picture I posted earlier.

Attached thumbnail(s)

the inner tire wear is from the upper and lower control arm bushing wear.

the dog bone controls toe, and is not a common failure point. It certainly may, but since Ive replaced hundreds of upper and lowers, and never replaced the toe link, Im going to say its not something to worry about.
Obviously when I said "cold", i was referring to the salt and corrosion that occurs in a cold climate.

and the inner tire wear you're showing us in those photos is on the front......

They were on the front after tire rotation but that tire was worn inside while in the back.

I finally got around to changing the upper arms about 2000km ago or so. Everything seemed fine at first, but now I get a lot of creaking. I've jacked up the car and I can't feel any play at all in the wheels, but they both creak, passenger side worse than the driver.

I notice someone said 70 ft lbs... I have a manual which says 90... Could they be over torqued?

Since there is no play, I can't visually see which bushing is worn. So how do I figure out what to change next?

The dealer has this unit where they attach sensors to all these different bushings so they can tell which one is creaking. It might just be the saddle bushing on your swaybar if it sounds like an old school bus.

they are common failures.
the upper and lower arms bushings' will need to be replaced.

Yeah its more a creaking/groaning noise rather than a high pitched squeek. Its also not entirely consistent. Sometimes I can reproduce it with the car parked and me just rocking it side to side. Other times I can't get the sound to reproduce until I drive a little bit (1km or so).

you probably also have a situation in which the rear tires are badly cambered "in" when viewed from behind.

Eh manybrews too many. I have not had upper control arm bushing or outer dogbone bushing wear since I added grease nipples. Are you saying I should have added nipples to the lower control arm bushings too because I have 159000+kms on my 04 and I just past inspection no mention of lower control arm bushings. Did You know that it comes out cheaper to replace lower control arm than to replace just outer bushing. Less labor I guess. Same with rotors cheaper to replace than to turn.

both the upper and lower bushing are EXACTLY the same bushings.. theres just no easy way to replace the upper arms, as the arm is too thin to properly press it out.
Since they are the same, they both suffer the same issues... water intrusion and massive corrosion.

And its certainly NOT cheaper to replace the whole lower arm, as the bushing itself is about 40 bucks, with about 80 bucks labor to replace it. you dont even have to take the arm off the car if you have the right tools.

Thank you Many manybrews lower control arm is only 72$ at my dealer. And I can do it myself.