front wheel lower arms

[toondoug]

Hi All, Ive just been told after a recent service that the bushes have gone in the front wheel lower arms and they need to replace them, arms too. Ive never experienced any symptoms/issues what should i look for and how quick should get them replaced? Thanks in advance

[Avalon]

So the wishbones then? Unless you live in a seaside environment, it’s not normally the arms that need replacing, but the bushes. That said, from a labour perspective you may as well replace the whole lot for £100ish the pair in parts than try and take them out, replace the bushes and re-fit them. You may want to do the ball joints and drop links at the same time as it’ll be easy to do and have a minimal parts cost vs the additional labour later on and follow it up with wheel alignment. In terms of how soon, sooner rather than later, if they are obviously deteriorated then it’s an MOT issue.

[toondoug]

many thanks Avalon

[Avalon]

For genuine parts, multiply that figure by 3-4x and ToyotaPartsDirect aka Kingo are your best bet, I tend to prefer AUTODOC if you aren’t in a hurry for good quality alternatives at a fraction of the price (in some cases they also carry parts from the same manufacturers Toyota source from in Japan), I use my local factor if I am in a hurry. I’d suggest avoiding Euro Car Parts (ECP), they aren’t cheap and are generally the supplier of last resort, don’t fall for the highly dubious ‘sales’ marketing, CarParts4Less is the online version of the same company and usually cheaper for larger orders. Ebay has reasonably priced parts, but I would suggest a known brand part is a better bet than whatever is cheapest on a car you intend to keep.