Lower control arm bushing
 

hey guys, I am thinking of buying a 94 cobra this weekend. it is basically stock with 100k. I haven't driven it b/c it is a couple states away but the owner says it is in good shape except for the bushings on the left front lower control arm. He says it drives fine except it vibrates at highway speeds especially when you hit a bump. Does anyone have any experience with this? Are the bushings going bad on the control arms common? The bushings are a cheap/easy fix, but i'm scared it could be something more expensive. thanks alot, josh

cheap easy fix? Suspension is hardly ever cheap, and never easy. It maybe be a balljoint problem or some other suspension or steering bushing problem. It all depends.

My daughter has a 94 v6 with 144,000 on the odometer and the the ball joints were shot and the bushings squeaking. I just got both lower control arms from Ford Racing (bought from Summit). Not hard coming off but putting that spring back in is a pain. I think they cost about $185 for the pair. I don't know how much a shop would charge to install ( probably about 4 hours labor )

sounds like control arm. I would plan on changing both control arms, struts, and might as well do tie rod ends. that way you have everthing new, and the car feels much tighter.

thanks for the help. Does anyone have any suggestions for control arms? My brother says go ahead and go tubular. Are the cobra's the same as other sn95? I read the cobra crossmember was moved forward and the control arms were slightly longer to improve steering and suspension geometry. thanks

Evrything you wanted to know about the Cobra's, buy the book:

www.svtcobraguide.com

If you are just street driving, go the easy route and put poly bushings in the lower arms, you'll be fine. Mine grabs like mad with the poly's and has zero wheel hop! I you have the extra $$$ to spend, then what the heck, go tubular!

I have a '94 with the same issues....

That's going to be my winter project, lower control arm bushings. I may get new control arms with ball joints, but I'm going to try the bushings first.

A couple of months ago I replaced the shocks and springs all around. It's actually pretty easy to do, and I believe it did it all with no spring compressor.

Hint: Removing the end links will allow your control arm to drop far enough to replace the spring, usually without a spring compressor...

Thanks guys! I bought the car, now a proud new owner, finally!
The steering is real tight, it has a new rack & pinion and there is no major clunking, but it makes alot of noise... It isn't like a power steering whine but more like a squeaking and some rattle. I haven't had a whole lot of time to look under it but when sitting still and i move the steering wheel just a few inches side to side it makes the squeak and a small clunk, like there is play in something... but there is no play in the steering. is your cobra like that beanhead? mine also has new shocks and struts. Thanks again guys.

If there's no play in the steering but it makes noise like that, it may be just the bearing that the steering column rides in, or maybe the steering column under the hood is up against something like exhaust or clutch cable or something.

It sounds like you have the exact same problem that I have (squeeks when turning, rattles & squeeks when going over bumps). Me and a friend got under it then jacked it up and what we came up with is one of the struts is bad, I haven't fixed it yet. But if yours is a strut I found out that stock Cobra struts (which are different than GT's) are about $80 each from ford.