Hello All, Happy New Year. The bushes, I hope, have gone in my front suspension and I'll need them fixed asap. I have CATs and am wondering if the bushes are any different to standard suspensions. I have looked around and can see the bushes are available on their own, and seem cheap enough to buy but are they easy to fit at home or will I need a press? I have my MOT coming up soon, and this is something likely to cause my car to fail.

Also, I would be very grateful if anyone could tell me the procedure of changing the bushes. Thanks for you time and help! S.

 

i have been doing a little research into bushes stu .....
i dont remember seeingh any that where specified for cats only , so i presume they're all the same ??
i will be watching this thread closely for when the experts reply

what noise does yours make ?
mine constantly groans on un-even roads , and thuds over big bumps !!!
it seems to be worse on the left side ....

i went to the jag specialists in bolton who have been lookingh after the car before i bought it , but theyre busy until next week , and by then i'll be in norfolk .
i'm hoping theyre easy any garage can fit them for me

 

The noises are thuding, creeking over potholes and I can feel how unstable the front feels through the steering wheel. Like I said I hope it is the bushes, it certainly feels like them. I hate it, it is awful. JoJags in Speke Liverpool is a pretty good Jag centre I'm told if you can run down there from Bolton.

 

im staying in toxteth at the moment , and i have been leaving messages for jojags ever since i bought the car last week . i guess theyre shut for holidays ??

 

I know the area well, being a Liverpool based coach driver. Have you tried Emailing JoJags? They normally reply to me quickly when I email them, but I do find that normal garages are also good at servicing these vehicles. I use a local garage myself, and he is very good with the car. Mine too seems to pull to the left, so when I have the buses done I'll have the tracking done too. S.

 

same bushings on all x308 cars
you need a special spring compressor to keep the spring compressed as you remove the the control arm that has the bushing within its self,then its as simple as bashing it out then in

 

Thanks for your help, is the compressor like a normal one or specific to the job? I have my MOT a week on Saturday so will try and sort it before then. Thanks again, S.

 

hey stu
i'm in norwich at the moment and have found a specialist nearby .
they had my car today and called me to say it was front shocker lower bush .
1 hour labour charge to fix it .
cheap fix !!!

that was the only bush etc`. that failed visual inspection . there might be more but hopefully that stops the annoying groan !!!

they picked car up and dropped me off an s-type courtesy car , and will deliver it back tommorrow , so i had a service done as well .

 

Thats good news for you! I suspect I have more than one bush out of action, but will stay hopeful! Its getting worse though and with all the bad weather the car can, on occasion, be a bit of a handfull in the slippery stuff. MOT next week, so we'll see what that turns up.

Thanks for keeping me informed, hope you're not snowed in! S.

 

got the car back ..... the groan is still there

 

Ive been told 'groans' could be sway bar bushings also.

 

I'm sorry to hear the sound is still with you Ian, I wonder what it could be? I'm having mine checked out in the week. As H20 says it could be sway bushes, which I presume is the anti roll bar? I'll keep you updated with my progress. S.

 

easy way to find out (or ghetto fix) is to wrap tape around roll/sway-bar and re-fit bushes .

dont have a jack etc to do this , so i guess i'll live with it until i get back to n.w. then i will investigate and fix it myself

 

I have my MOT tommorrow, I'll update you soon about the verdict with the bushes. Hope your ghetto fix works. S.

 

I've had the MOT, and the car passed no problems. The tester said the bushes were all fine, and there is nothing wrong except for a split ball joint on the front. Could this be whats causing the bad ride? He also mentioned it could be the fluid in the suspension system needs replacing as its CATs, but I didn't think the system worked on hydraulics.

I will defo be having new underseal applied to the belly of the car though, looking under there it could do with it.

Any thoughts would be appriciated, thanks, S.