Hi Folks,

"Jasmine", my '96 XJS 4.0 convertible, is showing some signs of bad bushings in the front. She makes a clunk after reversing direction and applying the brakes. (all brakes are new). And the front left tire (sorry; I meant "tyre") has worn down on the inside edge.

I have the factory service manual, and while I wouldn't try doing the A arm bushings myself, the manual makes it sound like changing the four subframe bushings isn't very hard. So I was thinking of changing those myself and seeing if that fixes the problem.

But manuals can be deceptive. They might say "remove the bolt" but not mention that it takes the strength of ten men and an atom bomb to budge it. I'm particularly worried about the part where they say to "tap" out the front bushing...The British are famous for understatement.

So I thought I'd ask someone who's already done this. How hard is it, really? I should mention that Jasmine has 95,000 miles and is a California car (now a summer-only Colorado car) so she has no rust I can find.

Thanks,

-mB