As I suspected, the lower control arm bushes have been replaced sometime during the first 24000 miles of the car's life but at least 16 years ago.

It appears that whoever did this followed the JTIS procedure, but was a tad over-enthusiastic with the cutter on both axles



The procedure warns about causing nicks in the castings, presumably since they can be a start point for fractures.
I intend to take a small round file to take the corners off.

Or am I overthinking this?

 

File the edges for your own peace of mind, then have a good chuckle. If it’s lasted 16 years and still looks that good, you’ll have no worries about there next 16 years.



Z

 

Yes, file everything smooth and you should be fine. You're dealing with a small percentage of the material. Smooth rounded edges make stresses go round and round instead of concentrating in one place.

 

Yep I'd use it. Have probably used worse at some point on some car.

 

Same detail.

 

Thanks, all, for the reassurance.

 

When I did my bushings, I lightly marked up the bores of the control arms too. I filed a little then used a flapper wheel that fit in the hole and buffed it up a bit. This was to ensure the new bushes pressed in OK. TM