Discovery 4 bush replacement

[CF0491]

After your combined wisdom. Getting organised to replace the front lower control arm bushes in the future, am looking at superpro. What have people put in and how have the bushes faired. Is it a good idea to do the upper control arm bushes at the same time. My car is a 2009 with 165,000km. The lower ones were done at 115,000 but I don't think the uppers have been done. Has anyone had to replace any of the rear bushes ?

[Ferret]

I've had to replace rear bushes - rear upper front. Never have had to do any uppers at the front though.

[DieselLSE]

Hi CF0491 (they don't write numbers like that anymore...)
If you're asking these questions then you are indicating you don't have the resources to evaluate and replace suspension items yourself. Fair enough. So I would suggest seeking out a good Indy who can do this for you. The Sydney people can offer their suggestions as to who you can go to.
The D3/4 suspension setup is really well designed and whilst not that difficult to understand, service and repair it can be readily stuffed up by those who don't have the interest to learn it. Or to even read the excellent workshop manual. Check Lukeis posts about a disastrous wheel alignment that chewed out new tyres.

[loanrangie]

And stay well clear of any poly bushes, worst thing you can do to these vehicles.

[Tombie]

Gday Magenta [emoji41]

If you like the ride the car has - only fit genuine style hydro bushes.

Solids/Poly are an absolute no in this application.

Ride gets harsh, and in worse cases the stresses they induce in the arms causes failures. I warned of this years ago and it’s now becoming visible as the mounts fatigue due to lack of flex.

[CF0491]

Thanks for the feedback guys, much appreciated. Looks like the hydro bushes are the way to go.
New to owning a Discovery so still trying to get my head around what's required to keep them plugging away. Glad to have found this forum to tap into people's experience.
Cheers Craig

[DiscoJeffster]

Thanks for the feedback guys, much appreciated. Looks like the hydro bushes are the way to go.
New to owning a Discovery so still trying to get my head around what's required to keep them plugging away. Glad to have found this forum to tap into people's experience.
Cheers Craig

A middle ground is the Advanced Factor heavy duty replacement arms which have a rubber solid bush but are gentler than the poly but slightly harsher than hydro. Most people report those as indistinguishable from hydro but longer lasting. I can’t comment personally but that’s what I’ll be buying soon

[jwb]

I need to get mine done. I want to get genuine bushes fitted to a set of arms I already have then have someone replace the arms.

Can I get a recommendation for where to get this done in Melbourne... press in the new bushes and fit the arms and hopefully do the alignment - happy to drive from inner east.

Thanks

[CF0491]

Thanks DiscoJeffster. Are these the arms/bushes you were referring to?

Tombie, your name seems to pop up on a few posts do you have an opinion on these bushes vs hydro.

[PerthDisco]

Thanks DiscoJeffster. Are these the arms/bushes you were referring to?

Tombie, your name seems to pop up on a few posts do you have an opinion on these bushes vs hydro.

There are no unhappy buyers of the Meyle HD arms.

[Tombie]

No. Never tried them and never will. I consider the Hydro bushes consumables and for the tracks I drive, at pace, I want the original ride quality.

I hear good reports for those looking for a slightly longer lifespan and Justin Cooper has fitted them with no issues.

First set of bushes went around 70k on mine and took 2 hours to replace. I’ll happily do that every 70k for the ride.

[Discodicky]

No. Never tried them and never will. I consider the Hydro bushes consumables and for the tracks I drive, at pace, I want the original ride quality.

I hear good reports for those looking for a slightly longer lifespan and Justin Cooper has fitted them with no issues.

First set of bushes went around 70k on mine and took 2 hours to replace. I’ll happily do that every 70k for the ride.

I have an interesting "situation" with my MY13 TDV6.

Purchased it Oct 18 with 101,000 klms and was (supposedly) given all the service and Repair invoices for the life of the car. I was assured they were complete and looking at them i have no reason to think otherwise as the previous owner (I bought it from a car yard) had stayed with the same Indie in Sydney for virtually the car's life and all the klm records are consistent.
There is no record of lower control arm bush replacement on any of the invoices.

Car has now done 133,000 k and a coupla weeks ago Justin had it to replace the cam belts and a general check over.
He pronounced the bushes to be fine, but commented that they must surely have been replaced at some time, but it begs the question as to whether they are in fact original and if so it must be some sort of a record!

It appears the car spent its life in and around Sydney suburbs as no evidence of off road or stone damage etc.

Given that most people commenting on this subject say that they'll only last max 80,000 odd klms, I can only assume they must have been replaced at some time prior my purchase but I didn't get the repair invoice.

I guess I'll die wondering........[bigwhistle]

[DiscoJeffster]

The ones in my vehicle last 168,000km on the first set [emoji2369]

[Tombie]

It really can depend on how and where you use it.
Mine did thousands of corrugated kilometres at elevated speeds and it taxes the suspension.

[Eric SDV6SE]

I have an interesting "situation" with my MY13 TDV6.

Purchased it Oct 18 with 101,000 klms and was (supposedly) given all the service and Repair invoices for the life of the car. I was assured they were complete and looking at them i have no reason to think otherwise as the previous owner (I bought it from a car yard) had stayed with the same Indie in Sydney for virtually the car's life and all the klm records are consistent.
There is no record of lower control arm bush replacement on any of the invoices.

Car has now done 133,000 k and a coupla weeks ago Justin had it to replace the cam belts and a general check over.
He pronounced the bushes to be fine, but commented that they must surely have been replaced at some time, but it begs the question as to whether they are in fact original and if so it must be some sort of a record!

It appears the car spent its life in and around Sydney suburbs as no evidence of off road or stone damage etc.

Given that most people commenting on this subject say that they'll only last max 80,000 odd klms, I can only assume they must have been replaced at some time prior my purchase but I didn't get the repair invoice.

I guess I'll die wondering........[bigwhistle]
1st set (complete LCA's) from new replaced at 120,000km, now at 200,000km, so i reckon another 40,000km should be ok. Mixed bag of touring, towing and offroading, bush beach and everywhere in between. Only 1 wheel alignment ever after the LCA's were done.

[loanrangie]

The Meyle HD bushes will almost give you poly lifespan but with no adverse handling affects, you wont feel any difference to the hydro's.

[Pippin]

The Meyle HD bushes will almost give you poly lifespan but with no adverse handling affects, you wont feel any difference to the hydro's. Agreed, we both fitted ours at the same time and they've been great. I replaced the complete arms sourced from Advanced Factors.

[Ghost-Who-Walks]

Interesting to read this (and the other) threads on the LCA. The various opinions are invaluable (thanks everyone!) - but at some point I need to make a decision!

Just for reference, these are the other couple of posts I've found useful:
D4 control arm replacement,again (https://www.aulro.com/afvb/l319-discovery-3-and-4-a/265032-d4-control-arm-replacement-again.html)
Lower control arm bushes (https://www.aulro.com/afvb/l319-discovery-3-and-4-a/246658-lower-control-arm-bushes.html)

I've just ordered an original (hydrobush) version of the LCA's from Advanced Factors (KIT607).
Steve at AF recommended the Meyle HD bush, and said he hadn't had any negative feedback.

Ultimately my 2 main concerns are:

ride quality
reliability

i feel the hydro bush should give me both. Whilst it may 'fail', it is gradual and noticeable (front end noise), and doesn't disable the vehicle.
And with regard to ride quality, it could be a 50/50 - but if i don't like it, it's an expensive (and frustrating) experience to fix it or put up with it until...

Also a huge shout-out to Steve at Advanced Factors - he answered my emails over the weekend (with never more than 5mins wait time, regardless of the timezone).
He gave me some really useful information (which I've copied below for others' benefit).
And helped with payment to make sure I got a great discount!

************************************************** ***
Info from Steve at AF re LCA and bushes:
The only difference on the RR Sport pre 2010 to post 2010 is the part number of the Hydro bush, however the early one is no longer available and changed to the later one, so they are all the same now (and still have the problematic Hydro bush)

Discovery 3 bushings and ball joints have all upgraded over the years and are now the same as Discovery 4, lots and lots of part number changes! The Discovery 3 main improvement was to move to an increased duty ball joint (32mm ball cup moved to 35mm ball cup) this was standard on the Discovery 4 and all RR Sport.

There is no advantage for you to look for an improvement unless you do away with the Hydro bush and move to our KIT630, the Meyle solid bush does away with the weakness of the Hydro bush and is a massive seller for us. I have not seen any negative comment in ride comment on these and are sure to last much longer. Hydro bushes are easy to destroy and are a definite weakness where used, the other main use of them in the industry was with early BMW models and everyone replaces those with solid versions now.

So my recommendation is go for the KIT630
************************************************** ***

Hope this is useful for everyone...

Enjoy

Rob