Introduction: 

The upper control arm bushings are a common wear item considering how old our cars are becoming, and can have a serious impact on the handling and comfort of the car. Totally bad bushings allow a large amount of play in the upper control arm, causing the wheels to wobble, as well as create hard "clunks" when turning over the wheel at lower speeds. Another sign is incessant squeaking while traveling over bumps.

Now, this guide is written for replacement of the original rubber bushings, with new rubber bushings. It is very common for owners to install poly bushings in place of the rubbers, which is a slightly different process. The available poly bushings do not come with metal outer sleeves, the sleeves from the originals are required for re-use. If the originals are no good, this is not an option. In that case you are forced to buy new rubber bushings, so you can cut/burn them out and use just the metal sleeve.

 Keep this in mind when doing the bushings, if you're originals are in very bad shape, it may not be a good idea to re-use the sleeves. If you don't mind the expense of buying new bushings and destroying them to take the sleeves, then you may want to go that route.

Also to keep in mind, removing the sleeves from the control arms can be very difficult without proper tools, just removing the rubber itself is easier. Typically the bushings are burned out with a torch, or carefully cut out. I used a Hydraulic Chassic Punch to press out the old sleeves, its possible a ball joint press could work as well.

I also recommend replacing all the components involved with this job, meaning bushings, bolts, paddle nuts, and control arm rods. In the process of changing the bushings on my car, both control arm shafts snapped, 2 bolts broke, and both paddle nuts stripped and fell apart. The only downside is the cost. Using Fiero store parts, I replaced everything for about $230.

This guide is written assuming you are using all new parts, as listed below. 

Parts:

1. UCA Bushings - 1 pair per control arm

2. UCA Shaft - 1 Shaft per control arm

3. UCA rod bolts - 1 pair per control arm

3. UCA paddle nuts - 1 Per control arm, each paddle nut has two nuts.

Tools:

1. Torque Wrench

2. 15mm Socket

3. 16mm socket - to fit torque wrench

4. 19mm socket - to fit torque wrench

5. 18mm open-end Wrench

6. Ball joint removal tool