Astra G lower arms - Any damaged ones?

wils978

Hi all,

I'm going to be fitting a set of powerflex bushes to my 2003 2.2 Astra G. Does anyone have any lower arms that has bush damage? I'm not bothered about the balljoint or rubber boot as I would replace that anyway.

I was going to buy some new crap ones off ebay and just push the new bushes out but if anyone has any that they've just replaced.. I'm intersted.

you're prob all going to say why not just use my own ones? If I do it this way I can fit the bushes at home without the risk of busting my own ones. Then I can drop the subframe, swap the arms over & change the rollbar bushes and shuve it all back on. Winter is too damn cold to be messing about with cars 🙂.

astra22bertoneauto

You definately wont damage your own ones and if you're clever enough you wont need to drop the sub frame to change the roll bar bushes either. Done quite a few of these on my cars.

wils978

Yeah it's very unlikely as I'm only cutting or burning away the old bush. How did you manage to change the anti roll bar bushes on the Astra without dropping the subframe? I haven't worked on an astra before so I haven't even looked yet. Just had a good read through the haynes and it states to drop the subfame which is why I thought I'd have to?

astra22bertoneauto

wils978 said:
How did you manage to change the anti roll bar bushes on the Astra without dropping the subframe? I haven't worked on an astra before so I haven't even looked yet. Just had a good read through the haynes and it states to drop the subfame which is why I thought I'd have to?

Haynes manuals are quite useful but i have found a shortcut way. Jack up the front of the car on both sides and put on axle stands. Remove both front wheels. Remove the drop links on both sides as this will allow you to rotate the anti roll bar upwards to allow space for your hand. Remove the wishbones on both sides (ideal time to do the powerflex bushes whilst they are off). Now the metal clips holding the bushes are secured with torx head bolts but a size 10 socket/spanner will fit. I used a small 1/4" ratchet with 10mm socket. With the anti roll bar turned upwards you can get your hand in and be able to use the ratchet to undo the closest bolt and remove. The bolt furthest away is a bit more tricky but by feel as well as some sight you can get the socket over the bolt. This bolt only needs to be undone about 3 - 4 turns just to loosen it off. Once loosen you should be able to pull the anti roll bar towards the front of the car thus releasing the metal bush holder. Lift off the holder and replace the bush. Refitting is reversal of above.

Have a read of my old post and the pictures will explain a 1000 words lol

https://z22se.co.uk/threads/powerflex-front-bushes-done.20447/

Hope that helps.