Your vehicle may have suspension bushings of different sizes, shapes and thicknesses. The materials used for making these components can also vary. The most common materials used for making automobile suspension bushings are graphic composites, rubber, urethane and polyurethane. The primary job of bushings is protecting expensive vehicle suspensions from wear and tear. This makes it extremely important to ensure that your car does not contain a bad bushing. If at all your vehicle has a bad bushing, you must take it to a nearby automotive mechanic without wasting much time; however, make sure the automotive mechanic you are taking your car to is known for carrying out brakes and suspension servicing. The pointers below will teach the process of diagnosing bad suspension bushings.

• The first thing you should do is a drive test. The test should be performed in an area consisting of different kind of road surfaces, for instance, curves, speed bumps, dirt roads, straight pavement and rough pavement. Try to find out whether your vehicle is making any suspension noise. Any squeak, clunk or squeal might be an indicator of problems in the bushings. Such sounds indicate that the automobile bushings have cracks or have started wearing.

• The next test will require you to park your car. To test the bushing, you will have to park the car and immediately apply its emergency brake. Now, inspect all its tyres (pay more attention to front tyres); tyres that are wearing abnormally are indicators of issues in the bushings. You must be wondering what abnormal wearing would mean. If you see the tyres of your vehicle worn on its outside or extreme inside tread surfaces, there’s every reason to assume that there’s a bushing-related suspension misalignment.

• In the next step of the inspection process, you will have to raise the hood of the car and find out the strut tower within its fender well. The rubber bushing you will find there should be inspected for deformity of any kind. If you find splits or cracks on it, you should get it replaced immediately. Replacement is also recommended if the rubber bushing is crushed.

• Push the suspension of your vehicle several times. If the shock bushing separates from the compression momentarily, there’s surely a problem in the bushing. Such behavior of the bushing is usually a sign of wearing or crushing.

• Now, it’s time for you to perform some exercise. Slide under your car’s front; make sure you take a flashlight with you. Inspect the angular bar running between the wheels of the vehicle. This component should have 4 bushings; examine them individually for cracks and splits. Even if there’s a minor crack in any of these bushings, you should get it replaced by a new one.

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