question powder coated front suspension
 

I recently had my front upper and lower control arms powder coated but they left the bushings in while they baked them, do I need to replace these? Or can I just grease em up and throw them back in?
Thanks guys

Anyone? Any experience with this?

Bushings should be replaced.

Ball joints should have the rubber boot removed, clean out grease, add new grease, fill new rubber boots with grease and install onto ball joints.

Interesting, I powder coat things and I've never left bushings in. I suppose they could be OK, the curing temp of most powders is 400F. Some cure at a lower temp but I've never seen any that cure higher. So, if you find out if the rubber can handle 400F and not deteriorate you might luck out.

Thanks for your help guys, I may just replace them with poly for piece of mind. What type of grease should I use for the ball joints?

I also powder coat and they would have had to media blaster them with the bushings in. I wouldn't trust the old bushings. You now have the opportunity to replace them now so why not? The first gen Energy Suspension complete bushing kit is like $170.

I powder coated my own stuff, bushing and boot removed. My cure time was 375, so I doubt that would do anything to the bushing, but I would definitely taken off the boot. It's good to have the stuff replaced anyways while it's out so might as well do it.

Btw just curious why were you getting them powder coated and not putting in new bushings or a new boot?

I removed the boot and I'm replacing all of them but I didn't have a press for the bushings so I left them in and had them powdercoated

I live in canada and shit rusts easy so I decided to get them powdercoated while I had them removed

I don't think you would have to worry about the rust as most if not all the suspension parts are aluminum. Aluminum will oxidize, but basically create a tougher layer on the outside to prevent further oxidation.

It's nice to powder coat regardless because it helps make the suspension parts easier to clean. Has your bushing ever been replaced? If not what is the mileage on the car? Just asking because if they haven't you could save yourself the headache later and do them now while they are out. Also getting a press to push the bushing out should be fairly cheap, I got mine for around 85 bucks and the 12ton press was enough to get it all done.

95 thousand km so about 60 thousand miles, never been replaced by the look of them. I'll look around for a press but I think I've decided it's a good idea to replace them.

Just replace them, bring new life to the car and there a cheap part.

did you have them powder coated with the ball joint boot in place? how did it affect it?

No way would I powder coat an FD upper or lower control arm due to the one piece design with the ball joint. I don't think the grease won't tolerate 400* of heat to bake in the powder nor any plastic parts under there. Those control arms ain't cheap. Not worth the risk of damage.

since the arm is off, might aswell freshen up the bushings/joints. You'll have to do it late on

Did it a while ago on my other car, seemed fine but I didn't move it much, I've since sold that one and bought another FD