Are your vehicle's suspension bushes failing?

How can you tell the suspension bushes on your car are passed their best? There are many indicators but there are three easy ways to tell without inspecting each bush for wear:

1. Excessive body roll
   Are feeling more roll when cornering than you remember? Can you feel it tipping over or hear the tyres squealing more than usual? As cars age, it's difficult to tell what's new but usually a driver's intuition can tell if your car is behaving differently and you are probably correct.

2. Delayed steering response
   When you turn the steering wheel, is there a slight delay in the car turning in or do you feel the need to correct the turning movement you just made? If it feels a bit like you're correcting yourself or do you don't quite know where your wheels are pointing, that's almost certainly a sign the bushes are cooked.

3. Clunks or vibrations
   Are you hearing clunks, clonks, knocking or feeling vibrations that weren't there before? That's almost certainly the bushes allowing too much movement, or, conversely, not allowing enough. Rubber tends to go much harder in texture for months or even years before it ultimately fails and is picked up by an MOT. This can be the reason your car can feel "old".

Remember, your MOT is not an assessment of whether your suspension is working well, it will only highlight when things are dangerous or verging on failing. Enthusiasts: be proactive and make sure you keep your car in perfect working order.

Also remember, after upgrading any of your suspension ALWAYS get your vehicle fully aligned by a professional wheel aligner. Changing worn suspension component will change your vehicle's geometry so you need to make sure you're setup correctly for optimal handling, safety and tyre wear. For the curious, we have a full guide to what all the various angles and principles of wheel alignment mean.

If you have any of these symptoms, get your car checked immediately (after seeing what bushes we can offer to make your car feel better than new). If you're not sure, please ask.

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