Lower Control Arm Bushings

Hi All,

Took the Jetta for an alignment and they said the front left lower control arm bushings were too loose. The car has about 250K on the clock, the front bushings look pretty robust, do they generally fail or is it usually just the rear bushing that fails? I would do both but I guess there is a clearance issue on the driver side and the front bolt hits the transmission and I would rather not deal with dropping the subframe for clearance. Has anyone ever had to change the front bushing or is rear one usually the problem?

Thanks!

Edit: Actually it looks like the front both clearance issue might only be with the DSG and the manual might clear just fine. Does anyone know if you can change the lower control arms on a car with the 5 speed and have all the bolts clear?

There is no clearance problem with a five speed. I just did a set in a car that the left front bushing was very loose.

Usually driver's side goes first.
I would remove the control arms and replace both sets of bushings while I'm there.
You can install solid LCA rear busings for more stability as the hex key on the LCA is worn anyway

The S3's control arm brackets are the best bet, aka Meyle HD.

They are like the stock ones, but without the 2 extra slits on the side (the 2 extra slits add extra compliancy but are the weak points for causing the bushing to tear). Never been a fan of polyurethane bushings for the suspension for street use.