Am I jumping the gun on replacing these or do they need it?
I have a 98 d with 125,000 miles. The rubber on the upper control arm is dry rotted but everything looks intact.
I was going to replace all the bushings in the front end but then I started looking at everything and asked myself is this something that needs to be done or not So here I am any thoughts?

 

by factory specs i believe your supposed to replace bushings every like 12000 miles or something... im putting new bushings on upper and lower arms on the drivers side before i put them on... ill do the same to the passengers side when i get the chance.

 

That seems like low miles. I want plan on replacing them but I don't want do the job just because I want to replace them. On the other hand I dont want to wait till the front end is ready to fall apart.
I guess what I'm looking for is someone to point out some signs of wear. So I know what to look for.

 

Service grade parts are replaced at 12k and professional grade is 25k. You don't think that the fact that the rubber is degraded is a sign of wear? Would you replace the seal on your toilet if it was rotting away?

 

Just replace the whole control arm! Bushing and ball joint included with the control arm at rockauto.com is like 60 bucks for upper 80 for lower!

 

Good point srch I never thought of that. I'm definetly going to replace them now.
Turbo thats a good price for new uppes and lowers. But the bushings only cost $69 for both sides I think.

 

Professional grade uppers are ten bucks for the two bushings so that makes twenty for both uppers and then you have to buy two bushings for each lower arm at 25 per bushing making the total 120 for front end bushings. The lowers are hard to find. I bought the last two that rockauto had.

 

Autozone has polyurethane bushings for $69. It showed a picture of them it looked like it was for both sides. Maybe not I never asked.

 

hmm ok