2000 Crown Victoria, 148K
The car recently developed a creaking sound from the front end. Careful inspection revealed that one of the upper control arm bushings is the source of the noise…specifically, the driver’s side front bushing. I’ve found that the bushing can be purchased separately, but my concern is that it might take a machine shop to pop the old one out, and/or squeeze the new one in.
Is it smart to simply replace bushings on a car of this age and mileage, or should I spring for new control arms that come with new bushings already installed? Your opinions are valued, thanks!!
Spraying those control arm bushings with a silicone lubricant usually gets rid of the creaking noise. And it’s a lot cheaper.
Tester
Heh…yeah, I guess it would be. Maybe I’ll try that first! 
if one bushing is gone and you are going to do the work do all of them while your at it. it is sometimes cheaper to go with a full polyurethane kit than rubber replacements. the problem is removing the rubber bushing from the old sleeve to put in the polyurethane bushings in the same metal sleeve. doing just one bushing at a time can lead to multiple jobs. it is just easier to replace them all at the same time.
At that mileage I would carefully inspect the upper ball joint. If the joint is even slightly loose the entire control arm should be replaced.
The bushings won’t kill you; the ball joints might.
Actually, on this car the balljoint can be replaced separately from the control arm. They’re held together by a pair of cam bolts that are used to set the camber and caster for each wheel. This is something I was thinking about anyways. Stuff wears out with mileage, so if I was going to replace the arm, a new balljoint was going to come along with that. Thanks!
I rebuilt the front end of a '92 Vic for the same problem. I replaced them all, along with the idler arm and shocks. My ball-joints were fine…In 1992 they still have grease fittings…They took the whole front-end apart. Cost me $600 with an alignment, but it drives like a new car…It used to wander a little, now it’s like it is on rails…