I recently purchased a 2011 Panamera turbo with ~38k miles on it. I live in the northeast and with the recent cold spell anytime I went over a bump I heard a loud crunching noise coming from the front of the car. I assume that the control arm bushings are shot. Given my schedule and limited garage space, I’ll likely have one of two independent shops in the area address the problem.

I was fortunate to purchase the car at a great price and honestly figured I’d have to deal with this issue sooner or later. Although I won’t know the exact issue until they make a diagnosis, my inclination is to just have them address everything while they are at it. I’d be frustrated if they did the lower control arm bushings and then I had to deal with the uppers a short time later. I was thinking of purchasing all the parts ahead of time and then just paying their increased labor charges for the work.

Given that many people seem to have gone through this process before, what do you think of this approach? Any suggestions?

 

Do it all at once and save yourself the headache of having car in shop more than being able to drive it. All front suspension typically fails, struts, arms upper and lower, stabilizer links and bushings....I recently did it all still get crunching from cold, now I think fuel pump is bad

 

what happened with your fuel pump

 

got this light today with code p1031 and it seems if you drive car with less than quarter tank of gas eventually pump fails sooner than later.....this will be a costly repair for sure

 

Thanks for the insight. I've read about some people just replacing the bushing in the lower control arm, as opposed to the entire control arm itself. What did you choose to do? It looks like FCP EURO has a kit with all the control arms for ~$1,250 (KIT-970CTRLKT) and the stabilizer bar link kit for $65 (KIT-3568002KT). Did you simply do your struts as preventative maintenance? I haven’t seen to much on replacing those.

 

I plan on replacing all the bushing next spring, doesn't make sense to me to pull everything apart and only replace a couple.
replacing arms costs too much when only the bushings are bad - that said, I'm going to be supplying the labor - if you can't do it yourself the arm replacement might actually cheaper when you factor in all the labor charges.

 

I went back and forth between getting poly bushings for the uca's or just getting all new arms... I decided I didn't even want the possibility of the polys affecting the ride quality (even though I have air bags). If they go bad again, I'll def replace them with polys at that point for $100. Now I'm just trying to source a reasonably priced set of struts from a reputable company.

 

I'm currently in the process of replacing everything myself. It makes sense to address everything at the same time instead of having to go in there several times.
Here is a summary of a post i made a couple of weeks ago, this should address your questions :

I'm just about to perform my big maintenance and addressing the entire front suspension is part of that. I spent several hours going through the exact same questions, so let me help you out :

- Lemforder is the best bang for the buck, any feedback I read on URO was negative. Lemforder is the OEM supplier, so you get the same quality at half the Porsche price. With the exception of the 4 sway bar bushings, I was able to source everything at FCP Euro, which was a great buying experience. More info on the purchase process and associated discounts below.
- You basically have to address several parts of your front suspension, and end up by tightening everything down according to specs. Following are the parts you need to buy and replace:
A] 2 new upper control arms (Lemforder 3568201KT)
B] While the lower control arms each have 3 bushings in them, only 1 of them needs to be replaced on each side (Lemforder 3572901). This is an expensive bushing which runs about 80$, but the alternative is to replace the entire control arm, which will set you back over 300$. Replacing the bushing will require you to find a local shop with a special bushing press, or you will have to build your own homemade contraption.
C] The swaybar needs following parts replaced :
c1 : 2 upper bushings (Porsche 97034379205)
c2 : 2 lower bushings (Porsche 97034379305)
c3 : the swaybar links (Lemforder 3567902KT - suspension dependent !)

Here is a copy of my FCP Euro shipping form :

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

| Qty | Product |

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

| 2 | Suspension Control Arm and Ball Joint Assembly |

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

| Qty | SKU Label | Tracking | Ship Date |

+------------------------------------------------------------------+

| 2 | LEM-3568201 | 133656320482 | 10/31/2019 |

| Suspension Control Arm |

+------------------------------------------------------------------+

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

| Qty | Product |

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

| 4 | Audi VW Hex Bolt - Genuine Audi VW N10290206 |

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

| Qty | SKU Label | Tracking | Ship Date |

+------------------------------------------------------------------+

| 4 | VAG-N10290206 | 133656320482 | 10/31/2019 |

| Hex Bolt |

+------------------------------------------------------------------+

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

| Qty | Product |

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

| 2 | Suspension Stabilizer Bar Link |

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

| Qty | SKU Label | Tracking | Ship Date |

+------------------------------------------------------------------+

| 2 | LEM-3567902 | 133656320482 | 10/31/2019 |

| Suspension Stabilizer Bar Link |

+------------------------------------------------------------------+

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

| Qty | Product |

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

| 2 | Control Arm Bushing |

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

| Qty | SKU Label | Tracking | Ship Date |

+------------------------------------------------------------------+

| 2 | LEM-3572901 | 133656320482 | 10/31/2019 |

| Suspension Control Arm Bushing |

+------------------------------------------------------------------+

FCP Euro normally does not provide a discount for PCA, Rennlist, etc...but I was able to convince them since I ordered most of my maintenance parts from them. The 5% discount code they gave me is : 88e3y77
The upper and lower sway bar bushings is something they did not carry, so I had to order it from Porsche. Talk to Luke at Sunset Porsche (Parts:888-819-8508), they are by far the cheapest (5% mark-up from their own price).

 

Here's an interesting read :
http://www.insanegarage.com/panamera...nter-bushings/

As a matter of fact, grinding noises while going over a bump might be more of a sway bar bushing issue. There's a ton of information out there, but as said, go in there once and address it all.

 

fuel pump should be that costly. Maybe the labor - I would do it myself personally, or find a good indy shop - dealer cost will be stupid considering they want $500 for an oil change which is $75 worth of parts and an hour of easy work....

 

Part is $1900 labor isn't the big worry

 

oh that sucks! Is it the engine mounted one? I hate this direct injection business....

 

Yes it is, driver side firewall

 

Does anyone offer a poly bushing kit for Panamera?

 

upper arm bushings are available(Siberian), lower ones I haven't been able to find.
Going to machine some of my own