Update at 102k miles. My front end has developed some horrendous popping and creaking noises when turning at slow speeds. The front lower control arms are very easy to move by hand. I haven't had it off the ground yet to check all bolt torques and better inspect the arms, but my guess is they need replacing. They are the same design as the l405, l462, etc., which fail regularly. I replaced all four on a D5 and it isn't too difficult with a good ball joint separator.

 

Does it have a timing belt to replace or is it a chain?

 

The engine has timing chain inside and has an accessary belt outside driving alternator water pump and AC compressor.

 

Thanks for the update, will be interested to hear the outcome. My lower control arms also wiggle a bit when tugging on them (109k miles currently) but I assumed that was somewhat normal? I should have tried the same thing with lower miles for comparison. I haven't experienced the popping/creaking noises, yet.

You running stock tire size? Hit the trails often? Wonder what other factors can impact this.

 

100k-plus miles is an improvement.

The lower control arm bushings on the LR4 had a lifespan of 70k miles or less.

 

Tires are 265/70r18 Toyo at3. No serious off roading, but I do a decent amount of gravel roads to get to dirt bike and MTB trails.

I just pulled a wheel off and the arm that the air strut connects to (front, lower, rear) seems solid. The front lower with the large bushing has about 10mm of movement perpendicular to the bolt. This is with a pry bar and about 5lbs of force. That movement translates directly to the hub. The entire hub assembly moves back and forth. I'm not sure how much movement is acceptable, but it seems excessive to me.

 

That's not acceptable? My 2015 Escalade platinum is still on stock suspension at 325,000 miles except for the MRC shocks which lasts only at 80k miles!

 

Land Rover generally uses longer control arms, which is really the only way for increased wheel travel on an independent suspension. Longer control arms create more stress on the bushings.

At the same time, Land Rover generally uses softer bushings to make the suspension ride better. You can replace them with poly bushings that will last a lot longer, but the ride suffers.

 

Ok some interesting differences here and something I've been hoping to see what the long term effects would be, I've been running the stock size, 255/70r18 with K02's for comparison. I wonder if the increase in tire size, although minimal, had any impact over the long term wear? I considered switching to the same tire size you have last time I changed my tires but was hesitant knowing the amount of off-road travel we were going to do over the next 1-2 years, suspension wear-and-tear being my main concern.

Would love to hear from anyone if they think this small increase in size, over a long period of time, might have had more of an impact on the bushings vs. keeping stock size.

Also, if anyone out there with fewer miles is reading this post (let's say 15-30k), it would be awesome if you can give your lower control arm a wiggle so we can maybe draw a comparison between new-ish vs. high-mile!

 

I think the unspung weight is more important than the difference in size 32" vs 32'6"..
when I drive my steelies with Mud Terrains the driving and suspension demands so much more .