Installing MINI Cooper PowerFlex Rear Trailing Arm Bushing Inserts

 

 

After some favorable reviews on NAM I decided to try these out- they were cheap and easy to install at under $75 and about 1 hour of time. My car was a later build R53 and used the later style trailing arm bushings, this process may be different if you have an earlier model generation 1 car.

 

Way Motor Works stocks these bushings and is a big proponent of PowerFlex.

 

Standard Disclaimer: ANY USE OF THIS INFORMATION BY YOU IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. I ASSUME NO LIABILITY FOR YOUR USE OF THE BELOW INFORMATION.

 

 

 

 

Installation:

 

First step is to jack the car up and remove the wheel, supporting the car with jack stands:

 

 

Some only remove the wheel liner screws up front and hold it out of the way to access the rear trailing arm mounting point, but it only takes 5 minutes to remove them all and get the liner out of the way entirely. You will need a Phillips head screwdriver to remove the plastic rivets and a single screw under the car and a 10mm socket wrench to remove the plastic retainers:

 

 

After removing the wheel liner you will see the trailing arm mounting bolt:

 

 

Using a breaker bar and an 18mm socket, the bolt holding the trailing arm to the body/bracket is loosened- I used a 3/8 ratchet with an 18mm socket to remove the bolt entirely once the breaker bar had broken the bolt loose:

 

 

 

After the bolt is removed the trailing arm will drop down and is able to be moved by hand. Now is a good time to remove any dirt from the OE bushing crevices using compressed air or a damp towel:

 

 

 

The PowerFlex bushings are lubed up with the supplied lube, I coated the bushing wherever it would make contact with the OE bushing or hardware:

 

 

The PF bushings are inserted into the OE bushing, they will not stay in place very well until the bolt is started. The trailing arm can be moved by hand to get the inside bushing in place. The trailing arm can be lifted into place while your free hand starts the bolt, this can be tricky while trying to keep the bushings in place so be persistent and be sure NOT to cross thread the bolt. The bolt can be tightened a bit but the final tightening should be done with the car at normal height. I used ramps and tightened as much as I could with the smaller ratchet and then used a torque wrench to torque the bolt, not a lot of room to move. Torque specs at end of write-up: