One thing that any long term mechanic will soon get to realise, is that certain problems will occur with certain vehicles, and they will continue to occur for the life of that vehicle. I have seen quite a few Alfa Romeos which have suffered from top arm trouble, and it does not seem to matter if the vehicle has been properly cared for or not.

This low mileage 2004 Alfa Romeo 147 had been well cared for, and had spent most of its stationary life garaged. It was also never used when the roads were covered with ice, and salt had been laid down to deal with that ice. Yet it was still suffering from the same top arm suspension problems that I have seen on countless Alfas which have covered a far greater mileage, and been subjected to a more rigorous life.

The top suspension arm bushes were worn and had perished. This allowed the top arm to slop about, giving a very poor feel to the drive of the motor.

The replacement job requires the suspension to be dropped down completely. This allows access to the bolt which needs to be removed in order to replace the top arm. The book job time for replacing this arm is 1.05 hours, which is only 0.10 more than the time given to replace the strut. As with most book times, this is ok if all the nuts and bolts are new. But guess what, this one took a little longer than the book time.

With the job complete the suspension back on, this Alfa was back up to scratch and would hopefully be good for a little while longer.

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