Yes disable it after you have lowered the car. Just don't forget to re-able it before you lift the car back up to put the wheels back on

're changing the bushes ,removing the arms is simple if the pinch bolts aren't seized,removing the old Bush's is simple ,I run a hole saw thru the rubber ,opened a hacksaw and put blade thru and reassembled saw and cut the sleeve and popped it out with a screwdriver,10 mins will take all 4 out ,now the fun part ,,i am lucky enough to have a neighbour with a 10 tonne press in his workshop which pressed them in very easy,the big issue was getting them to sit square to get them started ,we filed the leading edge by a mill or so just to help them start square as the arm is alu and the bush kept biting and going of square ,the edge we filled sits out of the arm so it shouldn't matter , 're loading the suspension i did more or less what mj had said ,thou i hadn't thought of disabling the Jack mode

There's an ever-so-slight chamfer on one side of the arms. The bushes only go in without biting if you push them through from that chamfered side. Might not have been your issue but thought worth posting for others in the future to be aware of.

I discovered this when doing the D2 rear suspension bushes. When the steel covered bushes started chewing the aluminium . . . .

Famous last words!...What an absolute pig of a job this has turned out to be. The long pinch bolt was seized solid in the wheel bearing housing and after hammering it and heating it to no result, I remembered one tip I'd read in the comments in one of the youtube videos I'd looked at - snap the head off the bolt and then pull it through with the nut and washers. This was working a treat until I'd realised I'd trapped my ring spanner on the nut before getting it out fully so I ended up having to cut the bolt before the nut just to get my spanner out. I continued with the open end of the spanner until the bolt was fouling the wheel bearing housing knuckle so then I had to cut the bolt again after the nut. I then drove what was left of the bolt out of the housing with a metal drift I found at the bottom of my toolbox that looked like it hadn't been used in 20 years....I was probably at it close to two hours at this stage. Next came the ball-joints so off I went and bought a separator which snapped before it freed the first ball-joint I attempted. I hadn't used one of these before (quick bang of a lump hammer always did the trick) but it doesn't seem to be able to be used without damaging the ball-joint boot?

https://i.imgur.com/KsIpj5El.jpg

EDIT: I've a feeling the ball-joint tapers are seized into the aluminium in the same way the bolt was...

Once the pinch bolt is out I use a large tapered punch to push the upper arms out. Usually they need to be worked back and forth a bit to break the ring of corrosion around the pin where the pinch bolt goes.

I had the same problem ,I used a trolley Jack and a small round bar to apply heavy upward pressure on the pin in the track Rod and then taped the housing gently and prolonged and pin eventually started to move ( it's not that easy to get the bar and Jack positioned to get the strong upward pressure as part of the suspension stops u from getting directly under it)(same as yourself I didn't want to damage the rubber boots ) ,I think I cleaned the corrosion out of the slit with a hack saw blade and sprayed penetration oil into it before hand as well ,when I went to the second side i just rung the head of the bolt right away and pulled it thu with the nut as it seemed to be the only thing that worked on mine

Are you doing this on the bench or on the car?

On the bench - I never do control arms on the car. The principle should still work on the car, but you're swinging the hammer in an awkward direction of course.

I had tried the punch method on the car but couldn't get a good enough thump at it to free it with the hammer so moved on to the Jack and bar

Now ya tell me!!...lol
Indeed, no swing could be had with a hammer with the bearing housing on the car so I decided to take your lead and remove the whole assembly until I ran into the same problem again (only worse!) with the tie-rod ball-joint. The pinch bolt is seized solid and there doesn't even seem to be a bolt head to shear off to pull it through like I did with the other one. I had liked the idea of pulling out the whole assembly as the arms could then be torqued up to the referenced angle on the bench (if I read the manual correctly?) not to mention full access to my arch liner as I have a washer fluid leak issue to look at while I'm in there as well.

Thanks for that...I was ready to admit defeat and had the wheel back on with the intention of giving it to a professional, but I'll give it another go and see if I can get anywhere with the jack pressure. I did speak to a mechanic who told me he just hammers in a ball-joint fork and at the same time expands the slit in the alloy to get the arms out.