Brand? OEM?

[VAPORBLADE]

Hey all! I am getting tie rods, ball joints, and CA's. What brand is good/OEM? I do not want the cheap ass crap. I think I will pick up some tree house racing CA bushings too. :)

[jlevie]

I don't know the brand, but the parts that Bimmerworld sells are equal to OE and usually for a bit less cost. They also offer an excellent offset control arm bushing.

[KenC]

Lemfoerder

[E30Driv3R]

Lemfoerder or Meyle

Some people have opinions on what are better quality, they will both work for you.

[VAPORBLADE]

Thank you all!

[KenC]

I've heard of quality issues with Meyle.

[E30Driv3R]

ya that is what i was trying to say, But i could not remember the company people thought were worse.

But on my old e30 i had meyle CAs and they were fine. All depends on experience

but both will work.

[z31maniac]

Lemfoerder

Excellent to hear. A good buddy of mine works at NAPA and this is the brand of control arm they sell. Believe he showed me on the computer tonight that he could sell them to me for $70 a piece.


Add on to OP's original question. Is there any reason to replace the CA's other than the ball joints. I mean, you can have new ball joints pressed, why replace the entire CA?

[smonkbmw]

ive had good luck on 2 different cars now with the kit from seller FCP groton on ebay. the full kit with cabs, cas, and tierods.

[E30Driv3R]

Add on to OP's original question. Is there any reason to replace the CA's other than the ball joints. I mean, you can have new ball joints pressed, why replace the entire CA?

correct me if i am wrong...

But I thought you could only do that on the Aluminum CAs?

[z31maniac]

correct me if i am wrong...

But I thought you could only do that on the Aluminum CAs?

This is what I'm trying to figure out.

New ball joints pressed in, would run me like $55 or so vs $140 +tax for new CA's.

[Elephant]

You want to make sure to get Lemfoerder. Meyle, Hamburg Technic, Moog, etc are all crap, even those made in Germany...any country can produce crap. Sure you'll pay less now to get the parts but you'll also get more practice changing them out. Stick with OEM which is Lemfoerder. All these other supposed "heavy duty" brands are garbage. There is a reason BMW uses Lemfoerder and not these other brands.

Regarding changing ball joints....you can do this on the steel arms NOT the aluminum arms.

[z31maniac]

Regarding changing ball joints....you can do this on the steel arms NOT the aluminum arms.

OK that's what I thought.

BUT, is there any reason to go ahead and change the entire control arm?

[Elephant]

Well, depends on the cost of changing just the ball joint I suppose. For a track/race car I'd probably just change the arm personally. But, if for street use or if you want to keep the arm then compare costs. You're going to have to remove the arm anyway so there's no additional labor. If you buy the ball joints (can you get quality parts for both of them, inner and outer?) and then the cost to have them replaced (assuming you're not doing it yourself) how does that compare to simply buying a new arm? And, again, assuming you're not doing it yourself, what is the time factor in taking the arms somewhere to have that done.

For some it will be better, for some a wash, for others a waste. Personally it's not worth it to me and I don't recommend it but for some it is.

Cheers.

[z31maniac]

^I think for the price I can get the new arms I'll just go that route.

Thanks for the input.