Ball joint/control arm survey

[billr99]

Who makes the OEM part?

Last time I got OEM arms it was for an 850/S70 and they had TRW manufacturing marks on them. Just guessing, but I would think that TRW would be a good guess with at least one other supplier providing parts to the factory. Typically, most OEMs have at least 2 suppliers for a given part to allow them some redundancy in their supply train.

With that said, I've done FCP-provided arms the last couple of times and they have worked fine. Haven't taken them to the 5 yr/160K mms mark though, but they have gotten fair usage on our fairly intolerable roads that we have here. For ball joints I always use Lemforder and if I had problems with bushings, which I haven't, I'd probably do poly. The arms are subframe mounted and the subframe is isolated, so poly would probably be OK. In any event, I always keep a set of old arms around, just in case.

[LamboSE5]

I needed control arms bad when I bought my S70, it would drift from side to side at highway speeds, or anything over 65-70 km/h. The ball joint(s) were so bad they actually made some bad noise.

I ordered the HD (Heavy Duty) Meyle front suspension kit from FCP. Sway Bar Links, Control arms were HD, not the outer tie rods though - I don't think.
Anyway, the car rode great after I put the control arms in - very smooth. Improved the handling greatly. I had also put new used (very used) tires on and had an alignment though.

I just parted these control arms off that car and have them waiting to go onto a new S70.

[RobTheModd]

Whelp it looks like I am going to have to be "That guy"

I used the cheaper FCP ones twice now. and both times they have lasted over a year, and the original set that is now on a friends car so thats counting 2 years since purchase.

First set went on my 850, wrecked the car, friend took them, they are still fine.
Second set went on my s70 almost a year ago as my oem ones failed.

If you do not install them correctly "pre-load" then they will always fail no matter what brand or manufacturer they are.

I pre-loaded mine using a spare jack I had at the time.
Car handles fine at 150, and 10. takes turns well at higher then recommended speeds.

[rmmagow]

What's this "pre-load" step?

[rspi]

What does PRE-LOAD them mean? How do you do that?

[RobTheModd]

You guys are messing with me right?

When you put load on the ball joint before you tighten that bolt and nut all the way down.
Essentially you align it to where it would sit if it had a wheel on and it was sitting normally as if you were not working on it.
Its easy to just put a jack under it, and jack it up to the correct height. But I have read some people pulling the car up on a curb and crawling underneath to do it.
If you dont, then you are not doing it correctly...
Without doing this you are not setting the join in place correctly.

Thats usually why most people have their ball joint fail within a few months of installing.

[kendpotter]

I have always had excellent durability from Moog ball joints.

[tridents65]

I missed the pre load part when I was looking for directions to replace them on my daughters '95 850. I also used the cheaper parts. I will look at it like good practice for the OEM's when they fail. The car has about 1500 miles on it since replacement. Would it be any good to pull the wheels off, loosen the bolts, then do the pre load and tighten them back down? Would doing that mess with the alignment? Last thing- Next summer I plan to replace the tie rods. Maybe I should just replace them with OEM's then?

[rmmagow]

Hate to sound like such a noob, so pre-load, put in the ball joint, tighten it up a bit, use a jack on the control arm or put the wheel back on to put weight on the ball joint then make the final tightening torque?
That sound right? I have to do a BJ in my old subaru and want to make it last a bit too.
Thanks

[confused_al]

so pre-load, put in the ball joint, tighten it up a bit, use a jack on the control arm or put the wheel back on to put weight on the ball joint then make the final tightening torque?

Yes, this "pre-load" is also known as torque the control arms at "ride height" (car on the ground by itself).