1998 S70 T5 auto - Tie rod replacement, brands

babelfish · Post by **babelfish** » 22 May 2014, 16:26

I've searched the crap out of this, and I can't find much on Meyle tie rods. Lots of votes of confidence for "Meyle HD," which might be a different thing, and lots of comments on Meyle sway bar end links.

So, let's try to get some better info here. The Meyle tie rods listed on FCP -- acceptable or no good? They're dirt cheap, but the MSRP is sky high. The reviews on the other Meyle tie rod option are all 5/5 (though there are only three of them).

But if I buy the Meyles and install them, am I looking at doing the job again in another five thousand miles?

clifford06 · Post by **clifford06** » 22 May 2014, 16:45

I just replaced my one year old Beck/Arnly ends due to busted boots. Luckily they were under warranty . I also replaced inners , but with Meyle. They cost me $45 apiece locally. At that price I would get The Meyles. I haven't had a problem out them so far.The Becks had about 8500 miles on them.

Post by **erikv11** » 22 May 2014, 21:54

Beck Arnley buys parts from various manufacturers and rebrands them all as BA. So you never know what you will get if you buy Beck Arnley parts; often you get junk. But not always - it can be totally worth it to pull a BA part out of the box at the autoparts store, and see what brand it actually is.

I generally trust Meyle suspension parts but I generally distrust that bottom of the line tie rods. If it's $10-15 you are probably getting what you pay for.

Is your car's steering rack an SMI? I always buy TRW tie rods but have only had TRW racks.

Post by **MoVolvos** » 23 May 2014, 01:07

_

I've used some Moog parts and they seem to be of good quality. FCP has Lifetime Guarantee so you can't beat that.

Blessings,

BKM
_

Post by **cn90** » 23 May 2014, 07:13

TRW is the way to go, inexpensive and it is OEM.

babelfish · Post by **babelfish** » 23 May 2014, 08:57

erikv11 wrote:I generally trust Meyle suspension parts but I generally distrust that bottom of the line tie rods. If it's $10-15 you are probably getting what you pay for.

Is your car's steering rack an SMI? I always buy TRW tie rods but have only had TRW racks.

Yeah, SMI rack.

I guess I should just go TRW. I'm trying to save money because this has been an insanely expensive month for my car so far, and I need some new tires next month. (Currently at $280 for sway bar install -- not a job I want to do on jack stands -- $90 for an alignment once I get the tie rods done, $100 for an ECU reflash to remove the SAS software, $280 for 6-month insurance premium... plus the tie rods. I've got some money coming in from a trade on the tires next month, but I'll still end up at $300 or so spent on tires.)

Post by **erikv11** » 23 May 2014, 09:48

I'm not sure you can get TRW tie rods for an SMI rack? Moog may be a good route. I've only worked on TRW racks.

babelfish · Post by **babelfish** » 23 May 2014, 10:25

IPD stocks TRW rods for the SMI racks. Doesn't look like there are any Moog options. Lemforder is the other option, from FCP. But TRW is a bit cheaper, and the quality is fine.

Post by **erikv11** » 23 May 2014, 12:23

FWIW the Moog inners are $27 each at Rockauto.com. I'd definitely go with the TRW from all that.

Post by **Ben850** » 23 May 2014, 15:14

TRW, Moog, Lemforder. All of these are respectable.
Just make sure they are not the refurbs.

I used Meyles on my sedan that came in the properly branded box, but even Meyle refurbishes TRW for instance, and resells.

So I would also have to say that not all refurbished items are bad either.

Buyer beware. If it seems too cheap to be true, it might not be worth the immediate savings.