Buying Control Arms... choices...

[plumsmooth]

I know I need one but figured I should do both since probably a good idea.

I saw some bad reviews on the Inexpensive (Indian made?) Hamburg Technic parts being sold by Deutsche Parts on Ebay.
They are currently almost half the price of the Meyles being sold at FCP...

IT seems FCP was at one time selling the Hamburgs but now do not.
I figure they stopped for a reason?

Maybe this is not the place to try and save 50 bucks?

Thanks for your time Volvo people...

[cn90]

Lemforder or TRW (~ $90/each) should give you 90K-100K miles.
Anything else is Russian Roulette.

[Matty Moo]

The HT's are pure garbage.

I've had good luck with fcp's control arms and meyles. Like 70k on a few sets type of good luck.

[erikv11]

Lemforder or TRW (~ $90/each) should give you 90K-100K miles.
Anything else is Russian Roulette.

Whoa - more Russian roulette??!! OP - Search this forum for "Russian roulette" and you will see that if cn90's use of the phrase had any meaning at all, about half of MVS member would be dead. Or their cars would be, or something.

I agree with the recommendation of brands, but his penchant for drama is way off base. This is not a life and death safety decision, it is one people get wrong all the time and survive OK. Wallet may take a hit but nothing will die 1/6 of the time, there will just likely be a noisy control arm in 12k that needs replacing again.

Recently, many people have been using Meyle HD with successful longevity but I stick with Lemforder. They are usually cheapest from RMEuropean.

[101]

Lemfoerder is what I use on all my euro cars.

FCP is running 10% off this weekend.

[mecheng]

I think cn90 means you won't get the same quality. Control arms are rarely a safety issue, I drove with a noisy ball joint for 6 months, it takes a lot of wear and huge impact for it to seperate.

Tie rods are definitely a safety issue, I wouldn't use anything but oem TRW, they last a very long time.

One vote for Febi control arms, they are holding up well so far. Most ppl don't have much mileage on non oem, so the verdict is not really clear which ones beside oem hold up

[cn90]

OK,

mecheng got it right.

erik...
When I use the word "Russian Roulette", it is meant as a "metaphor".
People in this country use the word "Russian Roulette" all the time, and in 99.999% of the time it means "you are taking risks" and that is all it is.
People won't die using HT control arms, but people take risk of HT arm going South in 20K miles.

What happens to the sense of humor in this forum?
This forum is meant to be sharing info, helping each other and have some fun in the process of doing so.
What is wrong with having a little joke here and there?
And no erik, I am not a drama person.

PS: Rmeuropean sells that thingy for $90.

[dorvin]

I went with Lemfoerder when I did my control arms. 25-20k miles later and no issues whatsoever. Hopefully they prove to be worth the cost. Only time will tell.

[tryingbe]

Volvo OE (Lemfoerder) is the only choice.


URO/Scantech (Dorman)/Pro-Sedan Parts/Febi/etc = low quality parts...

[plumsmooth]

This is not a life and death safety decision,

So the chance is very little chance that a wheel will fall off a car while driving?
I'm worried now since it has been a while possibly?

My ball joint may have been bad for a while since it has been pulling to the right on braking for a while now.
I thought it was a seized (out) left caliper but now think it might me the ball joint since it was diagnosed as bad for free while I had an oil change and a tire rotation done with lug nut lube at Vianor

I had it done to have my first suspension and brake work not be a whole day of trying to loosen lug nuts.
I asked for 81 ft pounds but I am sure they went way over that because I just tested my torque wrench to check the nuts after a 100 miles.
At 90 the wrench just clicks right away.

Thanks a lot for the responses...