richglo

Have there been any quality control issues with the febi/bilstein control arm kits?

I replaced all of the control arms last spring and while I was under the car yesterday noticed that both of the front lower arms have torn ball joint boots! The passenger is much worse than the drivers. The driver side just barely has a tear starting, right at the metal wire at the base. It appears that possibly the retention wire has been installed too tight from the factory?

Anyone else having recent issues? Is there a better arm to replace it with, or just a boot repair kit I can install?

Rich

donromani

Im not aware of specific issues with those suppliers - the control arms on these cars a just a headache, plain and simple. The most likely cause of an early failure is over tightening on install. I would opt for 034 and swap all of them out at once: JHM caries the 034 density set: http://jhmotorsports.com/shop/catalo...26f3b0be72cad1

richglo

I contacted the vendor and they are going to take them back under warranty. Apparently this is a pretty rare thing.

As for over-tightening, it wasn't the case for this one. Everything was torqued per bentley with new hardware. The only boot failure I can see with a ball joint due to installation is getting the boot to twist when you are tightening down the nut. On this, it is clear that a tear is starting from the wire retainer (where one edge of the wire has cut into the boot).

donromani

Good stuff - and sorry if it sounded like I was suggesting you didn't know what you were doing. I misread your post: The over-tightening really only causes problems with the bushings, not the boot, and only when tightened before the wheel is under weight again, which was not your issue to begin with.

Glad you got the vendor to replace what seems to have been a defective set and I hope you have better luck with the new ones!