Planning on replacing the whole LCA, for what it's worth.

 

Meyle HD, From FCP. Those were my choice last week.


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Meyle HD, From FCP. Those were my choice last week.

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Meyle HD's from FCP feature a solid rubber rear bush, which increases longevity and durability over the oem Hydraulic/Rubber bush. However, last I checked - they ONLY come sized for the larger of the two knuckle sizes. So check yours out by year and see what's doable.

Everyone produces them, MOOG, Autozone, Advanced Auto Parts, Oreilly, Napa, Pepboys, RockAuto among other places. Incredible cheapos are on ebay for $20 per if you're hurtin just to pass, but you will need to replace them sooner than a good quality brand and probably with some front tires as well.

 

Buy from FCP Euro and get lifetime warranty. If you keep the car long enough you will be replacing them again and they will be free the 2nd time. I replaced the LCA's on my first V50 with Febi/Bilstein at 109K miles. I replaced them again at 190K miles again with Febi because they were under warranty. With the first set, the front camber was just slightly out of spec. I tried loosening and shifting the arms but no joy. The second set were spot on.

On my 2nd V50 I installed Lemforder, again from FCP Euro, at 115K miles. They were a little hard getting the holes to align but the wheel alignment was good and I now have 158K miles with no issues.

 

Looking around a little more, the Moog parts are from the lower line and don't have the lifetime warranty of their premium line. Mevotech Supreme does have a lifetime warranty, but everything I'm reading online says they are junk.

Leaning towards the Lemforder from FCP, just hate to pay that kind of money. Maybe I could get the Delphi from FCP and upgrade if they wear out prematurely. Does FCP let you upgrade on replacement parts?

 

hey what side? I have an extra front LCA I bought from FCP that I'm not going to use and it's brand new. PM me and we can work something out that saves you money, let me know.

 

For what it's worth, I went with Mevotech Supreme from rockauto. I was going to do the Febi from FCP, but they only had the left side one. Going up to the Lemforder would have been kind of pricey.

So I will go with the Mevotech and let you all know if it turns out to be junk. Insert "Tommy Boy" lifetime warranty meme here...

 

I've decided to go with the moog control arm three years back. The ball joint failed on it after a couple of months. The warranty is a joke. They basically send you the same garbage again. I ended up drilling them off and I've replaced them with TRW joints. I have no issues with them since. I've bought moog hubs as well, which also have failed not much after the installation. Stay away from moog, all these moog parts were made in china. Stick to lemforder, TRW and meyle components.

 

Good ol Rock Auto. Got the control arms in yesterday. R one looks OK. Arm in the box for the LHS was a RHS arm with no Mevotech Supreme markings on it, probably from Mevotech cheap line, etc. Sent it back and get to wait again...

 

Put the RHS one on last night... well, took the old one off and mounted the new one in place, haven't put the bolts in.

The old LCA was marked "FoMoCo", so 215k miles of service from the original part. Pretty good, makes me again wish I had spent a bit extra. Mevotech part fit right up, though.

I saw some guy on youtube who unbolted the ac compressor, so I did the same. Not really sure the point. Just removing the clamp for the two A/C lines that go in front of the front LCA bolt is enough to bend the lines out of the way.

I took off the drive belts because I am replacing them, so that made the job easier, I guess.

There is a youtube vid where they remove the axle. Not really necessary as far as I can tell.

New ball joint doesn't have the hex recess in the end of it.

 

I agree with you that there is no need to unbolt the compressor or remove the axle. I've done 3 of these LCA jobs. The A/C lines are a bit in the way and you have to be careful not to bend too much.

 

What is the deal with the bracket holding those ac lines? Super beefy bolts and red loctite?

Anyway, forward LCA bolt is supposed to be tightened on the ground, rear bolts can be tightened on jackstands, right?

 

Correct.
I just jacked up the knuckle with a floor jack on the ball joint till it was almost flat with subframe and then tightened down and then released the floorjack. I'm pretty sure my generosity with antiseize meant it just rotated freely anyways and it did zero good.

Rear bolts I did the top end torque value but never did the +60* or whatever they say. No issues thus far, but I wasn't interested in stretching out the bolts and ordering new ones if I had to redo the job.

 

Agree. I've done the front with the car on the ground, which is a pain, and done it by jacking the knuckle.

 

I was nervous about going under the car and torquing that bolt to high torque with it balanced on a jack stand and a jack.

So I just put the wheels on, set it on ramps, torqued the bolt, raised it up on jack stands, took the rhs wheel off, installed the ac line bracket and wheel liner, put the wheel back on, set it back on ramps, installed the splash shield... and I was done.

Had my son to help, yay coronavirus...