So I'm about to do the control arms again after about 2 years on the last ones. I ordered the FCP groton group buy ones. I was wondering about this orange rubber and plastic around the center thingy that is in the bushings for the lower arms, do I pull this out or leave it? Last time I did the lowers I left this extra rubber and plastic in and it eventually broke apart...

 

someone please tell me asap, i'm about to start changing them. right now i'm thinking of leaving it as is.

 

i looked at used oem ones on ebay, looks like they stay in...

 

Yes install the lower control arms with the orange rubber in. The kit from FCp is ready to go.

 

ughh, what a day so far. trying to get the lower ball joints out is a PITA!!! I didn't have a ball joint seperater because the last time I had them installed I put antiseize, but that crap didn't work, its still impossible to get them out without a ball joint seperater. I put everything back together and was about to let my local mechanic do it again, but then he had like 4 cars waiting and its only a 2 bay shop. so i went to strauss and got a ball joint seperater. wish me luck, lol

 

I also had trouble with the lower control arms. I did the upper ones and took it to a friend (mechanic) for the lower. You do not need the ball joint separator. Just take a hammer and hit the knuckle and it will break free. That is what he did. I used the ball joint separator and its not worth a darn. Smack it with a hammer use some PB blaster and it will come off.

 

I was hammering it like crazy, wouldn't budge. Upper are easy for me since I did them twice already by myself, its the lower balljoint part that always screws me up. The other problem I think I'll have with the lower arms it torquing them with it at curb weight, how shall I do that, with the car on the ground, no lift...?

The lower balljoint parts, couldn't I just torque them without having to do curb weight on that wheel? I dont see any reason why not, I dont want to be torquing it with the hub pushed up by a jack stand, that seems like asking for trouble...
(as I would be torquing them to 100Nm what if I end up moving the hub and pop, it slips off the jack, lots of pain will occur, no?) lol

 

same here those lowers are a PITA. But dont be afraid to hit it with some power. nothing will break. When my mechanic did the lower he slammed the hammer a good 3 times and i could see all the debris and rust breaking free. If you havent gotten the lowers done yet try to lube it as well.

you should find a shop and get the car aligned after the job is done. Make sure its a 4 wheel alignment.

As for the torquing people say that it should be torque at curb weight because that way they arms will not fail prematurely. i dont under stand why the lowers need to in curb weight and not the uppers. But i left the mechanic to do the lower and i hope he did it to where i wont have to buy another control arms kit for atleast 25k lol

 

ughh, i cant believe it took me a whole day of wondering, pondering, etc to do just 1 side, lol. But at least now I know how to do it right (do it exactly like the bentley video on youtube says, move the swaybar too, you have so remove the bolt from the other side too), the other side should take me hopefully only 2 hours, of wondering and pondering, etc. lol

the reason at least the lowers need to be at curbweight is because the rubber bushing will twist as you drop the car and wear out very fast (also, its creating more down force if you tighten it with the suspension all the way down). The upper arms we can torque with the strut tower out of the car because we know exactly what angle they should be at... Well it doesn't even have to be out of the car, you just have to have the right angles either way.

I drove it around the block and i hit a small bump and the bump felt completely different this time, it felt like I was in a brand new car, lol. There was nothing dramatic about hitting the bump this time. Also the car was pulling to the left quite a bit, which suggests that the passenger side lower arms are still pushing down a lot.

I'm going to do the upper arms too, and then I have a set of brand new michelin pilot sport a/s plus which I got off tirerack for $557 incl shipping, but I get a $70 prepaid credit card with purchase (its until March 23 only, so if you need tires, these are really good and you have 2.5 days left)... Then I'll do a wheel alignment at an audi dealer (i'm tired of replacing control arms and tires all the time, they should do it RIGHT and not 0-0-0-0 which most likely is not how our wheels should be aligned)...

 

The thing I do not understand at all...

The sway bar link to the sway bar 100Nm, seriously? I remember I replaced them before and I kept breaking the bolts because I was doing them without doing curb weight on that side, but I did it correctly this time and the threads in the nut completely popped off at around 80-90Nm. A spring like piece of the threads came out (at first I thought I lost a spring from somewhere, lol.
I tightened it to around 70Nm this time, it just doesn't make sense why they should be 100Nm, its the smaller size bolts and its most likely to break if I tighten it that much... Crazy