Control Arm (& Others) Lifespan

Paul_S · 24 Apr 2018

Chaps,

I've got a complete set of control arms, links, bushes, etc. for the front suspension on my C4S that i'm planning to fit in a few weeks. I get a bit of vibration and the odd knocking noise from the front, and I was told one of my track rods was slightly worn. The car drives fine but I think I could tighten it up a bit.

Before I start work and have the car in bits, I was wondering if it is genuinely worth doing some or all of the rear as well? Does the front tend to wear out quicker on these cars like it would on a normal front-engined one?

I've got no reason to suspect any of the rear needs looking at, but as I'll need to get alignment done at the end I don't want to get it done twice in quick succession.

At the same time, I'm not of a mind to change things just for the sake of it, there's a lot of arms on the rear and none of it particularly cheap.

Robertb · 24 Apr 2018

It would be worth getting the rear looked at at least before you get the geo done. That said it should be reasonably obvious if there is degradation of rubber bushes etc.

I had one rear coffin arm done, and I will be doing one of the rear upper control arms. Other than that it was given a clean bill of health. The front on the other hand was a different story!

wasz · 24 Apr 2018

If you are keeping the car for a good few years I'm an advocate of just doing the lot in one go if you are over 100k and use the car a lot.

Coffin arms x4
Forked arms x4
Top mounts x4
inner track rods X2
Outer track rods X2
Rear track arms X2
Rear dog bone links x4

I did mine one at a time as knocks emerged over 110k miles. I wish I'd just done then all at once as I kept shelling out for geo checks. My car drives superbly now.

Cp4l do some arms now, autodoc do them all at a good price.

Oh and do engine and gearbox mounts too.

Gooey36 · 24 Apr 2018

wasz said:
If you are keeping the car for a good few years I'm an advocate of just doing the lot in one go if you are over 100k and use the car a lot.

Coffin arms x4
Forked arms x4
Top mounts x4
inner track rods X2
Outer track rods X2
Rear track arms X2
Rear dog bone links x4

I did mine one at a time as knocks emerged over 110k miles. I wish I'd just done then all at once as I kept shelling out for geo checks. My car drives superbly now.

Cp4l do some arms now, autodoc do them all at a good price.

Oh and do engine and gearbox mounts too.

Agreed.

I had a low speed knock on my front right, on inspection all rubbers looked suspect. I've now replaced 4xdrop links, 4x coffin arms, 4xtuning forks, inner and outer track rod ends and roll bar bushes front and rear. Geo done at Nottingham alignment services (used to do all of Notts OPC cars) and it's like a new car! Not a huge outlay and all DIY jobs. Well worth it. My car had done just over 69k...

End of the day it's down to budget, if you can, do, if not - do what you can in priority order.

maldren · 24 Apr 2018

Hi Wasz
did you buy all Porsche parts or have you any alternative recommendations?

deMort · 24 Apr 2018

Link rods do actually make a difference but normally they sieze in .. thats a world of pain to do in a garage let alone at home .

Coffin arms are normally replaced because the bush the diagonal arm goes onto starts to debond ( split ).

Diagonal arms often cause a knock .. a pot holed road and you will hear bonk bonk bonk from each corner that needs doing .

I would sugest you try and move each of the geo bolts on the rear .. its not unusual for them to seize .. then its a case of cutting out the bolts .. again not easy .

Anti roll bar bushes .. only replace when a very loud knock .. imho it wil make no difference just changeing them .

The rear arms on the top rarely need changeing .. they may look ugly at the bush but if no play then they are doing their job .

I feel all of us will have different opinions on this .. i change what needs to be changed as im provideing a service .. the advise of the others here is probably better than my own if im honest .

wasz · 24 Apr 2018

maldren said:
Hi Wasz
did you buy all Porsche parts or have you any alternative recommendations?

No no no....I'm not made of money.

I bought aftermarket.

I got TRW parts mostly. They came with Porsche part numbers ground off....they are the oe maker.

Nowadays those seem to have dried up. But there's lots of options. Meyle are highly regarded. Sachs make the top mounts.

Try autodoc, carparts4less (look for VM parts - these are genuine) and eBay.

If I was paying for the labour or using the car infrequently I would replace just what needs doing. The difference though between when I picked the car up and now is night and day. And I've not got "yet another knock" paranoia, it has been fine for ages and should be good for 60k or so before coffin arms start knocking again.

wasz · 24 Apr 2018

wasz said:
Coffin arms x4
Forked arms x4
Top mounts x4 (I only did fronts)
inner track rods X2
Outer track rods X2
Rear track arms X2
Rear dog bone links x4

I just totted this lot up, I spent £800 for all the parts above inc new eccentric bolts. Ouch. I also did ARB links and bushes.

When I was buying the market was flooded with cheap TRW parts with Porsche numbers ground off... for some reason these have disappeared and aftermarket ones are bit more. On autodoc for example some of the cheaper ones are out of stock too. on Mister-auto.co.uk the TRW are OOS. The cheapest basket on autodoc is £1200. Ouch.

Topcashback give 10.5% back on autodoc which would soften that blow a little.

At OPC I dread to think what it would add up to. Hartech also do remanufactured arms.

Gooey36 · 25 Apr 2018

deMort said:
Link rods do actually make a difference but normally they sieze in .. thats a world of pain to do in a garage let alone at home .

Coffin arms are normally replaced because the bush the diagonal arm goes onto starts to debond ( split ).

Diagonal arms often cause a knock .. a pot holed road and you will hear bonk bonk bonk from each corner that needs doing .

I would sugest you try and move each of the geo bolts on the rear .. its not unusual for them to seize .. then its a case of cutting out the bolts .. again not easy .

Anti roll bar bushes .. only replace when a very loud knock .. imho it wil make no difference just changeing them .

The rear arms on the top rarely need changeing .. they may look ugly at the bush but if no play then they are doing their job .

I feel all of us will have different opinions on this .. i change what needs to be changed as im provideing a service .. the advise of the others here is probably better than my own if im honest .

My link rods must have been blind luck then, but could totally see how if they seize they would be an absolute mare to sort!

I was also quite lucky in sourcing the parts, control arms (coffin) were all off eBay.de as an OEM set of 4, and the tuning forks I got from TRW's Amazon store just before they stopped making them. Those were only £40 ish each! My total spend on parts for the refresh was way less than £400 including new geo bolts from my OPC combined with Ti flanged nuts.

Paul_S · 25 Apr 2018

Thanks for the replies, expense is not an issue but priorities might come into play if I need to spunk another £400 on the rear. The current Mrs S keeps a beady eye on such things - she has different priorities to me!

I don't tend to buy parts from eBay or Euros, etc., I've had too many issues in the past and to be honest I'm not sure the impression it gives to a potential buyer of a car in future when I show them an invoice for cheaper pattern parts. I get they exist and probably do a decent job, but I'll stick to Meyle, TRW or similar unless someone can point me at other options that I'm missing?

I'll have a search for some more stuff tonight and see what it comes to. I have spannering lined up for the weekend after next so a little bit of time still...

wasz · 25 Apr 2018

Yeah the rear eccentric bolts x4 will probably need cutting, you ideally need some power tools for that.

Plus the front drop links that secure the strut will be a pain,,,, I had to remove the hub on one side of mine to get one out.

Control Arm (& Others) Lifespan

Paul_S

Monza

Robertb

Yas Marina

wasz

Paul Ricard

Gooey36

Monza

maldren

Albert Park

deMort

Monaco

wasz

Paul Ricard

wasz

Paul Ricard

Gooey36

Monza

Paul_S

Monza

wasz

Paul Ricard

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