GREAT Price on Control Arms
 

i just bought a new lower control arm here for $99; thought i'd share. no affiliation.

http://www.fcpgroton.com/product-exec/product_id/49839/nm/1997-2004+Porsche+Boxster+Front+Lower+Rear+Control+Arm

just an FYI, the part is made in china - okay for my ipod, but not my car. but decent price. just replaced 1 of mine - $500 parts+labor.

i figured it was chinese based on price alone. i'm sure the casting is fine. we'll see how long the ball joint lasts.

Why would you assume the casting is fine?

1. simple material
2. chinese factories are getting pretty good at this stuff


the ones that are getting REALLY good are the ones who market to the US & europe. lots of them are running AS9100/ISO quality programs as well. i must admit i know jack about 'URO' (mfgr) and their factories. when it shows up, i'll have one of our MatE's take a look at the alloy compared w/ OEM. i bet it's very close.

and here we go:

http://www.apaindustries.com/uro/site/quality

URO is ISO9000 certified. most of these companies start out w/ abysmal performance records. over time, they adopt industry standard quality techniques & manufacturing processes. eventually, they can get quite good.

these guys have been around since '84. my guess is that they started manufacturing in england or the US, and then moved some or all mfg ops to china. this is always a rocky transition, but expat owners tend to be motivated to bring these operations on par w/ their domestic counterparts. just because it's chinese does not mean that it's crap.

btw, do we know where porsche buys their cast aluminum parts? i bet you dollars to donuts it is NOT germany or any other western euro country.

one last tidbit: URO / APA is now an OEM supplier for Jaguar Classic.

There is quite a bit of anecdotal evidence on the web - not restricted to Porsches - that the URO ball joints last about a year so.

I think PelicanParts rates URO as a 3 out of 5, and their supplier ratings are typically pretty spot on.

FWIW, ISO 9000 certification does not mean much if anything at all. It's a certification that you have a quality plan in place. It does NOT certify that you are producing "quality" products... your quality plan could literally be to produce ball joints that fail in expectation after 1 month. As long as you can show that you have processes in place to meet that quality level, you'll be certified ISO 9000...

i do agree w/ your assertion that ISO9000 simply means you have a quality plan in place that allows some repeatable level of quality. it does not, however, deal at ALL with the quality of the design.

coming from the e39 bmws, I got about 1 year from the fcp control arms (bushings fail, but the ball joint stays pretty good).

however, Im not certain the lemforders really lasted that much longer. Now that the fcp parts have a lifetime warranty, tough call.

I must say I have a tough time using aftermarket parts on either the BMW or the Porsche

That FCP website also has the best price I have found on Bosch Oxygen sensors ...... $94 ....... thats like $40 cheaper than autozone even!!

Has Any one used these control arms with good results??

They are so cheap I may just buy them and install for the hell of it. But dont really want to go thru the hassle if they only last a year or so....

You can get a pair of them right now for $160 shipped

Looks like Suncoast parts sells the exact same product for $250

part numbers are the exact same

http://www.****************************************************.com/product/99634105316.html

That's Porsche brand. The other is URO brand & made in china. They are not the same thing.

Why wold the part numbers be the exact same?

I see pelican parts sells these cheaper ones for $135 ......... anyone have experience with them?

read the whole thread. btw, the part number of the aftermarket parts are frequently matched to that of the OEMs they replace. this is done so that

a) you know where it's designed to go
b) so that you can find them when you do a search for the porsche part

just because someone tags a part with the same number as OEM doesn't mean that it's the same thing.

I bought a pair of them for $160 just to give them a try ..... warranty seems good so what the heck

I just replaced my control arms with TRWs (OEM supplier) from Pelican. Unquestionably a nicely made product that I expect will last 80k miles like the originals.

If my wrench time (and safety) were worth zero, then I'd be all over the $100-$180 "savings" from buying these Chinese parts. This is probably the same stuff Deutsche Parts peddles on eBay that buyers ******************** like crazy about. In my experience with other European cars, mostly BMWs, this low-buck stuff just doesn't cut it. Sure, I want to save a buck like most people, but I always stick with OEM or near-OEM quality, shop a bit for price, and buy from a trusted supplier.

insite - have you received yours in the mail yet? if so, What are your thoughts on them compared to the OEM control arms?

Quote:

Originally Posted by dirkdiggler insite - have you received yours in the mail yet? if so, What are your thoughts on them compared to the OEM control arms?

i'll let you know when they show up. they supposedly shipped last tuesday or wednesday from CT. i think they should have been here by now. if they don't arrive today, i will call FCP.

well, i pulled the tracking info & apparently this thing delievered to my house on friday.......except that it didn't.

FCP is filing a claim w/ UPS. i'll follow up w/ them in a week.

I got mine today!

They look to be nice but I really have never seen any other ones to make a accurate comparison of their quality.

Hoping once you get yours insite you can fill me in on there quality!

we found mine yesterday. some kids stole some boxes off my porch. turns out that they don't have a porsche & they don't read books. they ditched the boxes behind my neighbor's air conditioners.....

anyway, the part looks good. went on nice & easy. the casting is basically stock, but they seem to have added a little bit of material near the ball joint. i will post photos this weekend.

I see people knocking these FCP/ODI control arms really bad on other BMW/VW fourms saying "they only last like 3k miles and fail" .......... By looking at them do you think the wearable parts are pretty decent quality or would it be a better idea to leave semi worn original ones with 60K on them on the car???

Any info on these before I install them?

don't read too much into it, but i needed a control arm (the ball was worn and jiggling) for ~15k miles. it wasn't any worse than it originally was when i replaced it.

Hey Insite, speaking of questionable castings any insite on the alloy used to make M96 engine parts like case, heads,cam covers? Having a hard time finding the best solution for cleaning parts without turning dark grey.

have you tried phosphoric acid? i recommend alumiprep 33 (available from aircraft spruce). usually, it provides a nice, bright finish.

now, i HAVE noticed with certain parts that cleaning w/ alumiprep leaves the parts grey. as best i can GUESS, porsche has applied some type of anodizing to the block to help resist corrosion. in that case, mild acid treatment will leave a surface coating of antimony, which is grey.

the antimony can be removed with nitric acid (hard to get). alternatively, and i have not tried this, you can use a mixture of phosphoric & chromic acid. keep in mind these things are a little nasty.

once you've done this, any anodization will have been removed. bare aluminum WILL corrode. you can either re-anodize OR use an alodine process, which will leave a nice looking golden finish on the part. i'm getting ready to make some more drop links this week; i'll take photos of the process if you want.

the final alternative is to steam clean the parts. this should leave a nice finish without altering the anodization / surface treatments. it won't be as pretty as bare aluminum, but it may suffice.

any word on the quality of the wearable parts on these cheap control arms?

Good god, man. You've asked the Same question like fifteen times. Install them and be done with it. Report back to us.