Are Meyle control arms really this bad?

[Isaacus]

I replaced all four control arms up front with Meyle units on my 525i less than 3,000 miles ago. It seemingly cured my vibration problems up front.

Well I have horrendous vibration at 55mph right now. It's gotten progressively worse since the install. It also vibrates on decel.

Could they really have gone bad in 3,000 miles?

[TouringDan]

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...ighlight=meyle

The short answer? Yes.

[Jcbe34]

You have hubcentric rings on your wheels? Correct? If so, then yes, sounds like they are bad. What did you replace? Upper/lower ca's, tie rod ends, idler arms, center link?

[bmwpower]

I replaced all four control arms up front with Meyle units on my 525i less than 3,000 miles ago. It seemingly cured my vibration problems up front.

Well I have horrendous vibration at 55mph right now. It's gotten progressively worse since the install. It also vibrates on decel.

Could they really have gone bad in 3,000 miles?

You torque to spec at normal ride hieght?

[sweet e36 pimp]

its possible, but as stated above, make sure you have addressed everything in the front end before pointing the finger.

[adriver]

recheck all your torque specs.

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

Meyle kinda of the middle of the road.

It's the Hamburg Tech stuff that goes south fast.

I'd go over everything and make sure it's thight.

The torque at ride height is the source of a lot of short lived front ends.

[bmwpower]

Meyle kinda of the middle of the road.

It's the Hamburg Tech stuff that goes south fast.

I'd go over everything and make sure it's thight.

The torque at ride height is the source of a lot of short lived front ends.

I'm even wondering about retorquing at ride heigh again since I didn't go through the process of measuring the ride height, etc. I just placed the car on 4 ramps, squished it down really good, then torqued.

[glwillia]

Meyle kinda of the middle of the road.

It's the Hamburg Tech stuff that goes south fast.

I'd go over everything and make sure it's thight.

The torque at ride height is the source of a lot of short lived front ends.

So how do you guys weigh down your cars to tighten these, anyway? I'm going to be doing mine soon, and thought of buying a bunch of free weights, but wasn't sure if that much concentrated weight would be bad for the seats. And sandbags are kind of messy.

[bmwpower]

So how do you guys weigh down your cars to tighten these, anyway? I'm going to be doing mine soon, and thought of buying a bunch of free weights, but wasn't sure if that much concentrated weight would be bad for the seats. And sandbags are kind of messy.

That would be a LOT of free weights. I think it called for several hundred pounds total.

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

So how do you guys weigh down your cars to tighten these, anyway? I'm going to be doing mine soon, and thought of buying a bunch of free weights, but wasn't sure if that much concentrated weight would be bad for the seats. And sandbags are kind of messy.

I just drive slowly around the block with everything hand tight, then roll up on to the ramps and torque it all down.

[glwillia]

That would be a LOT of free weights. I think it called for several hundred pounds total.

150 lbs in each of the front seats and in the rear, 50 lbs in the trunk, and a full tank of gas, if I recall correctly. So 20 25-lb free weights in total, which is a lot now that I think about it...

[black535]

Ok i hear the name lemforder thrown around and shamefully it isnt familiar to me. I did purchase a fcp groton kit with the aluminum lower controls (mine has alum oem) well turns out the box it all came in was the most durable part. 4000 kilometers later its all garbage. so far i bought a set of meyle thrust arms and urethane bushings from bmp. as for tie rods and ball joints ect. i want something that can atleast be greased, its ridiculas for a performance sedan to be equiped with components that can't be maintained

[zubbie]

Ok i hear the name lemforder thrown around and shamefully it isnt familiar to me. I did purchase a fcp groton kit with the aluminum lower controls (mine has alum oem) well turns out the box it all came in was the most durable part. 4000 kilometers later its all garbage. so far i bought a set of meyle thrust arms and urethane bushings from bmp. as for tie rods and ball joints ect. i want something that can atleast be greased, its ridiculas for a performance sedan to be equiped with components that can't be maintained

Lemforder = OEM

More expensive but well worth it IMHO.

[steevieweevie]

its not the brakes? wheels offbalance?

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

i want something that can atleast be greased, its ridiculas for a performance sedan to be equiped with components that can't be maintained

Never seen any BMWs with zerk fittings.

[black535]

neither have I Bob. But a more durable and servicable part made available sure would be a thing of beauty. And thanks for the direction on the lemforder name Zubbie..I thought meyle was oem, guess i still got some learnin to do.

[robmpulse]

What I have found with suspesion parts, and I am sure the group will agree, is that if you have to replace one part, replace them all.

What happens, is when you replace certain parts, it puts more stress on the older parts, causing them to go out quicker.

I just replaced the front end on my '93 E30. EVERYTHING got replaced.

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

neither have I Bob. But a more durable and servicable part made available sure would be a thing of beauty. And thanks for the direction on the lemforder name Zubbie..I thought meyle was oem, guess i still got some learnin to do.

You'll see lots of names that supply BMW, Lemforder is the top self for suspension, Meyle is in the middle, and then there's Hamburg Tech if you like doing the job again in the near future.

Other OEM suppliers are Febi, Sachs/Boge, Bosch ...the list goes on since each part category has it's "preferred" supplier.

I am not afraid to use the "lessor" brands for non critial parts, something that if it failed after 10K...I could just buy it again for $24..and pop it in over an afternoon and a few beers.

[black535]

Yes i agree with the non critical parts comment. so whats the deal with some e34's having aluminum control arms and others steel. It is an obvious benifit to reduce unsprung weight..but why have both..any ideas?

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

Yes i agree with the non critical parts comment. so whats the deal with some e34's having aluminum control arms and others steel. It is an obvious benifit to reduce unsprung weight..but why have both..any ideas?

I dunno, my Touring & M5 have the aluminum arms...It's not that much weight loss for a 3600lb beast.

The 525 has steel, and I just replaced them with steel...Lemforder aluminums $$$

[atl530i]

In one word yes. Lemforder is the only way to go.

[moroza]

The idea behind torquing at full load is so that when you go driving later, there isn't an average deviation from where they want to be.

In other words, if you don't, there's going to be a constant twisting stress on the bushing when you drive the car. The frame bolt will be holding the bushing at one angle, and the rest of the arm, which follows the road, will be twisting it upwards almost all the time. You want the angle of the bushing to be the same as the angle of the suspension arm. Theoretically, at all times, but in practice, whenever the suspension is at normal rest, i.e weighed down as it normally would be. Constant stress = premature failure.

I measured ride height until it was within 3mm of spec, disregarding weight. It was good enough that I drove 3200 miles starting a couple of days later, and it's still fine now.

Certainly not the first "I bought non-Lemförder suspension parts 2 miles ago and now my suspension is shot" thread I've seen... I know that $105 for a piece of steel and rubber sounds a bit pricey, but it's better than paying half of that, several times.

[bmwpower]

The idea behind torquing at full load is so that when you go driving later, there isn't an average deviation from where they want to be.

In other words, if you don't, there's going to be a constant twisting stress on the bushing when you drive the car. The frame bolt will be holding the bushing at one angle, and the rest of the arm, which follows the road, will be twisting it upwards almost all the time. You want the angle of the bushing to be the same as the angle of the suspension arm. Theoretically, at all times, but in practice, whenever the suspension is at normal rest, i.e weighed down as it normally would be. Constant stress = premature failure.

I measured ride height until it was within 3mm of spec, disregarding weight. It was good enough that I drove 3200 miles starting a couple of days later, and it's still fine now.

Certainly not the first "I bought non-Lemförder suspension parts 2 miles ago and now my suspension is shot" thread I've seen... I know that $105 for a piece of steel and rubber sounds a bit pricey, but it's better than paying half of that, several times.

Well, it sounds to me that the ride height spec is there so that they are preloaded when torqued. I don't drive around town with my gas tank always full, 50 lbs in the trunk and another passenger all the time, etc. etc. If that's how they want it torqued, then when you drive it normally by yourself (like I do 99% of the time) the bushing is NOT going to be inline, it will be twisted some. I wonder how much it really is twisted...

[dkfalcon]

I put Meyle lower control arms on my 90 525 18 months ago and have had no problems you might have other issues.