Replacing Your Upper Control Arms? Take a Look at the Raybestos Replacments
- Thread starter 95blklsc
- Start date
jamies98lsc
New member
all the times i worked on customers marks and they brought me their own parts it was always junk and getting replaced again in a year or less. i have seen all the aftermarket uppers out there. the only thing i will use are TRW or the Arnott upper control arms, Arnott look identicle to TRW in every way, shape and form. if you use aftermarket you will be replacing them again in the near future, thats all i am saying.
jamies98lsc
New member
you buy new stuff lol????
it is very easy to get TRW upper control arms. advance auto is a TRW/MOOG distributor, they have these things in stock ALL the time. the only thing you need to look for is open the box and look for trw stamped in it, and they will always have a clear grease boot with bright green binding rings holding them on. arnott sells these exact same control arms on ebay for cheap cheap money.
it is very easy to get TRW upper control arms. advance auto is a TRW/MOOG distributor, they have these things in stock ALL the time. the only thing you need to look for is open the box and look for trw stamped in it, and they will always have a clear grease boot with bright green binding rings holding them on. arnott sells these exact same control arms on ebay for cheap cheap money.
jamies98lsc
New member
oh it depends i guess, usually the control arms that dont have the articulating bushings will sound like a rusty swing set chain within a few months. its a waiting game i guess.
Here's a pic I stole from Arnott's E-Bay page. $99.95 a pair. That's a good price. I am ordering some today.
This is a useful thread. Since the bolts are accesible from in the engine bay, do you think it would work to simply loosen and retighten them with the car parked?
tonybrooklyn
New member
IMHO the Moog's are crap so are the Dormans!
tonybrooklyn
New member
I am a little late to the party. I just installed The Raybestos Professional Grade i really like them. The car leans into the turns way better than with the Moogs. Hell way better than the original TRW'S. I like the thicker arm and fat greaseable ball joint.As you may have seen in my other threads I'm doing some much overdue work in preparation for the winter on my 95. One of the things on my list was to replace all of the control arms, I knew the lower ball joints were bad and I'm sure the uppers were on their last legs too. A few years ago I had ordered some parts for my friend 93. We ordered some Raybestos upper control arms. When they arrived, one was big an heavy duty, one was identical to the stock ones. It turns out that they had just started making those heavy duty type at the time and there was still some old stock on the warehouse, so they got mis matched.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago, I decided to order those same parts since they seemed to be much more robust than the factory units. Rock auto did the same thing to me, sent one heavy duty one, one regular one. They said the reason was the heavy duty ones were not being produced right now. I refused to put mismatched parts in so they located a matching one and sent it. Here are the pics!
It may not be obvious in this pic, but the arm is much thicker on the new one:
The boot is thicker and replaceable:
The bushings look similar:
Here is the kicker, look at the ball joint diameter:
No squeaks no rattle they get a thumbs up for now! I'll let you know in a year or so if they hold up. But even then they are a lifetime guarantee parts and labor. In this day and age that's a hard thing to beat!
You have to remember. The stock arm is thinner because it was forged as opposed to the thicker cast iron arms you mention. The thinner arm is stronger and lighter. The bigger greasable ball joint is not better. The stock ball joints are made from more advanced materials and are of a more advanced design which does not require regular greasing and lasts longer. Most modern cars do not have greasable ball joints anywhere on the suspension. There is a reason those "pro-grade" parts are less expensive than stock designs. The moogs are very similar. The TRW's were identical to the OEM parts because TRW made the OEM parts.
^^ what he said.
The whole "Problem solver" and "pro grade" labels used by parts makers is just marketing. These are the top parts within those product lines as opposed to the bottom end which will commonly be called 'economy grade". In most cases the parts are not as good as OEM stock or high performance aftermarket.
tonybrooklyn
New member
So far so good i am loving them. I think the thicker cast iron arms absorb vibration and noise better IMHO.
The old forged arms gave much more unwanted feedback.
As i said earlier time will tell.
The old forged arms gave much more unwanted feedback.
As i said earlier time will tell.
tonybrooklyn
New member
I always thought that was because they tighten them up with no load on the suspension. That causes them to bind up, the moogs had the same bushings.
Only the original TRW's had the right bushings good luck finding those.
Only the original TRW's had the right bushings good luck finding those.