E46 330i Control Arms

[///M Individual]

Hi guys. Heard a suspension noise on our 2004 model e46 330i and had my mech check it out. He suspects its the control arms and bushes. BMW wants in the region of R14 000 for a pair:argh: So I decided to search for a good alternative to the agents part. Came across the brand Meyle. Has anyone had any experience with this brand? According to some articles on the net it is made to be stronger and last longer than the original and seems to be quite a good brand. If not Meyle is there any other brand you can recommend?

Any advice/info will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance :thumbs:

 

[Craig]

Have heard of Meyle and they seen to be a good brand. I bought a set of LCA a while ago for my E46 and I paid R2K INCLUDING the bushes and have had no problems. R14K is WAY too much !!!!

 

[frikkieh]

Goldwagen sells Febi Bilstein. Got them installed and they perform well.

 

[zanevk]

I also heard good stuff from the Febi Bilstein brand. You should speak to Moranor on the forum. He will be able to advise you better.:thumbs:

 

[AdiS]

The general consensus is that the Meyle HD components are the best quality aftermarket rubber components.

You can also consider doing poly urethane control arm bushes which will last forever.

 

[Bayn46]

Search my posts and you will find my thread on Meyle control arms.

Replaced my control arms and control arm bushes for just over 3k. Meyle will be you best option.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

 

[SP33DYV]

Meyle HD is a very good alternative from the OEM parts. You can get the Meyle HD parts from Incomex in Centurion.
Speak to Moranor (Axis) on this forum regarding Poly lower control arm bushes. Personally, I would get the Meyle HD control arms.

I have used Meyle HD LCAB's in both my e46 325i and my ex 330i (AdiS is the new owner). Seems on par or better than the OEM bushes.

 

[wikk3d88]

Febi > Meyle

 

[Bayn46]

Febi > Meyle

General consensus is that the Meyle HD are better than OEM, whereas the Febi are on par with OEM. Otherwise I would have bought the slightly cheaper Febi arms and bushes for my car.

 

[Legacy]

Febi > Meyle

:biglol::biglol:

 

[Sankekur]

Febi > Meyle

General consensus is that the Meyle HD are better than OEM, whereas the Febi are on par with OEM. Otherwise I would have bought the slightly cheaper Febi arms and bushes for my car.

I wouldn't even say they are on par, have a set of febi lcabs on my 330 for about 8 months now, and they are already pretty badly worn, or at least they feel pretty much as bad as the orignal ones did when i replaced them.

 

[Philip Foglar]

Agents price is just criminal!! There are plenty far more affordable and better options. Also, in many cases it's just the lower control arm bushes that needs replacing while the lower control arms are still perfectly fine. Well, just after I bought my Wife's 320i I had the lower control arm bushes replaced, and they were sourced and fitted by the suspension specialist that I went to, so not sure if they are OEM or generic from Goldwagen etc, but whatever the case well over a year later and they still seem perfectly fine! Paid R1600 or thereabouts for this and four wheel alignment! :thumbs:

 

[netercol]

Hi guys. Heard a suspension noise on our 2004 model e46 330i and had my mech check it out. He suspects its the control arms and bushes. BMW wants in the region of R14 000 for a pair:argh: So I decided to search for a good alternative to the agents part. Came across the brand Meyle. Has anyone had any experience with this brand? According to some articles on the net it is made to be stronger and last longer than the original and seems to be quite a good brand. If not Meyle is there any other brand you can recommend?

Any advice/info will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance :thumbs:

does your car have sports suspension ?

 

[///M Individual]

Wow thanks guys. This is the reason why I love this forum! Overwhelming response that helps me a lot.

@netercol yes its the m sport as in my signature so I'm assuming it has the sport suspension. Does that make a difference?

So it seems Meyle is the way to go. Anyone know of a supplier in Durban?

 

[Bayn46]

Wow thanks guys. This is the reason why I love this forum! Overwhelming response that helps me a lot.

@netercol yes its the m sport as in my signature so I'm assuming it has the sport suspension. Does that make a difference?

So it seems Meyle is the way to go. Anyone know of a supplier in Durban?

Have a look at the Imcomex site for the nearest branch: http://www.imcomex.co.za/

But also chat with Moranor for the control arm bushes if you want to go full poly. He has them on his car so can provide you with a proper review.

 

[Charlie Brown]

I used the Meyle ones on the 318 some time back I'd guess at least 3 if not 4 years back and have done at least 80 000 kms on the and they seem fine. I would say that they are again getting a little tired now again, and probably not as good as OEM. That said I'd rather replace every 4 years with Meyle (@ R2500) vs every 6 years with OEM at R14 000. No experience with Febi personally so no comment, but general consensus is that they are not that great.

I had to ship from Jhb as I'm in Dbn too, no local stockists as far as I'm aware. Most Dbn spares shops seem to carrry Teknorot. I would definatley not recomend these as my aligment chapp has has 2 incidents of them failing on post installation test drives !!!

 

[///M Individual]

Thanks Bayn and Charlie. Will courier it down from Jhb if I have too. Long as I know I'm getting a good product.

 

[netercol]

the thing is, the normal control arms and the sport suspension control arms have two different part numbers, sugesting that there is a difference between them.
i have had them next to each other, and could not find the difference, but once i fitted the meyle aftermarket control arms (for cars without sport suspension) my front camber was out of spec, and could not be pulled back enough to be in spec again.. dont really notice a difference in roadholding, but the bigger negative camber will eventually affect tire life i suppose..

i suspect the sport control arm's geometry is slightly different from normal ones.

 

[Bayn46]

the thing is, the normal control arms and the sport suspension control arms have two different part numbers, sugesting that there is a difference between them.
i have had them next to each other, and could not find the difference, but once i fitted the meyle aftermarket control arms (for cars without sport suspension) my front camber was out of spec, and could not be pulled back enough to be in spec again.. dont really notice a difference in roadholding, but the bigger negative camber will eventually affect tire life i suppose..

i suspect the sport control arm's geometry is slightly different from normal ones.

Correct, there are two different part numbers, but everywhere in phoned, both part numbers always pointed to the same product, for all brands. Must've felt it wasn't necessary/cost effective to have two different ones.

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[netercol]

but everywhere in phoned, both part numbers always pointed to the same product, for all brands

was this bmw agents you phoned or aftermarket? there is no aftermarket substitute for the sports control arms, so yeah, they will just give you the normal ones to replace either part number.

either way, i replaced my sports parts with normal ones, and apart from the camber issues, have not noticed any difference yet..