Front lower suspension arms

[dannyh]

Failed the MOT on front lower suspension arms, straight ones, what a surprise, garage has replaced them and issued me with a new mot, car now pulls to the left, jumps about when you hit a little bump with either wheel, doesn`t self centralise and if you go to about 3/4 left lock and let go the wheel, it goes round in lovely circles, took it straight back, they say, "Ohhh, it just needs to wear in", I said "B*llocks".
They don`t want to know about it, as far as they`re concerned it`s o/k, I know how my car drives and this aint it
Took it to another mot station today, explained what had gone on, and the checked it for me, they showed me that the ball joints were fine, but the bushings at the other end of the arms seemed to be very soft, giving the arms a lot of sideways movement, they removed both arms and examined them but can`t really put their finger on the cause of the problem.
Both arms seem to be exactly the same shape, although one has a blind tapped hole in the top halfway along its top side
They tried putting the arms on the opposite sides but this made no difference
Phoned my local Mitsi dealer to ask how you identify a right from a left, they didn`t know and they had none in stock to look at

Where do I go from here ??????

Would welcome any suggestions
Many thanks
Danny

[giblet]

My vr4 had those symptoms and an horrible creaking noise BEFORE the arms were replaced. Only dropped it off tonight so I wont know what its like once they have been replaced tomorow morning. Did the garage use aftermarket arms? Seem to be quite a few horror stories about them.

When I picked up my genuine mitsi ones from mr mann, the left one had a big L on them. Might worth sending him a pm to see if he knows the difference as he might still have another pair. I should be going to the garage tomorrow to watch them fit the arms, so I can try an get some pics of them before they are fitted if that helps?

[dannyh]

gonna be aftermarket ones, he got them, any more info and pics would be great
thanks

[miller]

you need to get the car fully aligned after this, plus i would suggest that your current tyre setup doesnt match? ie different makes possibly?

[gallvr4]

wonder have they put in two left hand side arms????

[dannyh]

Thought about that one, but they are different, one has a blind tapped hole in the top??? about half way along its top, no idea what it`s for, and the other is plain, the mot station I went to yesterday is getting one in today to compare it with mine, went to first mot station to try and get the old ones back, but they have scrapped them.
I have the factory manual on disc, but it only shows one side in pdf, so it`s a fairly basic drawing, and no details or dimensions
comparing the two, I think they may be two of the same, as there is a slight difference, that being a very slight dogleg on the knuckle end, and they both go the same way, don`t seem right to me!!!

[bradc]

I'd get an alignment done on the car as playing around with suspension parts like that can take the car out of whack.

The other option is that they have indeed used two of the same side and that would cause a whole raft of issues!

[Gly]

the arms are should be different,
(they look very similar but towards the end one bends slightly to the left and the other to the right)
mirror images of each other.

sorry i cant tell you about any markings as i don't have both,
i have a drivers side only out of the car. ill have a look at it in the morning if you haven't got a definite answer yet

[giblet]

My arms were swapped this morning, kept the old pair and there was play in the left one so I know which one is which. Will take some shots after lunch and get them up here asap :)

[giblet]

Took some pics, the left arm is the one on the top, right arm is the one on the bottom. I cant tell the difference between them both, the left one did have a big L on it though.

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc179/gib786/DSCF3397.jpg

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc179/gib786/DSCF3398.jpg

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc179/gib786/DSCF3399.jpg

[apeman69]

If you look down on them from above (see gib's 2nd photo) you will see that there is a difference in the angle at which the casting around one of the bushes slopes. One slopes left and one slopes right. If, holding both straight arms with the ball joint at the same end, the angle of the side of the casting slopes the same way then you've got two lefts or two rights. I can't remember which is L and which is R but you'll be able to determine if you have two different (which they need to be) arms.
Here's a doodle while I'm up early, waiting to go and collect my car from Eurospec!!! :2thumbsup :dance: :happy:

[dannyh]

Many thanks for taking the time to give me so much help guys, really appreciated, will let you all know the outcome, once again, "Thanks very much", this is such a good club well worth the money, and a really good bunch :-)

[elnevio]

Many thanks for taking the time to give me so much help guys, really appreciated, will let you all know the outcome, once again, "Thanks very much", this is such a good club well worth the money, and a really good bunch :-)
Hear, hear. /yes


Hope it is a relatively easy fix.

[Davezj]

I know this an old thread, but thought I would post up my recent findings.

I have just replaced my lower straight suspension arms and i only noticed the one with an L on it and assumed it meant left for the passenger side of the car, the other one did not have an L on it. The one I took off the passenger side had an L on it which is why I fitted it to that side, I was not sure his is what it meant, but I hought I would go with what the mitsi mechanic did as I new this car had had the recall work done on it.
I looked at the new arms for ages before fitting them to see if here was a difference but i cuold not see one.
I should have checked on here first I suppose.
But it looks like I got it right.
It was a 50/50 choice at the end ofthe day. So all is good.