Hi All,

What are you views on using OEM versus pattern part Upper Control Arms?

The genuine Lexus parts are worth more than the car - Does anyone have any recommendations of where to buy please?

Cheers,


Steve

Steve

Changed my brothers on his 1991 with the "cheap" ones from USA and he is very pleased with them, they looked very "original" if you know what I mean and have been on for about a year now and are still fine, impossible to say how long they will last but as you say the genuine ones are a bit too pricey...

I think he got them from ebay.com. If you can;t find them let me know and I'll find out where he got his from, believe it or not he spoke to the woman and paid with a credit card on Wednesday and nearly fell over when they arrived on Friday morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good Luck

Pete

Hi,
Just bought a passenger side one off the bay for £61 inc p+p....Fitted ok and no problems at all after 1000miles. Inspection of the part compared with the one removed showed all the same markings as the lexus one and the pressed bearing seemed exactly the same. Up to this point I would recommend one, but time will tell if it is worth the money!.....Also,I would add that the part was delivered within 3-days of order! Well worth a punt.

Hi Pete, thanks for this info.

My options (for just the parts) are this:

Lexus Dealer = £700 inc VAT (and that's with a 10% discount!!!!)
e-Bay importer of OE parts = £540 (and he will fit them for £700 all in)
Import OE parts myself = £456
Pattern parts from www.blueprint-adl.co.uk int the UK = £553.45
Pattern parts from e-Bay in the US = £180 ish

As you can see, there is a lot of variance here. Has anyone else other than Pete bought cheap ones? If so, how are they wearing?

Cheers,


Steve

Thanks Thermoacc - Your reply crossed with mine at the same time. I think I know who you bought from. I have PMed you just in case it's considered advertising to mention it here. Many thanks for your input.

Steve why dont you get the poly bushes [ www.daizensporttuning.com] from the states, and rebush the arms that you have. It cost just over £80 in sterling 160 us dollers shipped and arrived in 3 days. then you will have bushes that will out last the car.

Before you decide on just the bushings you have to find out if the ball joint is OK, the arm has two bushings at the back and a ball joint at the front, most of the time if the bushes are badly worn then the ball joint will be on its way out too.... apparently you can't replace the ball joint, its part of the arm.... I expect someone could cut it out and bolt in a replacement but it would not be easy....

Steve,

The arms are very easy to replace, I had never done them before, did my brothers on his drive with hand tools and it took under an hour to do both so £160 for labour is well over the top.....

Pete

Steve

I will give you £701 cash for your car now, as is with all its faults...............

Pete

Thanks ffcary1 - Sorry for being thick here but this just isn't my bag at all....................Are you saying that if I order kit L2-2002 and get them fitted (properly) I end up with the equivalent of new Upper Control Arms?

It sounds perfect and so much cheaper! Is it really that simple? Is there any downside or things I need to be aware of?

Hi All...
Just remembered, I took a couple of pics on my mobile when fitting said £61 upper control arms...



Sorry about the quality, camera on phone a bit iffy!
As I said before, fitting was easy and the quality of the part seemed fine.
Learned a few tricks on how to fit them quick too in the process!
God bless e-bay!

I have just fitted the poly bushes to my car and the upper arm joint was ok but the lower arm ball joint was shot, so repacement oe ball joints were ordered and i fitted said parts yesterday.

take a look at this site for more info.http://www.lexls.com/

thermoacc - Brilliant pics, thank you very much.

ffcary1 - www.lexls.com is excellent - just what I need.

Thanks all - very much appreciated.


Steve