Replacing Lower Control Arms Difficulty
 

So I'm planning to replace both lower control arms on my 8 because the front end is knocking over potholes and imperfections in the road. The front end feels like it lifts the opposite side of the dip in the road when I drive over them. Also the steering feels way off. It started binding after I jacked up the car to test for wheel play, and the wheel did in fact wobble slightly, so I'm 99% sure that the ball joints are done.

I already replaced the inner and outer tie rod ends last weekend, which definitely made a difference, but the knocking is still present. Front swaybar endlinks have also just been replaced, and the struts aren't blown.

Anyways, I have the workshop manual, but I was wondering how difficult replacing the lower control arms actually are? I'm fairly handy, just curious about how much work is actually involved? I know the strut will have to be disconnected when replacing the lower arm, but do I need a spring compressor so the spring doesn't unload and shoot out, or do I not have to worry since the strut and spring are still attached from the strut tower mounts? The rest looks relatively straightforward, and I know I'll obviously need alignment after. I'm just interested mainly on how to disconnect the strut from the lower control arm.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Anyone?

It's one of the jobs i wouldn't do on a driveway or a garage.
Bring it to a shop if you really have to and replace the bushings with better ones.

The shocks are OK...you don't need to play with the springs at all...just undo the upper and lower mount bolts and you are good to go.

Removing the LCA is a bit of a PIA..but easy enough on jack stands.

Make sure you loosen all the bolts that hold the headlight sensors and the ABS sensors...it is easy to stretch the wires and break them. If they are loose there is lots of room

You might have a problem with the lower camber adjusting bolts...they get seized in and sometimes need to be cut out....not an easy job.

If it was me...I would jack up the car...and try and remove the camber adjuster bolt...if it comes out then finish the job....if it doesn't...I would find a shop or someone with a lift to do it :)

Would it be a good idea to just order new camber bolts?

Have you checked the camber bolts are really tight. I adjust my camber all the time for autocross and if I don't get it really tight the work themselves loose and under load the lower control arm will move out. Causing a knocking noise and change the dynamics of the suspension.
Before replacing I would slacken every bolt on the control arms, load the suspension and tighten up the bolts again. Loading the suspension is not always easy I have a set of rhino ramps. It is important to load the suspension prior to tightening otherwise you put extra pressure on the bushings. If you are going to loosen then tighten them all up make sure you do an alignment. String along the side of the car and a spirit level on the wheel of the car should work well enough to get the wheels straight and the camber about the same on each side.

Don't forget to check the sway bar mount bushings. As they wear out you can get a "clunking" over bumps

^^It's more than just a noise. I can actually feel the knocking through the steering rack. It's that bad.

What is involved in disconnecting the strut from the control arm? Do I just loosen the nut and pull the strut out, or do I need a compressor so the strut doesn't fly out and kill me under load? Lol.

This. No spring compressor needed. As long as you don't loosen the single nut in the middle of the top plate, the strut assembly will stay together as a unit and can be removed from the car safely.

Undo the 3 top mount nuts. Then the single bolt at the bottom of the strut. With the strut unbolted, you can remove the upper and lower control arms as needed.

Sweet! Thanks so much. I figure that'll be the hardest part, but once the strut is disconnected, the arm should literally just unbolt and come out.

Does anyone know if the replacement arms come with new bushings? I could have sworn I read that in an old thread, but I can't remember for sure? From the pics Mazmart has, it seems so, but if anyone can verfy, that'd be great.

Mazmart Shopping Cart

The new control arms come with new bushings installed and the new ball joint. I would order the camber bolts as well...they are cheap :)

If the camber bolt is loose the whole wheel will move in and out under load. The camber bolt is designed to move the bottom of the wheel in and out to add camber and would be much more noticeable through the steering wheel then a worn out ball joint. But if you don't want to spend 10 minutes checking it then go ahead and replace the control arm.

The stock suspension in the Rx8 is a coilover so no need for a compressor just unbolt it.

Great to know. Thanks so much. I checked last week when the car was on jack stands, I placed a floor jack under the control arm and shook the wheel, and it did move back and forth, so I'm almost certain the ball joints are bad.

While doing this, you should have pushed in and out on top of the tire. Hand at 6 and 12. Thats how to check ball joints. Just like shaking left and right when checking tie rods but 90* off.

The key is the jack. The ball joints need to be checked with the wheel off the ground, but the suspension loaded. Most cars you can jack under the lower control arm to load the suspension, but its a bit difficult with our cars having wide tires and shallow control arms

Be sure to coat the camber and caster adjustment bolts fully with anti-seize or gease before installing them. Otherwise as mentioned earlier they have been known to rust and seize up inside the arm bushings, which then is a major pita to cut out and replace them.

Otherwise threads like this make me facepalm. You need to specifically figure out what is wrong and repair that rather than blindly changing this and then that chasing it with your wallet.


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Been there got the t shirt :)

Had to weld the cams on mine too...after multiple alignments and no rubber bushings they came off the bolt...don't work too well then :)

I've had to replace mine several times, happens even with rubber bushings

Yeah that's exactly what I did and while shaking the wheel determined that it was wobbling with the suspension loaded and the wheel off the ground. When I go over really bumpy roads there's horrible knocking, as well as when I hit a pothole, it feels like the car lifts on the opposite side of where I hit the pot hole itself. It feels really sketchy.

I'm getting alignment in the morning since I just replaced inner and outer tie rods, and I'll ask if the alignment guy can check the ball joints as well just for a second opinion. I've checked everything else, and through process of elimination, this seems like the only plausible fault left, that has gotten worse and worse over the months. I haven't driven it all week, and after alignment it's not being driven till the knocking is fixed just because I'm too sketched out of something breaking at any point in time with no warning.

The last night I drove it before I left it parked for the last week in my garage, I did notice a squeaking noise coming from the same side as the suspected bad ball joint when traveling straight down a bumpy road (that wasn't normal at all till recently). I'm assuming it's from the wheel wobbling, and/or a bad control arm bushing. That was the final straw though, and it's hard to recall everything atm. I'll take that bumpy road tomorrow on the way to the alignment shop and get a better description ready if they can't confirm my proposed issue.

Just a shot in the dark here, but are you sure the wheels lug nuts are tight and torqued? It just seems odd to me that the ball joints are a making such a racket. They are usually silent killers.

Yeah. I went off the road months ago on a canyon run when my brakes faded with no warning whatsoever. I went up and embankment until I stopped, but I was only going like 30mph, so I was really lucky. Just wrecked my OEM bumper and caused this suspension issue. I had it checked out and my buddy looked under as well, and everyone keeps telling me everything is "fine" when it's clearly not, and I've had my car 7 years, so I know what it's supposed to feel like, and this is nothing like it.

That happened back in July and I've been driving on it since, trying to pin point the issue with little luck because it's no longer typical wear and tear. The incident just messed up my OEM bumper and nothing is clearly bent at all (or we'd know the issue. LOL). I remember that night that when I went up the dirt embankment, there was contact on the passenger side lower control arm, and that's the bad wheel, so when you put the pieces together, doesn't it makes sense that's the issue? The wheel did fail the jacking test as well, and the wheel vibrates slightly mid corner of a turn. Plus it's gotten noticeably worse on tighter turns leading to slight understeer that never happened before at higher speeds (at the same location). I replaced endlinks and tie rods recently because my both had a lot of play in the ball joints, and I've just been trying to eliminate the issues to narrow it down because I'm sick and tired of no one being able to find the issue, and it's cheaper to replace the parts than get certain things inspected. Control arms are the first real expensive item though, but at this point, it's honestly an insurance feeling in my mind because I won't have to worry about the wheel falling off unexpectedly even if the knocking is still present.

Just to clarify, the wobble isn't excessive like I've seen in videos of ball joints that already failed, but there's definitely some play in the wheel that is far from normal and seems to link all the issues I've had. And the understeer issue, I have noticed it on off cambered right hand turns, which probably result from the wobble. Oddly enough, there's no uneven tire wear, and I bought four new tires a month after the incident.

Piggybacking thread.

Broken ball joint on my '04, tried getting the camber bolt out of it, no luck. Some rust on this 8, heat and beat didn't work.
Decided to see if my other mostly rust free dead 8 control arm would come out, no luck.
It appears I'm going to have to cut it.

I would suggest anyone with a S1 should plan on buying new camber bolts before attempting any lower control arm work.
Might even be worth it to have one in the tool box if, like me, you rely on your 8 as a DD.

You're going to have to cut the bushing too or mangle your subframe to get access to cut the bolt.

Yes, thanks.
I thought I might to avoid damage to it.