I bought these for the e30:
Parts are well-made and pass the smell test. I have to press out the factory ball joints to install them:
The control arms on the car are Lemförder, 4 years old. The joints are in excellent condition with no observable damage or detectable play. I carefully removed the boot on one of the outers and same story inside, grease is fresh. They've seen only (hard) track duty, but I'm fairly kind to the car and there haven't been any notable incidents. Articulation feels normal. I also have a set of identical new control arms on the way. My intent is to have whichever second set on standby for spares with factory ball joints as a just-in-case as well as an option for classing if needed (modified geometry points). Which set gets the MRT gear? Is it the spankin'-new set so all fresh, or is it more likely that the older arms actually have better joints in them? What would you do?
Lemforder for the replacements or something else?
I'm asking myself the same question as I look at replacing parts I replaced last 10-15 years ago without that much mileage on them, the old parts come from Europe and the replacements tend to come from China.
I think you'll have your answer when the new arms arrive. If you can remove the balljoints without damage it won't really matter though as they'll still be usable.
Lemförder I believe are actually OEM for those arms last time purchased. You can tell usually because they grind the BMW logo off the rubber bushing. Anyway, I say remove the joints from the used ones and save the new ones to swap out when needed.
The new replacements are identical Lemförder. But even being presumably OE Qualität aus Deutschland, I won't bet against even the Germans having quality issues due to labor and global supply chain BS in the last 3 years. Adam, you're right though...I'll make my final decision when the new ones arrive. I'm also leaning toward using the old arms and leaving the new ones intact as spares. I can to the job on the car with ball joint press in that scenario.
Minor complication that sways the vote as well...the right side inner joint in the crossmember is tough to get to from above because there's a header in the way. I prefer to bash the stud end free (with sacrificial nut installed) with brass tools instead of outright destruction via pickle fork from below.
Use a ball joint remover.
different car but if it fits it will work awesome
