My car had the dreaded creak from the front A-arms, so I decided to pick up a K member and new control arms to try and save a little weight. I ended up purchasing a BMR K member and I went with the Steeda A arms which are basically OEM with better bushings.
We tore apart the car in about 1.5 hrs and we were ready to put the new parts on. The instructions from BMR leave a lot to be desired. They basically provided a hardware bag with all the hardware but no specific instructions on what gets washers and what doesnt. We ended up spending way to much time trying to figure it out on our own. A quick call to Dion over at BMR and we were making progress again. We ended up getting everything bolted up in the car or so we thought and then we called it a day.
This morning we got back under the car to grease the ball joints and noticed the spindle was not tight on the ball joint. If you placed a pry bar bewteen the a arm and spindle you could move it up and down a tiny bit After trying to figure out what the hell was going on we used a caliper and measured the width of the ball joint compared to the OEM one. Turns out I received ones that were 1mm smaller than the factory ones and this is why it was not biting on the spindle. Called Steeda and they were helpul and I have the correct set on the way. Really sucks we have to drop the steering rack to swap the a arms but it is what it is. This is where is gets real fun!!
So, we did the install on my buddies lift and we wanted to get the car out of his garage. Even though the we knew the ball joints were 1mm smaller we thought we could move the car out of the garage still, WRONG!!. We backed the car up and as soon as I turned the wheels the ball joint popped out on my drivers sie which resulted in my tire wedging into the front fender area which broke the tabs on my bumper and broke it off. I get out of the car and am thinking how in the hell we are going to move the car. After fighting with it for about an hour we get it all mocked back together and proceed to go back on his lift. Make it 10 feet and it popped off again, WTF!!. We ended up having to jack the car up and place some wood on a wheel dolly let it rest on the K member with the front drivers side tire removed.
Finally get the car back in the garage to find out the car is not centered for the lift, GOTTA be kidding me!! Placed another wheel dolly under the passenger tire and finally got the car centered. This whole process today took about 5 hours, may not sound like that much but man it was so frustrating.
My car is now sitting on my buddies lift as we anxiously wait for the CORRECT control arms to come in. So the lesson I learned today is if your ball joints are not the correct size do not move your car even 15 feet!!!
Anyone have any pointers on getting my bumper to stay on since I broke the tabs off.
I didnt even think of taking any pics today because the car looked so strange with the front tire sitting 6 inche forward nearly turned 90 degrees, lol. Looking back on it I should have but I was just trying to get the car back together.
I guess I could be thankful that we noticed the ball joints were the wrong size. I mean what if I made it out of the garage and made it down the highway, could of been ugly!!
Leonard
We tore apart the car in about 1.5 hrs and we were ready to put the new parts on. The instructions from BMR leave a lot to be desired. They basically provided a hardware bag with all the hardware but no specific instructions on what gets washers and what doesnt. We ended up spending way to much time trying to figure it out on our own. A quick call to Dion over at BMR and we were making progress again. We ended up getting everything bolted up in the car or so we thought and then we called it a day.
This morning we got back under the car to grease the ball joints and noticed the spindle was not tight on the ball joint. If you placed a pry bar bewteen the a arm and spindle you could move it up and down a tiny bit After trying to figure out what the hell was going on we used a caliper and measured the width of the ball joint compared to the OEM one. Turns out I received ones that were 1mm smaller than the factory ones and this is why it was not biting on the spindle. Called Steeda and they were helpul and I have the correct set on the way. Really sucks we have to drop the steering rack to swap the a arms but it is what it is. This is where is gets real fun!!
So, we did the install on my buddies lift and we wanted to get the car out of his garage. Even though the we knew the ball joints were 1mm smaller we thought we could move the car out of the garage still, WRONG!!. We backed the car up and as soon as I turned the wheels the ball joint popped out on my drivers sie which resulted in my tire wedging into the front fender area which broke the tabs on my bumper and broke it off. I get out of the car and am thinking how in the hell we are going to move the car. After fighting with it for about an hour we get it all mocked back together and proceed to go back on his lift. Make it 10 feet and it popped off again, WTF!!. We ended up having to jack the car up and place some wood on a wheel dolly let it rest on the K member with the front drivers side tire removed.
Finally get the car back in the garage to find out the car is not centered for the lift, GOTTA be kidding me!! Placed another wheel dolly under the passenger tire and finally got the car centered. This whole process today took about 5 hours, may not sound like that much but man it was so frustrating.
My car is now sitting on my buddies lift as we anxiously wait for the CORRECT control arms to come in. So the lesson I learned today is if your ball joints are not the correct size do not move your car even 15 feet!!!
Anyone have any pointers on getting my bumper to stay on since I broke the tabs off.
I didnt even think of taking any pics today because the car looked so strange with the front tire sitting 6 inche forward nearly turned 90 degrees, lol. Looking back on it I should have but I was just trying to get the car back together.
I guess I could be thankful that we noticed the ball joints were the wrong size. I mean what if I made it out of the garage and made it down the highway, could of been ugly!!
Leonard
