Passat control arms - the best brand replacement?

Tea drinker

Got some knocking in my suspension and it looks like at least one control arm is gone. Car has 58,000 miles. I have mostly heard fairly good things about Febi control arm kit, but I also heard Lemforder is the OEM manufacturer. Has anyone experience of either or both, any change in NVH and did they last like the originals?

OTTO in tallaght do a full kit of uppers lowers link arms for 380, where as the stealership want 115 per arm.
It's the 2003 type passat.

OldmanMondeo

Febi are re-badged parts, usually OE. The kit Otto are doing sounds like the Moog kit, but a good bit cheaper, motor factors were buying these for €500 on a special last year.

George Dalton

Lemforder are the OE suppliers but I am not convinced that they put the same quality stuff into their aftermarket range. For that reason it is genuine only in my own car. For customers cars I strongly recommend genuine or at the very least Lemforder. Anything else is a total waste of time and money in my experience.

Tea drinker

I'll see what I can source by way of a Lemforder kit. I have first hand experience of what bad replacement bushings are like........ whole lot of work over and over.
I want the good stuff but I couldn't justify 115+ for a simple balljoint and bush on an aluminium arm

George Dalton

GSF in Clondalkin sell the Lemforder stuff and I think Otto in Tallaght do as well.

nogoodnamesleft

I replaced the topcontrol arm on my B5.5 Passat about 1.5 years ago with a Febi Blisten part supplied by Otto car parts in Cork and there still no knock or unneccessary movement.

Chimaera

Febi Bilstein are OE too. I'm using a set of their arms on my Passat at the moment. A bit early to tell how good they are, but they came highly recommended from a few sources.

A note of caution: avoid Meyle branded control arms at all costs. I bought a set of these before as they were a good bit cheaper, and had gotten some good reviews online. Utter junk. Within 30000km, 4 of the 8 balljoints had developed serious wear to the point where they were no longer safe. I eventually got my money back under warranty on them.

I got my Febi kit for around €400 from AES Car Parts in Limerick earlier this year.

Tea drinker

Thanks for the info Chimaera, I had heard bad thinks about Meyle, even the "HD" upgraded ones. Lemforder so far is something like 900 euro for the full kit, that's almost main dealer price :eek:
I'll keep looking for now, I'll either get the Febi kit or pick n mix from the Lemforder. I can't put it off for too long, everyday it sounds a little worse

George Dalton

I don't rate the Febi stuff at all I must say. I have never used their suspension arms for these particular cars but got stung a few years back with some of their rubber bushes, wishbones and other suspension parts and won't use any of their stuff now as a consequence.

I don't see the point of replacing the whole kit. It is likely that only a couple of the arms are actually worn. If you don't see to it shortly though the excessive movement in the worn arms will cause the good arms to go the same way. I find the best approach is to replace them in a timely fashion as and when they wear. That way you maximise the life of the arms and never have to spend a fortune on it all at once.