nikobsd

Im trying to purchase upper control arm for my 1998 LS400, what brand do you suggest? My budget is around $300.

Thanks

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

oem. nothing else works quite right (search).

moat

I need to replace both of my 93 LS upper control arms. New OEM is $590 each, or around $1300 with tax for a pair of L&R. This is crazy expensive.

Can you share with us your experience as to why and which aftermarket products are not good to use? The aftermarket part is around $100 each.

I assume the low priced ones are from China, but I see some German made for around $160 each.

JDMUCF11

Are the aftermarket ones adjustable? Would be awesome to rock in some aggressive camber. Not that the tire wear would like it heheheheh

denverdog

i have a '93 and put the arnotts on a year and a half ago. no problems. the other posts have some negative comments, but apparently they don't hold up as well if your car is lowered or slammed. mine isn't. there comes a point when you just can't justify putting half the value of the car into those two parts, in my o[inion.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

arnotts have the wrong type of ball joint and will fail far FAR before the OEM ones will.

OEM UCAs can be had for far less than list by going through one of the forum sponsors like Carson Toyota or Sewell Lexus.

johnnyg66

As of right now upper control arms at sewell our price is $546.00 a piece. Best of luck.

trukn1

as far as something quite as essential as an suspension part for this car, OEM is pretty much gonna be your best bet. YES, they are crazy expensive, but why take chances with another part that is not made for your car. Aftermarket's are gonna be far and few between, and will not work quote as well.

moat

www.parts.com has the oem UCA for $515 ea. That is still crazy expensive.

after reading more about UCA here on CL, I get the feeling APX may be ok to use. Anyone here have experience with upper control arm from APX for first gen LS?

If you have APX on, please let us know for how long and how's it going.

Any info on LBJ (lower ball joint) is also appreciated. Thanks everyone.

moat

I can't seem to find those APX UCA for sale on ebay or on apxautoparts.com .... Anyone with a source?

tenchu

Been running Raybestos lowers in my '90 for a few months now, no issues.

moat

PureDrifter: thank you for your comments regarding aftermarket UCA. I have been reading here on CL the past couple days. I see Arnott is no good because of the ball joint. APX seems ok, but now I can no longer find them for sale. No one made any comments about Meyle --- German made -- (I see it on ebay, but no longer on Meyle's own web site ... so they stopped making them perhaps?)

The best price for OEM I have found so far is on www.parts.com ($515 each). Anyone who knows of better price for the OEM arm please help!

This is situation is terrible for us first generation owners.

moat

I see many Sewell when I do a Google search. Which Sewell? Are you at www.sewellpart.com or somewhere else?

moat

trukn1: thanks for your comment. I have been reading about Arnott and APX. I have a feeling they may come from the same source in China (the ball joint area is no good). There is a German arm from Meyle, but no one has talked about this brand here. I am slowly coming to the conclusion we really don't have any choice but to go w/ OEM regarding these UCA. A terrible situation for 1990-2000 LS owners.

moat

UCA by Arnott APX DMA Dorman and OEM ....

We can see here on CL that Arnott is no good. I am not sure about APX. APX is just a reseller and they source the arm from DMA Goodpoint. I called DMA Goodpoint and they no longer sell the arms (as of two months ago).

My guess is Arnott, APX, DMA Goodpoint, are all resellers. They all sell the same crap from China with the bad ball joint design If you go on Alibaba.com you will find you can buy these arms by the 100s or 1000s for very very cheap. My guess is all those arms on ebay are from this source in China. All crap.

Dorman may be different and better, but I am not certain at this point.

I searched and have not seen feedback from CL members about Dorman UCA. This is strange because the OEM is so expensive ($600) and I thought by now we would have some feedbacks about Dorman.

I called Dorman tech support directly today 800-523-2492 www.dormanproducts.com (1/9/2012). The man on the phone told me they design and engineer this part and they are manufactured in Taiwan.

http://www.dormanproducts.com/p-2213...2520Suspension


The fact I got a real tech support person to tell me this gives me some comfort.

I will probably buy one Dorman arm and try it out. At $195 I think I am will to give them a try. (And Amazon.com will take it back if I tell them it's crap.) This product is also sold on rockauto.com.

Dorman part no. 520-459 and 520-460 (L and R upper control arm for first gen LS)

If you know anything about these Dorman UCA please share your knowledge with us.