FCP Groton Control arms are trash

**a4_1.8t_01** · 10-17-2010 10:58 AM

I had them on their about 10k miles and the boots are broken and hard like rocks. Most of them have a lot of play. I hope they can warranty them. My car sounds like a truck over bumps again.

Has anyone else had a problem with them?

**DanS4** · 10-17-2010 11:01 AM

and why would you think they would be good?

**a4_1.8t_01** · 10-17-2010 11:23 AM

I buy everything OEM now.

**onemoremile** · 10-17-2010 01:58 PM

I had a bad set right out of the box. The guys at FCP are awesome to deal with and sent me another set. Out of curiousity, I chucked a bushing end in the vice and moved the other end back and forth a couple inches like the suspension. Even with just that I saw tears forming in the rubber bushings. Great guys to deal with but the arms and bushings, not so much. I really hope they get better quality stuff in stock. I'm probably just going to press the bushings out of the old ones and press in some spherical ends. Might as well make the most of what is still good.

**stevejones19** · 10-17-2010 03:02 PM

Thats good to know. I've read quite a few good reviews on these actually... Maybe it's just hit or miss? Too bad i'm not a fan of taking risk, lol

**v dub'n** · 10-17-2010 06:56 PM

Less than 1000miles on mine and one of my lowers is dancing around on the metal bushing.

**discontained** · 10-17-2010 07:43 PM

got about 15k on mine, no problems. Had to replace the tie rods a few weeks ago. Autozone had outers for 19.99/peice with a lifetime warranty, see how those hold up. Other than that they are fine for me

**PSU S4** · 10-17-2010 08:02 PM

I have heard both sides of these stories, but i took the leap and bought the full kit, uppers, lowers, inner and outter tie rods, sway links and their bolt kit, i just put everything on but haven't driven the car yet, hope i got a good set! Fingers crossed!

**FCPEuro** · 10-18-2010 07:14 AM

We do offer a warranty on all of the parts we offer here, however, many customers especially the group buy guys on this forum have had many more miles on the same option aftermarket kit you are running. And the same warranty I offer on the site would apply here. If any of you guys need a replacement component from any part of the kit (or anything for that matter, please let me know) I will gladly take care of it for you. As per the quality concern, I offer the Heavy Duty Meyle kit for those of you who are dealing with harsher road conditions or do more then just the daily drive. My aftermarket kits are meant to be a stock standard replacement kit, but if you are looking for something tougher and stronger I do have those available as well.

**MCKAYIVA4** · 10-18-2010 07:17 AM

How low are your coil overs set? They really arent ment for cars that are slammed.

**terraflata** · 10-18-2010 07:33 AM

Installation is also a huge factor in durability. They aren't meant to be tightened with the wheels hanging in the air. Premature excessive wear.

**A4Rob** · 10-18-2010 08:49 AM

I have been running them for over 10K without any issues.

**wildbill** · 10-18-2010 09:08 AM

5 bones for febis

**a4_1.8t_01** · 10-18-2010 07:59 PM

You would feel it a lot more if you live in NYC. On good roads I dont feel it but as soon as I hit the bumps it gets bad. These guys are great to deal with. I've had nothing but good experiences from them. They will warranty these. I talked to Mike. Great company. I'm getting the Meyle ones this time.

**onemoremile** · 11-06-2010 05:52 PM

I now have a set of the Meyle HD arms from FCP. Those guys are seriously great to deal with. Scott totally took care of me!
FWIW, I think I got part of a bad batch initially. I've installed dozens of upper arms from all the manufacturers and have gotten at least one bad one from all of them.

**ThatA4T** · 11-06-2010 06:27 PM

just installed the 12 piece kit from ecs today and the look like they will be wonderful just waiting on my new axels monday to throw in and then ill have my car back together and on the road

**onemoremile** · 11-07-2010 07:32 AM

Originally Posted by ThatA4T

just installed the 12 piece kit from ecs today and the look like they will be wonderful just waiting on my new axels monday to throw in and then ill have my car back together and on the road

That set lasted me 40-50k miles. A couple arms needed replacing within the first two years.

**D's Avant** · 11-07-2010 09:17 AM

I've had my FCP control arms on for over a year now with no issues whatsoever, and our roads are pretty torn up. I think some of it comes down to the install and getting everything torqued down correctly.

**ricekikr** · 11-07-2010 09:56 AM

I also installed the arms + tie rods (inner + outer). Everything seems to be fine, around 1500miles on them already EXCEPT for the INNER tie-rods which failed after roughly 250miles.

Sad part is, it costs $55 shipped for the INNER rods, even though I only paid and additional $10 for them when I ordered it with the arms. I'll just reinstall my old inner rods which seems fine. Re-alignment FTL!

BUT! The GOOD thing about FCP is they honor their warranty. They'll refund me the $55 if I ship back the broken ones.

**BlazinB5** · 08-17-2013 12:29 PM

so has anyone been able to get 40,000 miles out of these? besides onemoremile

**ianwpb** · 08-17-2013 12:58 PM

I got 30 out if mine before the top bushings went. It was partially my fault though. I didn't jack the suspension up enough before I tightened them.

**coolgraymemo** · 08-17-2013 01:16 PM

22,000 miles on mine.

**Saskwatch** · 08-17-2013 01:25 PM

Three year run on mine, just replaced uppers with oem, and outer ties...
Driver lower strut mount shot, and lower joint.. Doing lowers soon.
I would say they lasted a good amount, many trips to Ohio, and a hard life in the heart of rocky mtn ski country.

**BlazinB5** · 08-17-2013 08:36 PM

Originally Posted by ianwpb

I got 30 out if mine before the top bushings went. It was partially my fault though. I didn't jack the suspension up enough before I tightened them.

bummer.. so how can you tell when you've jacked up the suspension enough though? im about to order up some control arms through the FCP group buy (option 3), so i'm trying to mentally prepare myself before i do it

cheers

Originally Posted by Saskwatch

Three year run on mine, just replaced uppers with oem, and outer ties...
Driver lower strut mount shot, and lower joint.. Doing lowers soon.
I would say they lasted a good amount, many trips to Ohio, and a hard life in the heart of rocky mtn ski country.

that's not too bad, i'm guessing you drove like 10k a year?

**ianwpb** · 08-17-2013 08:53 PM

If you have center caps take them off while the car is on the ground. Measure from the bottom of the axle bolt to the fender. That way you know your exact measurement when you don't have the wheel on.

**bern_10** · 08-17-2013 09:01 PM

I just got my kit in the mail; after reading all the comments, I'm fingers crossed.

**TJN0923** · 08-17-2013 09:22 PM

Originally Posted by bern_10

I just got my kit in the mail; after reading all the comments, I'm fingers crossed.

You'll be fine. The people that have had negative experiences with this product are very low.

**bern_10** · 08-17-2013 09:37 PM

Well that's reassuring, I have already done my homework for the install. I was just curious about longevity of these control arms. Seems like if installed correctly, they are decent for the price.

**TJN0923** · 08-17-2013 09:49 PM

They are very good for the price.

I've been running mine for two years now. All while being lowered on race springs.

**Mad Cow** · 08-18-2013 08:12 AM

I'm surprised it took this long for the negative reviews to start coming out of the woodwork. Every thread I've read before this people were all recommending these just because they're cheap, now these same people say their arms are trash after less than a quarter of the mileage OEM arms last. I personally wouldn't take the risk and go with febi arms for a little bit more; all cheap no-name/house brand arms are trash IMO, I've had more than enough bad experiences with them to know to stay away. It's not even that they bin them based on quality and sell the worse ones cheaper, the materials themselves are different, probably even a slightly different assembly or casting process to keep costs down.

At the moment my arms are febi with a '06 date stamp, I lowered my car around 2 years ago and didn't bother re-torquing the arms properly. Still going strong and I can imagine it lasting another year or 2 before I really have to do anything about it, let's see a set of cheap arms last that long even under ideal conditions.

**1986nate** · 08-19-2013 07:37 PM

No problems after 50k miles and 20 months. Including a few thousand miles of flying down the gravel/dirt pothole filled roads of the Pine Barrens in southern Jersey. Did all control arms and tie rod ends. Front end is still tight.

**Saskwatch** · 08-20-2013 09:17 AM

Originally Posted by BlazinB5

bummer.. so how can you tell when you've jacked up the suspension enough though? im about to order up some control arms through the FCP group buy (option 3), so i'm trying to mentally prepare myself before i do it

cheers

that's not too bad, i'm guessing you drove like 10k a year?

I drive a metric shit ton.

**BirdTurbo** · 08-20-2013 09:45 AM

Mr driver side is jingling over bumps, while the right pulls a little. Shitty thing is I had to take it midas to get it aligned I spend forever trying to do it right.

**smittyzz** · 10-24-2015 01:00 PM

I can also vouch that these kits are quality. With my driving on back/ dirt roads of bennington and my closely surrounded towns, after 8 or so months I hadnt had any issues whatsoever.
The biggest pita changing them will be the seized bolts. There a bitch. Sometimes heat works sometimes it doesn't. I've done three of these now and ive always hack sawed by hand which blew. With a sawzall you time will be cut in half if your cutting the bolts.
The upper strut mount in the front the bolts are a pita and the mounts have to come down.

When it comes to the pinch bilt heat is key, but I've never had issues getting them out till the silver car I have now.

when you do the rear control arms you have to drop the rear of the subframe just a touch for the bolts to clear then shell. Another pita.

And last tip, get some PB blaster a week or two ahead an start drenching everything your going to touch every day until its time. You will be alot better off trust me.

Just my 2 cents

Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk