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Meyle Control Arms

28K views 70 replies 24 participants last post by  TitaniumCranium 
#1 ·
Anyone have a Meyle control arm do this after 5 km's of road use?



 
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#5 ·
So, is it a defect with the control arm? Or did my local installation shop bend me over when they sold me an OEM control arm to replace the Meyle? I needed my car operational asap so I didn't have the luxury to re-order over the internet.

I guess the install shop took me for the stereotypical BMW owner. Rightly so too, I see.
 
#6 ·
It is a pressed in, replaceable ball-joint. But under no circumstances should it be popping out on it's own while driving. If that's what happened, then something is definitely wrong.

FWIW, I emailed a link to this thread to Meyle USA at http://www.meyleusa.com/suggest.htm
 
#7 ·
I'm running Meyle too. Replaced during the summer and already have about 6k miles on them. I'm really hoping this is competely abnormal and not indicative of something that will eventually become a recall item.

Subscribing!
 
#11 ·
I was going under 20 km/hr at the time while making a right hand turn. I went over a small bump in the pavement during the turn. An unusual clunk sound came from the driver's side front wheel well. After that, my toe in/out alignment was so far out that I had to tilt the steering wheel @ 1-2 o'clock or about 45 degrees from centre in order to drive straight.
 
#9 ·
Inner Ball Joint becomes loose in E46 Control Arm

I am the MEYLE Technical Rep in North America and this is the first time I have seen this problem. Since the inner ball joint itself is pressed through the bottom of the arm and the ball joint itself has a big lip on it. By looking at the posted pictures it looks to me that the ball joint became loose in the hole and started to wobble back and forth making the hole oblong. It was also probably accompanied by some noise. It does not look like the ball joint was pulled completely through the hole and was completely separated from the arm because there is still material in the hole to stop the ball joint retaining lip from coming through.

Since it was detected only 5km after being installed it was either caused by a manufacturing flaw or an installation abnormality. It would be good to know if there were other products installed on the vehicle in conjunction with the control arm. What type of control arm bushings were being used. Were both the ball joints moving freely in the ball pin housing cups? I definitely would like to inspect this arm.
 
#10 ·
I am the MEYLE Technical Rep in North America and this is the first time I have seen this problem. Since the inner ball joint itself is pressed through the bottom of the arm and the ball joint itself has a big lip on it. By looking at the posted pictures it looks to me that the ball joint became loose in the hole and started to wobble back and forth making the hole oblong. It was also probably accompanied by some noise. It does not look like the ball joint was pulled completely through the hole and was completely separated from the arm because there is still material in the hole to stop the ball joint retaining lip from coming through.

Since it was detected only 5km after being installed it was either caused by a manufacturing flaw or an installation abnormality. It would be good to know if there were other products installed on the vehicle in conjunction with the control arm. What type of control arm bushings were being used. Were both the ball joints moving freely in the ball pin housing cups? I definitely would like to inspect this arm.
Thanks for joining in! I think it's absolutely fantastic to be able to get the straight dope direct from the manufacturer and bypass all the typical rumor, innuendo, and other BS.

One question I've got that I wasn't able to find an answer to on the Meyle website is just how much force does it take to intentionally press out an old ball joint and press in a new one? Also, is there a limit on how many times a balljoint can be replaced on a given control arm?
 
#14 · (Edited)
No, the tapered end on the control arm was still in the powerflex control arm bushing. Was it all the way in? I can't remember, but I do recall checking to see if the powerflex bushings had worked their way out if the pre-pressed housings (I recall a few threads about that). The bushings were fine.

Basically, the ball joint remained in its installed position. It was the control arm that tilted to a higher position when the centre ball joint popped loose. After a visual inspection from a head-on view, my driver's side rim was noticeably pointed outward while the passenger's side was straight (with steering wheel centre)
 
#17 ·
My apologies, I'm still confused - let me try this again -
* the ball joint in the middle of the arm, being closer to the centerline axis of the car, is the "inner" ball joint. This joint bolts to the subframe, pc 1 - http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=AM33&mospid=47718&btnr=31_0404&hg=31&fg=05
* the ball joint on the end of the arm is the "outer" ball joint, and this piece bolts to the kingpin by the wheel.

With the inner ball joint no longer firmly attached to the subframe, I'm picturing the car squatting a bit at the subframe support with the arm sloping upwards from the inner balljoint towards the outer balljoint. Or is it the opposite?
 
#19 ·
My apologies too. It is the inner ball joint that we are talking about. Sorry for my lack of basic terminology. It would be more accurate to say that the control arm popped free from the inner balljoint (since the balljoint remained fastened securely to the subframe). There is an aluminum retaining lip on the balljoint and control arm, so it is not possible for the control arm to dip towards the ground with the balljoint fastened to the subframe. Instead, it is only possible for the control arm to move to a higher position when separated from the ball joint. This is what happend. The control arm came to rest in a higher position at the inner balljoint and sloped downward to the outer balljoint.

This is the bottom of the control arm (this side faces the ground). The aluminum retaining lip in the control arm doesn't allow the control arm to fall to the ground if it pops free from the balljoint.

 
#22 ·
I'm somewhat concerned about this now. The setup you describe is exactly the setup I installed 1 1/2 months ago. Powerflex and Meyle.

I'm wondering if it's possible that the shop that installed your setup did not properly tighted that ball joint causing the ball joint to become loosended in the housing after driving a bit and ultimately popping out. Excess play may cause this and could possibly explan the change in toe adjustment.
 
#24 ·
meyleman - please chime in. What are his options and are you willing to have this shipped back for examination? Especially if this leads to a larger manufacturing flaw in a lot of control arms??? This would be disasterous going around a mountain road while driving in "spirited mode".
 
#26 ·
The MEYLE E46 control arm was designed to have 2 ball joint replacements (inner & outer) for the life of the arm. The aluminum around the ball joint installation areas has been increased in its material density.

MEYLE supplies tools to replace the original outer ball joint in the BMW original arms but OE arms can only have the outer ball joint replaced once.

I will have to contact engineering and design in Germany for the question on how much force does it take to intentionally press out an old ball joint and press in a new one.
 
#27 ·
The MEYLE E46 control arm was designed to have 2 ball joint replacements (inner & outer) for the life of the arm. The aluminum around the ball joint installation areas has been increased in its material density.
Just to clarify, is that :
* 2 replacements of the inner ball joint and 2 replacements of the outer ball joint
- or -
* 2 total replacements, once on the inner and once on the outer?

While I'm sure it varies tremendously by usage conditions, is there an expected range (in eiither miles or years) of how long the ball joints are expected to last?

And once again, thanks for your support.
 
#30 · (Edited)
So at a little over 2200 pounds of force, I think it is safe to say there's no way that's going to happen unintentionally under driving conditions, assuming of course there is no defect in manufacture or assembly.

EDIT - For reference, the minimum load rating of a 91 series tire (which is the minimum per BMW) is 615kg, or 1356 pounds. So even if 100% of the wheel load were applied to one ball joint, your tire would be at 162% of it's rated load.
 
#31 ·
Anyone have a Meyle control arm do this after 5 km's of road use?
Here's a stray thought - did you get your arm from Bimmerworld? I ask because back in this thread - http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=387161 - when a member recieved arms from them they arrive with a torn boot on the inner ball joint. These arms were presumably returned, and Bimmerworld may have replaced that ball joint and then resold the arm. If they did this, and if there was an installation error in the replacement of the ball joint, then it could explain why you had this problem. This is of course just a wild theory I've yanked from my behind, but it might be worth inquiring about.
 
#33 ·
The return of the defective to me in California is in the works with Brandon.
Yesterday on 10/9/07 I sent a new control arm out to Bimmerworld so they could credit his account and he could get his credit to use on other products. I will take a quick look at the arm and send it overnight to Hamburg Germany where the engineering dept with take a closer look at it to find out what happened. I am hot on the case and I do for sure want people to be as safe as possible in "spirited mode"... or any other mode for that matter.
 
#35 ·
As one of many forum members who have recently replaced control arms with Meyle ones, I just wanted to say thanks for your support and explanations here. It's nice to see someone from the manufacturer handling a case like this directly, and gives up even more confidence about the products.

Ari
 
#39 ·
i just recieved my control arms and came accross this thread. im not sure of the original situation but did u install it urslef or some1 else. im a mechanical engineering student. n double major in math. n either its manufacture defect or bad installation like mylemann said. assuming its NOT manufature defect. maybe the only way for this to happen is excess tension due to improper torqueing or slanted installation. forgive my terminology. example) its like screwing a bolt in a little slanted, u'll need force throughout the whole operation of getting it in all the way. screwing a bolt in the right way, u can twist wit ur fingers, then need force at the end. the tension on the CA from improper bolt alignment is compensated at another point on the CA. maybe.
 
#47 ·
Shortly before this thread began I too replaced my control arms with Meyle control arms and Powerflex bushings. I now have in excess of 25k miles on this combo and would honestly recommend it to anyone. Rock solid and no signs of advderse wear. Do get an alignment when you've done installing this.

A former poster made mention that the serrerations left in the aluminum from the installation of the ball joint do not appear adequate. I would have to agree. I would expect to see deep displacement marks in the aluminum from the steel ridges of the ball joint.

I would also love to know the findings of Meyle's engineering post-mortim examination on this specific piece.
 
#55 ·
Shortly before this thread began I too replaced my control arms with Meyle control arms and Powerflex bushings. I now have in excess of 25k miles on this combo and would honestly recommend it to anyone. Rock solid and no signs of adverse wear. Do get an alignment when you've done installing this...
As an update to this post - I now have in excess of 40k on this combo and some of it is very hard driving. Not on a track but we do have some very nice mountain roads around with plenty of visibility into upcoming corners so one can become "spirited". :)

Again - rock solid performance and I'm definitely putting some serious side thrust on this setup. I'm running Pilot Sport PS2's and they grip like nothing I've driven before including Yoko Advan's and Pirelli PZero's.

I consider this a much better feel than OEM and no question in my mind I made the right choice. I'd do it all over again.
 
#49 ·
Keep in mind that 80% of the people that post these type of threads have problems. People usually post because they need or want help not because they're happily ecstatic about something. Take that into account when you think about how many of this product is actually out there in the consumers hands... This is a limited issue.
 
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