Cheap upper control arms? Buy cheap, buy twice?

[DNS]

Last January I had the MOT done and was fuming to get an advisory saying my rear tyres were worn unevenly (not very old, grrrr!)

After much useful advice on here I tracked the problem to the upper control arms and replaced them with some parts from ebay.

Was doing my handbrake cable yesterday and found that my nearside rear tyre (never replaced since MOT!) was completely bald across the inside third of the tread.

Did the test I'd been told about before (weight on wheels, grab top of wheel and yank outwards) and sure enough, knocking noise is back.

Couple of questions?

1. Can I assume the worn inside edge of the tyre is down to the crappy control arm?

2. Has anyone else had their cheapo ebay arms fail after less than a year? Seems very poor, even for aftermarket parts!

[MiniVauxhall]

Mine have started to show signs of wear, cheap ebay one have lasted me nearly 2years.

[Caveman_nige]

yup.. mine did the same after a year as well. I have now replaced the outer bush with a powerflex bush so will never have to worry about them again

[DNS]

I've always been curious about the powerflex stuff, but haven't bought due to the HUUUUGE price tags!

For the price of the set of bushes for the control arms, I could buy several of the complete part from VX!

[DNS]

Was going to buy a pair of Q-Drive arms from Euro Car Parts tomorrow, but heard bad reviews... Anyone got Q-drive stuff fitted to their car?

[Caveman_nige]

but you have the fitting hassle and worm tyres to tell you they are naffed again, i will not have this again.

[Keif]

Has anyone else had their cheapo ebay arms fail after less than a year? Seems very poor, even for aftermarket parts!

Yep.
http://www.vectra-c.com/forum/showth...ion-woes-AGAIN!

[Vaux-Man-G]

Was going to buy a pair of Q-Drive arms from Euro Car Parts tomorrow, but heard bad reviews... Anyone got Q-drive stuff fitted to their car?

I got Q drives on mine from ECP, so far so good and been on about 2 months now. They did transform the car completely. Im happy with the so far.

[Z80]

I've always been curious about the powerflex stuff, but haven't bought due to the HUUUUGE price tags!

For the price of the set of bushes for the control arms, I could buy several of the complete part from VX!

Yep, plus changing the bushing without crunching the damn hollow arm is very, very tricky, while fitting any other bushing elsewhere on the car is much easier.

Buying new Vx arms, you will also get new arms, not only bushings. They're made of quite thin steel foil, that's the problem too.

Now you should be interested in hearing mine are completely intact and are still the original, 9 1/2 years old ones.

Actually, the funny story is I've been annoyed with brake pads rattling noises for years, but the garage was unable to tell me where it came from, so they kept on tightening all bolts under the car each time I brought it for periodic maintenance.

As a result, my rear wheels still don't have any play at all and I never experienced strange tires wear.

In my opinion, those bushing are mostly destroyed by lateral play and unwanted torsions, where they can last very long if the arm is only allowed to rotate and nothing else.

I strongly advise people to ensure these bolts are always correctly tightened, so you'll be able to keep the bushings OK for ages, even OEM ones. This part of the vectra C rear axle is known for getting loose, so just keep an eye on it, and ask the mechanics to retighten the bolts each time they get under the car !

[Sebastian]

There ones good quality eBay item no 300789526891