Front track control arm from different brand

[247]

Hi folks,

 

Just bought a couple of brand new control arms (Monroe and NK) as they were both cheap from a mate. Both arms are the right OEM part number and weigh the same. The only visible difference are the front bushes sticking out differently on opposite sides as you can see on the picture.

 

Does this matter? Thanks

Edited 19 March, 2018 by 247

[KeithCheetham]

Bush protrusions appear the same, think its only down to design. Can you confirm by taking measurements.

[rum4mo]

As said above, I'd be checking the height of the inner bush relative to the outer bush - then if slightly different try pressing one of these complete voided bush assemblies into the TCA a bit.   Ford used to supply replacement voided bushes and fit them into the TCA but always the workshop was meant to paint the TCA so that the next time these bushes gave trouble, the arms were replaced - I think that was to avoid the bore for these bushes opening up too much with rework and so not stopping holding the new voided bushes in place correctly.

[247]

On 3/19/2018 at 20:26, KeithCheetham said:

Bush protrusions appear the same, think its only down to design. Can you confirm by taking measurements.

The bush on the NK brand protrudes a lot more at the top of the arm, whereas the Monroe one is protruding at the bottom and slightly flush on top if this makes sense.

[247]

On 3/20/2018 at 10:05, rum4mo said:

As said above, I'd be checking the height of the inner bush relative to the outer bush - then if slightly different try pressing one of these complete voided bush assemblies into the TCA a bit.   Ford used to supply replacement voided bushes and fit them into the TCA but always the workshop was meant to paint the TCA so that the next time these bushes gave trouble, the arms were replaced - I think that was to avoid the bore for these bushes opening up too much with rework and so not stopping holding the new voided bushes in place correctly.

Both arms have similar size bushes, just the way they are sitting at different heights of roughly 3.5mm difference.

 

I will obviously get the wheels aligned, but wondering if this will greatly affect the wheel alignment when done.  

[rum4mo]

I'd guess that it is slightly less than perfect situation you have there as the voided bush assembly is not pressed into the centre of the bore of the steel plate TCA so that its centre line is the same as the TCA - but put it this way, if you had pressed new voided bushes into your original TCAs, I'd hope that you would have planned to have them closer than that to being placed centrally into the bore in the TCAs.

 

That is why I suggested checking if there was a dimensional difference between the voided bushes in each TCA, if there was, ie one voided bush has a "thicker/deeper" outer steel part, then that could account for the difference, though I'd suspect they will be the same size, just not pressed in to the correct ideal/optimal position in the TCA.

 

You could always check with your mate that you bought them from why they look like that, then maybe get him to swop the RHS one for a properly made one? This is always going to annoy you and maybe an MOT tester some time down the road.

 

Edit:- maybe get under your car and see which one looks most like what Skoda fitted to your car at the factory, check both sides top and bottom.

Edited 21 March, 2018 by rum4mo

[mrgf]

...Otherwise, buy ONE matching one, (You disced which) Then fit a matched pair. If ever you need to re-replace, match the spare again.