ItalianJoe1

Interesting, I've done replacement spherical ball joints in place of bushings for the Cobalt and now the Sonic guys, because the lower control arm bushings were a weak point and the only aftermarket polyurethane options were trash, I went through three sets in my personal car in a year before I gave up and made custom bearing type replacements. I could do the same for this market if the demand is there.

Jasonoff

Do said cars have a joint inches away from a massive heat-sync with the exact same geometry? If so, they probably have better hardware.

Where do you think the grease goes after you inject it under the boot? It goes INTO the joint where it's needed via a thing called gravity. It doesn't just sit on top hanging around at the water cooler.

BLKROKT

Jasonoff

Thanks brah. I do appreciate your input no matter how flawed it is though.

roadtalontsi

Its not a flawed design. There is no need to even upgrade either one of these bushings to poly or spherical ball unless you're doing serious track duty. Any balljoint will fail over time or wear. Are any of ya'll seriously upset when a 10yr old rubber part fails? I also dont think the lower control arms are 700$ each. Im pretty sure its maybe 2-300/each. sure serviceable balljoints would be nice. However i can say the benz's with serviceable balljoints seem to fail alot more frequently than these. These cars are getting old and things wear out. Do them as they come, otherwise they'll keep on piling up and the car becomes a run down p.o.s. with 5k$ in necessary repairs.

Jasonoff

https://mbworld.org/forums/c63-amg-w...all-joint.html
https://mbworld.org/forums/c63-amg-w...dangerous.html

Price was CAN (3-400USD). They're nearly $700CAD after tax.

A ball joint having complete failure after 6 years is not normal. It's either too small, didn't have enough or the right type of grease, or poor cup design.

The obvious poor design is a non serviceable joint. I'd much rather replace a $30 ball joint more often than the whole arm at 20+ times the cost.

roadtalontsi

probably a northern thing. It's definitely not normal in the south. However we see alot more wear or rubber dry rotting/cracking than the north.

BLKROKT

Lookie what arrived in the mail today from Syncro Design Works...

roadtalontsi

going for -3.5* of camber with the bushings in like that? Race car.

BLKROKT

Already have -3.5 in front. These will actually reduce that a bit as I’m replacing the inner adjustable KMAC bushing with these sphericals.

With 295’s up front I’ll be able to afford less neg camber. Theoretically.

deadlyvt

Where did you get them? Just message synchro and ask for a custom set? How much did they cost?

BLKROKT

Give David Green a call at SDW, he’ll make them. They’re not cheap as you need to send him spare arms or his guy can buy new.

deadlyvt

ok thanks will do

Cwagon

Are yours different from the normal H/D ones SDW sells with the orange plate around the bush or is the plate just decoration.
Mercedes suspension – SyncroDesignWorks

deadlyvt

These are the lower control arm not the thrust arm that sdw sells on their site

Cwagon

Doh, thanks for the clarification.
Looking closer can see difference, rookie mistake.

BLKROKT

Yup. And they had to machine them slightly to accept one of their German monoball options.

C230Ak

I'm curious how you find the NVH with both sets of bushes now being bearings. Unless you've already given your thoughts elsewhere on here, then I'll dig around. My first thought when I first heard of the SDW thrust arms was "and how about the lowers?" Lol

BLKROKT

Thanks. No impressions yet. Car has been out of commission since my last track day in early March. Hope to be able to report back by end of summer.

ItalianJoe1

In the applications I've used them on, the difference is quite minor as far as any negative, you get more "road feel" due to less give in the suspension, but not really harshness or noise. You can better feel what the front tires are doing, which is the point of this mod. If you are looking for OEM softness and smoothness, then go back with an OEM bushing, it's not a big deal to have to replace them once every few years, rubber parts are a consumable on a car of this caliber.

C230Ak

My experience may not be representative, but I've never. Seen the bushings fail before the ball joints peace out. I've replaced every set of ball joints on my 06 CLK350 with 150k mi and the rubber was always fine. And now it's the C63s turn. It's starting in the same order as the CLK too. First control arm ball joints. I'll expect the thrust arm ***** to begin failing next. I'm also waiting for the engine mounts to go so I can upgrade those but they also seen to be stubbornly hanging on at 70k mi and counting. Go figure, heh.

ItalianJoe1

The thrust arm bushings were a common failure when I was at MB, but yes on the other arms the ball joints usually go first, as they are subject to far more load than the bushings on the associated arms.

downhiller2010

Anyone have the part numbers for the two LCA pieces?

C230Ak

All that's printed on them is AMG 204 31/32 L/R. Google returns no results besides these threads.

BLKROKT

The Mercedes AMG part numbers for the front lower control arms are:
2043300107
2043300207