Front Control Arm bushings
 

Hi Guys,

Just wanting to confirm if there is a press in part for the front lower control arm? From parts websites specifically for the C63 it doesn't show a part.

Looked up the LCA PN and found it was common to the CLK63 - On it's diagram it shows a bushing available?

Has anyone changed these before and if so, I assume they are interchangeable since its the same PN?




https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...75d1fd98ad.png
C63 Front Suspension parts list link
(#11) Lower control arm 204 330 50 11



https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...0b684593dd.png
CLK63 Front Suspension parts list link:
(#12) Lower control arm 204 330 50 11
(#13) Bushing 203 333 09 14

normally if the bushing is bad the balljoint isnt far behind if not worse. Just get the whole arm you'll be doing yourself a favor.

There is no bushing available for the C63 front cross strut (LCA), and on top of that no after market available.

Here's mine.
https://mbworld.org/forums/c63-amg-w...all-joint.html

Cheers, had a look at your thread.

So the bushing is cast in there? you couldn't press it out? My ball joints are fine and rather not replace the whole arm if I can avoid it.

I know theres no part 'officially' available by the looks of it, but I don't see why if its the same part no. and on another car it DOES have a bushing replacement that it couldn't be used.

I can't remember if it had a metal formed lip or not. The ball joint does.

Are you 100% sure that bushing is the problem? How did you diagnose it?

The bushings can be pressed out and that is exactly what is done when the K-MAC bushings are installed.

so what K-mac calls front adjustable camber and caster bushing is the lower control arm bushing?


So I think that the wear on the tires for the C63, may not necessarily be "incurable", related to the factory alignment, meaning if you want to keep the tires a long/normal interval, you have to change the front/rear toe and potentially give up stability at speed.


I think that the factory alignment puts a lot of pressure on the lower control arm bushing. This bushing may give and under load, the toes may be even more extreme and therefore eat the tires.
A more rigid bushing installed there, may have as a side effect, the front tires lasting longer.


My car has a weird tire wear.
The day I bought the car I kinda knew already that it will just eat tires, by annihilating the inner tire corner. So a bit later I am looking at the fronts, yes the inner corner is almost done for.
But the rear tires, which are supposed to be worse, are not doing this, they're wearing evenly and the inner corner is just fine.


So maybe there is hope after all...


Not directly related, I pulled the toe information out of the WIS, for all the W204 C63, including black series facelift and so on.


The way Mercedes presents the angles and the way your common alignment shop does is very different, so I'm working on converting these.


But I can say that the toe are quite different, pfl, fl, black series without rear seats and black series with rear seats.
I may just post the values, let's see if someone here can just explain how they convert.

K-MAC has adjustable camber and caster bushings for the front and they replace the bushings in either or both front control arms lower and upper. They also have firmer bushings that will deflect less under cornering loads. K-MAC also offers a strut top hat replacement that allows for camber and caster adjustment from that location. These are available in street or race variations.

Here are the bushings they offer. I'm getting this full set. The front control arm items seem to include both. Monoball bushings are essentially spherical bearings, not rubber bushing like OEM (I think).

----------------------------------------

Front lower bushings (all – set of 4) – Precisely Camber and Caster adjustable
They’re 2 axis/mono ball design without the OEM air voids and double the load bearing area. Result besides adjustment (+ 1.2 degrees) is increased track width (plus 50mm) and improved brake and steering response. #502216K

Rear Camber (and extra Toe to compensate) adjuster. Replaces lower arm inner bushes. Single wrench adjustable – easy access to fine tune for maximum rear end traction (up to 3 degrees Pos or Neg and up to 50mm extra track width) #502226K

Rear link arms (6) – set of 12 bushings designed to eliminate rear end twitch/flex. Dramatic improvement in handling response especially when applying power when cornering. Unlike short life Delrin bushings that soon pound out. Over 50 years in bush design we have incorporated all the features – large diameter Nickel chromed inner steel bushes. High durometer elastomer bushings which are bonded to the outer shell. #502628K

I just replaced the arms on mine over the bushings. The arms I purchased were only around $130 each from what I recall

You did NOT buy AMG front cross struts for $130 each.

I thought we were talking control arms.
Actually I paid 113.99 each for mine at FCP Euro
P/n 204 330 43 11 & 204 330 44 11

**edit, looks like mine was the opposite arm than what is needed in this thread

We are. The front LCA is a cross strut (part #11 below).

The parts you posted are the "upper" control arms (#9 below) and it's shared across many platforms. There's also a lot of aftermarket available for that one.

The front cross strut (LCA) is still an AMG OEM only available part and it's quite expensive. ~500US ea IIRC.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...75d1fd98ad.png

Damn that arm is expensive. Cheapest I found was 325.00.

I'll replace just the hardware to it when mine goes too

Link?

The lowers are the expensive arms with no aftermarket replacements available. So if they do have this option at some point...

https://quotesnhumor.com/wp-content/...ed-Meme-13.jpg

I'm having a bentdik brain moment. It looked like the ball joint was replaced as well which is the common issue on the front LCA.

The upward facing ball joint on the LCA dries up and and wears out. Possibly due to heat, not enough grease from the factory, who knows.

It's a machine press lip as well. So there's still probably no solution to replace that ball joint without replacing the whole $700 arm.

You can damage the ball and or fill the cup with metal shavings doing that.

Thought about trying to fit grease past the boot seal. Best option would be a way to change the joint though.