AgSilver

I know a fellow who operates an inde shop and he has a Chevy shop van with 300+k still on the original OEM ball joints. He was the one who directed me to AC Delco.

Dokus

Now that we talk balljoints. Do I need to deflate the strut to remove lower balljoints or is it enough to release the control arm from the strut and subframe?

obiwantoby

Has anyone else substantiated these claims? AC Delco vs the Lemforder OE? Decent price difference, but if there is a durability factor I am all for it.

coupesedan

moog and ac delco are the same china trash most of the time. i would not waste my money

if it’s made in turkey or anywhere in europe it’s usually good. proforged is good taiwan stuff if they make something for these cars

AgSilver

These units are ISO/TS 16949 certified and not made in China. As I previously posted, they are very high quality.

Yuille36

I have always used Lemforder, so I can't comment on AC Delco, but I'm sure that they made good components.

bobgodd

It's a toss up really. My front passenger strut went around 130k (can't remember the exact mileage), and my front driver's side, and rear driver's side didn't go until about 215k. The rear passenger side didn't go at all, but I replaced it when I put Arnott springs in the rear.

I don't know if I ended up with a DOA unit, but the replacement front driver's side strut (Arnott) failed after 3 months. Thankfully it was replaced under warranty from Rock Auto.

kevm14

When I did my upper control arms and wheel bearings I realized that the right front strut is an Arnott reman and the left front is OEM. Thanks, whichever previous owner did that.

Yuille36

Your supposed to replace them in pairs, I guess the previous owner cheaped out

equitiesguy

It's a myth, as long as you're using the struts with ADS. The rears I would highly recommend replacing both, only because the car won't necessarily be level otherwise (single sensor).

Yuille36

I disagree, the reason why we replace them in pairs, is so they both have the same life expectancy. Meaning they should now wear at the same rate, as compared to one new and one old component.

equitiesguy

That's an idiotic statement. If you have a failure, it's one thing. If you're replacing them because of mileage that's something else entirely. Bottom line is that they do not have to be replaced in pairs in the front ... unless you want to for some other reason.

Yuille36

Well, we can agree to disagree. You didn't have to insult me. But you can do it, your *** back wards way.
My way, when you replace them together, they both have zero wear.

equitiesguy

What difference does it make if one has 20,000 miles more wear than the other? No difference. No issue.

You made a statement that they were supposed to be replaced in pairs because one is Arnott and the other is OEM. I'm telling you that's a myth, or a lie, and it isn't necessary or required as long as the Arnott version is ADS.

If you want to replace them together as a maintenence repair because of age/mileage, that's a different argument.

It's not *** backward in any way. Your comment to replace them in pairs so both have zero wear is completely ****ing stupid. If one failed at 30k miles, I wouldn't replace both. CLS notoriously fail passenger front struts that are OEM, rebuilt or new from Mercedes. It's a defect in their replacement parts because it's not coming from Germany (likely Mexico). You don't have to replace the driver side just because the passenger air spring rubbed internally, and blows.

Yuille36

It makes no difference to me what brand they are. I'm only saying that they should be replaced in pairs because and age/mileage.
Last year, I had my drivers side front air strut blow on my E63, it would have been idiotic of me to replace just only the blown front strut.
When I know, its just a matter of time before the other lets go, due to its age/mileage. That is my thought process.

Yuille36

Lets stop the insults and agree that we both have different ways of going about this. You have yours and I have mind. And call it a day.

equitiesguy

I've put hundreds of thousands of miles on Lemforder ball joints/thrust arms/suspension components in general on both BMW and Mercedes. They're German made. You can't do any better, and they're what came with the cars. No surprises.

equitiesguy

Frankly, you make a lot of stupid posts with erroneous information.

Yuille36

Whatever....

hachiroku

if one strut is quite a few years or miles difference it is recommended to replace them in pairs. shocks do not have the same dampening or rebound curve even new so pairing a new single strut with an old strut can cause this difference between ramps to be even more drastic.

you wouldn't replaced a tire as a single unless it was within the same timespan of the other new tires. same reasoning here.

hachiroku

one thing I did screw up was...with Arnotts their ADS capable units are tested and rebuilt OEM units of unknown mileage. I wish now when I purchased my Arnotts that I ask my send in's were tested and rebuilt as they were only a few short years old. my driver's side front blew a hole in the bag. this process does take a lot longer though.

kevm14

No kidding. I didn't think this was controversial.

E63007

When I rebuilt my whole front end, it was only upon removal that I realized I had one Arnott and one OEM Bilstein! So I DID take them to an RMT in Pompano Beach, Fl. and they gave me credit for the Bilstein but Not the Arnott as they explained the internals were not the same (Arnotts don’t have the Adjustable Dampening Feature of Airmatic). I originally had dropped my Intake Manifold off and had RMT rebuild that and they did such a great job, I entrusted them to rebuild the AirSprings. That was back in 2018, however recently, I rebuild my whole rear end and I brought them both Rear AirSprings and when I went to install them, one of them was disfigured(ie-when I filled it with air, it bent like a banana) so I returned and they fixed it within a few days. A couple weeks later when after that same marathon Rear End Build, my radiator blew, so while I was up front, I had the bumper off and also did a Headlight Lense Cover Replacement, I noticed a leak under my driver side AirSpring and took it off and brought it back to RMT yet again. This time they explained that if its leaking like that, there’s nothing they can do to “repair” it. In other words, once You ever see it leaking, the AirSpring Oil Seals are toast and those are not Servicable apparently. I thought therefore there would be no warranty so I asked if they had another one I could purchase. The guy kindly corrected my misunderstanding by clarifying they they would replace it with another since they knew firsthand how much work I was doing and therefore had not put many miles on the car (less than 2 k since I had originally brought them 8n back in 2018). I guess it helped that I was a return customer but I was very impressed and now my car rides like a dream! Kudos to RMT in Pompano Beach!