so my passenger side control arm broke between the 2 bolts that bolt on the frame, and the control link came off. received a recall letter last week for lca recall. but after reading some forums, they are saying that it only applies to the metal lca? I bought my 02 bugeye 7yrs ago and it has a aluminum like a i guess STi lca on it. the 1st bolt rusted inside and slides out easily. will subaru still except the recall? i always thought that the bugeye lca was aluminum.
Just had mine done on Sat. I have an 02 Wagon. Mine were steel. I don't know if the wagon LCA's are different tho. I went to St. Cloud Subaru and they ended up replacing both LCA's and some mounting hardware.
Subaru WILL NOT accept a recall on a Alumnium control arm. This recall is only for the steel CA's. And it only is for the control arm rust. If a bolt or bushing are rusted on that CA, that is NOT covered.
Bugeyes have steel control arms. Someone must have upgraded yours to aluminum off of an STi before you got the car.
yeah josh, me and the bro n law was talking crap about it, when we were looking at the CA, it says Japan something on it, and we were just debating on if wrx came with aluminum and not metal like his RS. after doing some research i concluded that the previous owner put the STi on it. He installed alot of cheap ebay stuff, hopefully there isn't a ebay ca version
Well i haven't done any research on it, but there may be an aftermarket option in aluminum. The JDM bugeyes probably came with them in the WRX in Japan. But i doubt that he would have put JDM on there if he was loading it up with ebay stuff. lol
So the Question is, is there a more sturdy upgrade? after reading some other subaru forums, it seems like the aluminum STi CA upgrade would only be good on smooth road, but flimsy and break easily when hitting bumps (like MN roads). that's what happened yesterday, it broke after some slippery braking with abs kicking in and some snow packed pot holes.
2006 usdm wrx sedan came with aluminum control arms. arm lengths and ball joint angles are different between some of them (jdm sti, usdm sti, usdm wrx, etc), so heads up. More "sturdy" would be a tubular control arm.
he has a good service record with brain at Minnetonka subaru, and i see that he had them installed spt turbo back etc..., so i think brain must've gave him some good advice on the CA, I bought my bug in 05 the previous owner had it only for 1 yr or so. looking for a sturdy upgrade, would not buy aluminum, or else i'll be dodging alot of MN potholes!
FYI, Aluminum and Steel are both metals. Or do you mean "metal" like Metallica control arms? "Dude! Those control arms are so metal!"
Couple of options that i found with a quick searchy search. http://www.andysautosport.com/subaru/2002_2003_impreza/suspension/control_arms/
thanks josh, guess what is holding it together? I had to go buy a link at orielly the more beefy moog, so only the link and the old rusty bolt hanging inside the no thread hole with the plastic cover intact and some rope tie from the ca to the arm bars! being risky?
Just a little. lol. I don't think that i'd drive too far on that setup! I wonder if the POR15 is paintable of "coatable" after it's applied?
sitting at the shop. Yang at Devoted auto was able to work a deal with whitebear subaru for a recall set for $212 vs $315 ea for oem(weird i know) and installing driver side with Moog links, now to find some Pro15 around here, don't wanna wait 1-2wks for online order.
Since the Aluminum LCAs were the GrpN spec, I don't think there's an inherent strength issue. There is an Aluminum drop-in replacement for the LCA on the GD (bugeye) cars. Glock, glad someone was able to work something out for you!
04-07sti control arms are aluminum and direct drop in. 06wrx also came aluminum. 07wrx went back to steel
that they do, thats what broke on carls rally car at bimidji rally... im guessing it was less G.E.M.'s fabrication, and more carls driving tho.. TSSfab and Moore sport make them too.
already have the stock and waiting to put in the whiteline anti lift kit sport edition on it! can't wait to test it out, will b swapping out all my bushings to whitelines, somehow when i google subaru CA only the stock or jdm shows up, wish i would've known, could've opt out for some of the CA's you guys mentioned.
the fancy ones only show up if you search for them directly, way too much general front CA related stuff, and the small companies the manufacture cool stuff usually dont wanna pay google to come up high on the list.
