1G 1aauto.com 1g front lower control arms

After discovering that my front lower control arms needed replacing due to rusting and pitting on the shaft where the largest bushing goes I did some searching for replacements. I found this article on here.

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/art...t-lower-control-arms-dorman-vs-raybestos.html

So I decided to go with Raybestos arms from Rock Auto, totaling like $220 shipped to my door. But then before I ordered I decided to hit up the bargain bin, eBay. I found a company called 1Aauto. A set of their control arms was $100 shipped. So big difference to me and to a lot of DSMers on a budget. I went on their website, 1A Auto and I emailed their company with a link to the article I posted a link to above with my concerns. I asked for better pictures of the welds and the construction of their arms.

Daniel Flenke, Customer Service QA Manager, replied to my message. This is what he had to say.

"While we do not offer the Dorman branded pieces, we do share many of the same suppliers. However, we have been selling these parts for quite some time now with only about a 1% return rate (that includes cancelled orders, wrong purchases, etc). I will pass along the info to my product development team to inspect our own parts here to make sure they do not suffer from any of the issues mentioned."

Then he replied with some pictures of the welds:

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After looking at these pics I noticed they are nothing like the Dorman arms and are just like the Raybestos arms at half the price.

I asked about the ball joints and the return policy and his reply was:

"The ball joints are new, so they should not have any play that a standard Moog/TRW would. They can be serviced the same way as the originals and are covered by a lifetime warranty. If a part is not installed, we will always take it back. If the part is defective, we'll send a prepaid shipping label for the return; if you decide to not tackle the job or get "buyer's remorse", we'll still take the part back, we just ask you pay the return shipping."

I also asked about the difference in swaybar link styles. I guess 1.8s have a bushing type swaybar link and 2.0 and 2.0T have ball joint style links. He said that the ones I ordered have the ball joint style and that they do carry a 1.8 arm.

Dan was very helpful in me making my decision. I decided to order the 1aauto control arms and I ordered them July 14th and they were delivered via fedex on July 16th. I live in Ohio and they came from Massachusetts. That's great shipping! I paid $100.95 for the set of control arms and shipping to my door. Well the shipping was free. Here is a pic of my own of the new arm sitting next to my old one.

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Its identical in every way. It even has HR and HL stamped on them to tell you which side. I installed them today and had no issues with the install. I hope this helps some DSMers out there decide what arm is best for them. I know these will work for me.

 

[TuskeeTuner]

How are these arms holding up 14 years later - assuming you still have the car?

 

[dwb]

I have a set of these. I installed them in 2022. About a year-maybe two-later I had to replace one ball joint and both front bushings. I think the bushings would have been OK if I had lowered the car before torquing the bolts. Instead I torqued them with the arms fully extended and it split the rubber.

FYI - there are two different size ball joints but you will never find that in the specs. OEM has a larger press-fit diameter than these that come with the 1A arms. For example, Moog fits these, and TRW fit OEM.

 

[TuskeeTuner]

I have a set of these. I installed them in 2022. About a year-maybe two-later I had to replace one ball joint and both front bushings. I think the bushings would have been OK if I had lowered the car before torquing the bolts. Instead I torqued them with the arms fully extended and it split the rubber.

FYI - there are two different size ball joints but you will never find that in the specs. OEM has a larger press-fit diameter than these that come with the 1A arms. For example, Moog fits these, and TRW fit OEM.

Thanks for the reply.
How do you lower the car AND torque the control arm bolts/hardware? Not looking forward to replacing a ball joint - having hell separating the ball joint from the knuckle.
Are the 1A Auto the best control arms available for our 1G DSMs right now? My right one is corroded under the aft bushing.

 

[dwb]

Thanks for the reply.
How do you lower the car AND torque the control arm bolts/hardware? Not looking forward to replacing a ball joint - having hell separating the ball joint from the knuckle.
Are the 1A Auto the best control arms available for our 1G DSMs right now? My right one is corroded under the aft bushing.

I bought a ball joint seperator and that made it so much easier to separate it from the knuckle.

It's a direct replacement of decent quality. I can't really say "best" but better than swiss cheese.

Be sure to inspect the other side too. Both mine had a lot of rust underneath the rear bushing.

 

[steve]

How do you lower the car AND torque the control arm bolts/hardware?

What I've seen done for those that don't have a drive on lift or a pit is to jack up the wheel to ride height and then tighten the bolts.