Oh yeah, forgot.. use the steel control arms. (archive)

People usualy say if your car has aluminum arms, replace with aluminum, if steel use steel. But unless you are racing (and who is REALLY racing a 7 series) the aluminum just costs more and may be more prone to bending. Probably no need to do the upper control arms if you have just now noticed loosness in one side's lower control arm.

Gerry,

The lower ball joint is integral to the lower control arm. To fix this you need to install a new lower control arm. Bentley's replace in pairs means that BOTH lower control arms need replaced at the same time. If you only did one chances are in only a short time the other side would wear to the point where it needed service anyway. Chris at Zigmunts will give you a good price on a pair of lower control arms. (link) its a good time to double check other common front end wear parts like the sway bar links (rattles over bumps)
and the tie rods.

Good luck.

Philly Bob

88 735i's x2

Just discovered a loose front ball joint on the lower left control arm. Anyone change one of these before?? The Parts Bin has aluminum and steel ones. Steel half the price of aluminum. Whats the advantages of going aluminum besides unsprung weight savings if its possible anyway? Bentley says you need to replace the whole control arm and recomends replacement in pairs! What the heck does that mean? Both sides or upper and lower control arms. Sometimes I wonder about Bentley!

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