Luii 06stang

So I took my stang to the dealer today & they told me I needed front control arms & tie rod's.. So I need some input in this I want to get something high performance anybody know of a good brand, price??

Womprat

Wait, what? What happened that you need to replace these? Did you hit something? and damage them, did they try to do an alignment and found the tie rods worn/damaged? Something doesnt sound right here.
You typically wouldnt replace your front control arms unless damaged or you are modifying for racing and want lighter components, which may not necessarily be a good choice for a daily driver. You can replace the front and rear bushing on the stock front lower control arm, the rear is a ***** but not impossible, and you can upgrade to say, a Steeda X5 ball joint, but if you arent significantly lowered and running larger tires or changing the geometry then stock should do fine, assuming they need replacing at all.

Luii 06stang

Well for some reason, they told me that one part on the control arm was ****ed up & supposedly that part usually needs to be replace with the whole control arm( sorry I forgot what the part was called) my car is lower with eibachs tho so I wanna get the best parts available. I really don't wanna be spending $$ for the same parts again

Luii 06stang

Yea tie rods are worn out

97GT12

Control arms are a typical a steel stamping or welded steel assembly. There are rubber bushings to mount to the body and a ball joint that attaches to the spindle/steering knuckle. There isn't much too them. You'd know if you bent one. The rubber bushings can wear out but it takes a lot of miles. Ford ball joints are supposed to last like 250K miles. Often these components can be replaced, but the labor involved is probably better to get control arm assemblies.

tie rod ends eventually get too much play in them and need to be replaced.

908ssp

There are a number of aftermarket front control arms out there. They can be purchased with taller ball joints for lowered cars and bump steer kits replace the tie rod ends for lowered cars. I particularly like the effect of the urethane front lower control arm rear bushing along with a caster/camber kit for sharpening up steering response and feed back.

Womprat

BMR has a nice selection. I replaced the bushings on mine and run X5 ball joints, I think as a daily driver if I hit something the OEM control arm would take it better than a lighter one, but who knows the argument could go either way. Just odd they werent more specific.

Luii 06stang

Thanks guys, now the problem is that the steeda x5 ball joints need 18" wheels for clearance (that's what the page says) & I have 17" bullit is that a problem, (I know stupid question right?) I'm just not familiar with things like this.this is my first car I just wanna know a lil better & thanks for the input

Cavero

I went from stock to Steeda X5's on stock to BMR tubular. Gotta say the BMRs do feel rather lively, but the extra NVH and occasional squeaking/groaning of the Delrin bushings makes me sometimes wish I had just got more X5's. It's a matter of preference. The BMR pieces are SOLID, don't get me wrong as they are definitely a quality product. But they were made more for performance than daily driver use.

Here is a post I did last year when I went from stock arms/X5 joints over to the BMRs:
https://themustangsource.com/f669/fr...2/#post6139997


I never had issues with the X5's on my stock 17" bullitts (I switch back in the winter), but the clearance was definitely close..maybe within an inch of the wheel.

Womprat

Negative, ghostrider, I run 17 winter wheels and the bullets worked fine, like Cavero said, unless you refer to Bullitt rims not the stock GT. No issue with those or stock GT rims(5 spoke).

Cavero

Nope, I was referring to the stock 5-spoke wheels, which were called "Bullitt" wheels before the actual Bullitt edition S197 came out in 08

shaun_beauchamp

The ball joints are listed as "not replacealbe" and the A-arm comes with new ones installed as they are pressed.

That being said, I had Moog ball joints installed in my stock A-arms and they are much better than stock.

I think the key is to do what is necessary to accommodate your lowering springs. Anything over 1.5" of drop is going to need some steering geometry fixes.

Steeda has a full line of stuff to make any drop correct for roll center. I have my favorite vendors, but just support the advertising vendors on the forum you find most informative.