Beware Altrom Control Arms!!!

My after market control arms are shot after just 5 months!! They have been getting bad for a while; I just could not believe I was hearing them clunk so soon. 1-year warranty on parts only. I am fighting to get some help with the labour. Otherwise, I am out reinstall charges and wheel alignment charges and I have no faith things will be better this time. This is a $1000 lesson! Don’t Do it!

they are not that hard to remove, what yearis your car?

1999 328i.

Things are getting better. Altrom does not have replacments parts in North America, so they are going to credit the shop and not force the exchange of parts. Now I can buy OEM parts. In December, the jobber charged me $275 cdn for each after-market arm. The Dealer now wants $216 cdn. I hope to put the difference toward the labour to put in the OEM parts.

The dealer supplied parts are exactly the same manufacturer and part numbers as the after-market parts. Both OEM and after-market control arms look identical and have the same logo and engraved part numbers.

The new dealer supplied parts have loose ball joints, and clunk as soon as they where installed and test driven. What is going on here? Anyone else having these problems?

Was this situation ever resolved with the Dealer?

The dealer replaced the both sway bar links ($200 cdn). The clunk has gone away.

The control arm ball joints still have play in them. I will have another garage comment on the ball joints after a bit more wear-in time.