2011 FX35 Front lower control arm replacement

J

jungy4

Member
Car
FX35
I got a 2011 FX35 AWD with 124k miles.

Dealer has my car for driver side front wheel bearing replacement, new spark plugs, transfer case oil change, and front & rear differential oil change.

Now they are telling me to keep an eye on my lower front control arms because the bushings are worn out and they will need replacement in the near future. They quoted me $1600 and $90 for allignment. I am guessing you just can't replace bushings on these? Do these go bad at this mileage? The dealer says if I hit a pot hole or something, I may loose steering control. We have had this car since 12k miles and we have not hit anything to possibly damage it. I have only ran OEM 18" and 20" wheels, if that matters at all. The dealer didn't say it was a must right now but I am little concerned. Any input is appreciated.
 
Get a good mechanic to do it. I have an awesome guy locally and a new control arm would run me about $400 to replace (the actual control arm is about $100)... And yes, you'll need to do an alignment after...
 
My 04 still running the original lower control arm. May want to get a good honest mechanic to take a closer look for a peace of mind.
 
I picked up the car today and asked for more clarification.

The front ball joints are bad which requires replacement of control arms.

Any more ideas?
 
Yep new lower control arm since the ball joint is build-in to the arm.
 
Is it easy to replace the front lower control arm on 05FX35? I'm trying to troubleshoot the front left noise during take off and turning. It only appears for a few second and quiet after that. No noise after take off on a straight line. I installed a new front struts and tower mounts with new bearings that I thought is was the culprit but the grinding noise still there. I am waiting for the new sway bar rubber bushing and sway bar link that I ordered thru RockAuto and see if I can DIY it this weekend. Next will be the lower control arm if that won't fix the noise.
 
Last edited:
Hey all, thank
la_fx35 said:
Yep new lower control arm since the ball joint is build-in to the arm.
Click to expand...

Thanks for confirming as I had this same question for a 2012. The mechanic says my ball joint has play and I've Googled about this that some play is allowed (in general, not specific to the FX).

Is it true that some ball joint play is allowed? How would I know how much play my specific car has (front lower right control arm)...that is, how can I determine this myself?

Thank you!
 
I'm not aware of any cars where ball joint play is normal or allowed. The ball joint is a critical link in your suspension and shouldn't have any play.
 
I second what 95max said. Your car is a 2012, so I'm going to say after all these years, the joint is worn for sure, and needs to be replaced. I have a 2015 with 75,000 miles and I replaced both my front lower control arms earlier this year. The car actually raised up about a 1/4" as these arms sag over time. The thing with suspension components is they wear slowly so you don't notice the changes in ride height, steering, etc until it's basically broken.
 
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