charha01

So after spending countless hours trying to decide what could be causing the knocking noise in the front left (driver's side) of my 03 C4S, I've narrowed it down to possibly the lower control arm or "wishbone" or both. I've looked around and there are several companies that make replacements for these but I wanted to see if there are any that I should avoid? I want to keep the "streetable" feel of the car so I'm not looking for "track-worthy" components, just OE replacements. I was also wondering if you could replace the bushings or if you have to replace the entire component? Lastly... how difficult is the work and will it require an alignment afterwards?
Thanks

Nickshu

This was just being discussed on Facebook on the 996 owners group. TRW (the original supplier to Porsche) no longer makes 996 arms. Someone mentioned the 997.1 arms may be a direct replacement if you still want original parts, but I am not sure about that? Can anyone confirm?

For the "wishbones" often called the "tuning fork" arms consider these: https://www.europeanpartssolution.com/updated-lower-control-arm

^^These guys also sell one w/ a replaceable ball joint which is a nice feature to have: https://www.europeanpartssolution.co...arm-with-joint

peteb3

check out RSS and Tarret

wyovino

This is interesting. I don't know if it applies to Porsche, but worth a look.

ejdoherty911

You could replace the lower control arm and lower wishbone yourself if you have the tools and you are mechanically inclined. There are plenty of videos on YouTube to show you exactly what is involved. If your suspension is original and you have determined one lower control arm and/or wishbone is worn out, how far behind could the rest of the rubber bushings possibly be? You probably need to replace all 4 lower control arms and all 4 lower wishbones. Yes you need an alignment afterward. To save money you should purchase the parts from Ebay. The vendor "deutschepartsusa" has very good prices and has sold thousands of parts, with over 100,000 positive reviews. Yes it is possible to replace only the bushings. You will need a special ball joint press tool. A blow torch. It would save you a little bit of money but it would add a significant degree of difficulty for the DIYer.

dporto

I used both of ^^these^^ (EPS) on my car and have been happy with them (they've been in service for about two years now). They tightened up the overall feel of the stock suspension and got rid of the "creaking" noises I was experiencing. Unfortunately in my case I had other issues as well (struts/shocks, top mounts etc...). Once I replaced the rest of the suspension, everything is great! You certainly can replace the bushings yourself (there are a few companies that make them, including Powerflex) but it's an awful lot of work. It's also extremely helpful to have access to a press (12 - 20 ton would work I think) and plenty of time. I wouldn't I wouldn't attempt to do them on a daily driver with only a day or weekend available... too many potential pitfalls.

charha01

Excellent info! Does anyone have any personal experience with https://www.europeanpartssolution.com ? I've found in the past that some of these less expensive suppliers are actually OEM suppliers so you just pay a lot less for the same stuff since it doesn't come in a "Porsche" box.
Thanks

steved0x

I have had good success with Meyle suspension parts like LCA and tuning forks arms, and the 997.1 rear tuning fork arm (997 331 043 01) is a match for the 986 Boxster front tuning fork and the 996 all 4 corners tuning fork (996 341 043 06 and 996 341 043 03). Meyle shows this as a crossmatch on their website but nobody else seems to. I am running these on the front on my 2000 Boxster.

Device2

Charha01, I have the EPS polyurethane control arms in my car and they are awesome same as Dporto mentioned. Also FYI check them out in Amazon they are selling for $119 each. I think I grabbed mine on special 2 years ago for $89 a pop.

ejdoherty911

EPS is good, no reason not to buy there. The prices are very fair.

Device2

Not quite sure about that ejdoherty911... When EPS site sells the part for $139 each + $16 S/H or a set of four for $584 + $29 S/H (est.) then Amazon sells the same darn product EPS Links for $119 each & free shipping.. So $476 for 4 links and free shipping sounds like one heck of a lot more reasonable deal to me.

https://ww.amazon.com/Porsche-Boxster-Cayman-Upgrade-Control/dp/B00NP51K4W/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=X1RWR21FTYTSGJ01DG9Q

charha01

Do you have any suspension squeaking with the poly bushings? I've heard that can happen.

ejdoherty911

I agree. Buy from Amazon. My original response wasn't clear, I just meant buying parts sold by EPS was a good option. And get them as cheap as possible.

charha01

UPDATE
So I got under the car yesterday after a long drive. I could definitely hear the clunking noise from up front (driver's side) so I thought I'd see if I could find the source of the noise. I put the front tires on blocks so the suspension would be loaded but I could not find anything that looked or felt wrong. All the bushings looked OK and the rubber boots on all the ball joints had no signs of tears or damage. I couldn't replicate the sound or even move anything except for the tie rods which I could rotate back and forth on their ball joints (is that normal?). I really don't want to pay a shop $$$ to tell me what's wrong since I could just use that cash towards replacing things. Is there any other detective work I should be doing to try and determine what the hell is making this noise? The other symptom I've noticed is that the front end seems a little "squirrely" instead of just rock solid. Like if I were to let go of the steering wheel it might change direction on its own. The alignment was done not long ago by a very reputable shop so I know that's not the issue.

As always... thanks for the help.

DBJoe996

Pop the rubber plugs on top of the strut towers and make sure the top strut tower nut is tight, as well as the camber plate nuts. There is an outside tie rod and an inside tie rod. Maybe it is coming from the inside tie rod. One other thought...jack up the drivers side of the car to unload the suspension and rock the wheel back and forth to see if the wheel bearing has any play.