Hello all, its been a while. The old girl has been sitting collecting dust for years and recently I started picking away at getting her roadworthy again. To the point, does anyone have experience with those ebay suspension kits (control arms, links, tie rods) that are like $100? Nothing wrong with what I have now, just lots of surface rust but now that this is strictly a warm weather pleasure car, id like to gussie her up a little with fresh looking parts - but only if im not breaking the bank since all the suspension was already replaced and is relatively low miles. Im getting a 13” rotor 300zx BBK kit thats been in my closet since the dawn of time powdercoated and its just irks me to bolt all that up to rusty parts.

Hope all yall are well and thanks in advance.

 

100k mile used oe parts are better quality.

 

What about them would make them better though? For the control arms Id be using ES bushings anyways, so that leaves the balljoints and the arm itself - you are saying that a new aftermarket balljoint wont last as long as an OEM one that has 100k mikes on it? Or is it the arms themselves that would be an issue being flimsy? Just wondering what the reasoning is here so I can make a better informed decision on what I wanna do.

Im pretty sure I have moog parts w/ ES bushings throughout for all of that lower suspension stuff, idr the brand its been a while. But I never noticed any quality issues, just surface rust which is expected for living in the northeast. My goal really is to eliminate as much rust as possible across the car but since this stuff isnt really visible, is replaceable, and has no negative impact on performance by being rusty, its not something thats anywhere high on my list of things to do.

 

the balljoints themselves. the arms are likely fine.

ive used low end, mid range, and good stuff. the durability is night and day. mevotech supreme (considered by many to be good) lasted 6 months in one of my vehicles before they started to get play in them. replaced with moog and they were still tight when i sold it 6 years later. 555 is my go-to for japanese vehicles if theyre available.

i pulled all my ES stuff off. slathered in the supplied grease. made it about 6 months before the squeaks started. the right front arm was trying to pull itself forward and tore the lip off the front bushing causing the arm to rub on the washer. back to OE stuff and no noticeable change in steering feel and i drive hard.

 

thanks dude, this is exactly the type of info im looking for. All I can find on 555 is the balljoints themselves, maybe Ill just go OEM just for the peace of mind if i decide to go through with anything.

Im curious though, were your ES bushings red or black? I remember having squeaky red bushings and swapped them out for black which never made a peep, supposedly the black ones are impregnated with graphite or something of the sort that acts as a dry lube whereas the red ones are not.

 

I don't trust many aftermarket suspension parts, especially a whole kit for less than one OE arm.

I rebuilt the control arms on my 4th gens. I sourced what I thought was the best parts I could find. https://maxima.org/forums/4th-genera...s-es-moog.html I had the same problem with ES pivot pin bushing as seen in the link.

 

when it comes to eBay and Amazon you never know what your getting. I get all my suspension parts from Rockauto, even though they have a range of prices you know what your going to get. I always get the brands they have under the daily driver section which is where the better brands are. their economy section has the cheap brands.

even though you mentioned installing E.S. bushings you want a decent brand of control arms for a the lower ball joint. I believe I have the Delphi brand lower control arms with E.S. bushings on my Maxima. I also have E.S. bushings on the rear trailing arms which took a lot of slop out of the rear, especially with the Addco rear sway bar. I'm running KYB struts with Tein S-Tech springs...

 

yep. thats what happened with mine. no problems with using rubber in that location. i despise oil leaks so if one shows up i fix it before it becomes a problem.