Wiggers Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 Was looking into changing the front lower arms on my Mk2 Focus. Heard bad things about some of the cheaper parts so was looking at genuine. Is anyone aware of a difference between the Ford Parts and Volvo parts as looking on line a genuine Ford lower arm is £150 but a Volvo one is £90 Has anyone else fitted Volvo arms before? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F0CUE Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 Volvo and ford are the same parts any arms I have bought have volvo/ford on the labels. The issue is the ball joint taper size 21 or 18. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wiggers Posted May 18, 2020 Author Share Posted May 18, 2020 1 hour ago, F0CUE said: Volvo and ford are the same parts any arms I have bought have volvo/ford on the labels. The issue is the ball joint taper size 21 or 18. This is what I was thinking. I've had a look today and now know they are 21mm So you think genuine Volvo parts would be the same as the Ford parts even though they're nearly half the price? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272377253530 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/222807526598 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F0CUE Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 Yep fits Ford, Volvo and Mazda. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WireyWhenWet Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 For what it's worth I was in the same boat as you, and I took a punt on a set of cheaper arms by Karlmann from a seller on eBay local to me for a shade under £60, at the time is was about the best I could do otherwise I was going genuine.. Seller seemed good on collection and said any issue come back it's not a worry so was eased a bit by that.. Long and short, aside from sorting the tracking out once swapped over (done at same time as front shocks) these did me fine for 1 year and 3 months before I sold the car, at which point they were still working perfectly fine for me. My thinking was I needed an MOT and mone were shot. For £60, if they went within the first couple of years I'd be better in the not too distant future financially to sort it, but at the same time for that price I was happy to do them again. They went on my mk2.5, but the mk2 is the same, just the lights and body panels changed shapes. They're on eBay under: 282268546170 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wiggers Posted May 18, 2020 Author Share Posted May 18, 2020 3 hours ago, F0CUE said: Yep fits Ford, Volvo and Mazda. 4 hours ago, F0CUE said: Volvo and ford are the same parts any arms I have bought have volvo/ford on the labels. The issue is the ball joint taper size 21 or 18. I just feel like I'm missing something as I don't see why Volvo sell the same part for £60 less. Is the quality the same? as I've heard that some of the OEM stuff isn't up to OE standard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomsFocus Posted May 19, 2020 Share Posted May 19, 2020 9 hours ago, Wiggers said: I just feel like I'm missing something as I don't see why Volvo sell the same part for £60 less. Is the quality the same? as I've heard that some of the OEM stuff isn't up to OE standard. The Volvo one is probably 18mm BJ....I'm pretty sure when you message them they'll go 'oh, 21mm, that's ~£120'... Volvo parts are often cheaper though. Supply and demand. It's also often cheaper to buy Peugeot parts for the DV6 engines. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wiggers Posted May 19, 2020 Author Share Posted May 19, 2020 1 hour ago, TomsFocus said: The Volvo one is probably 18mm BJ....I'm pretty sure when you message them they'll go 'oh, 21mm, that's ~£120'... Volvo parts are often cheaper though. Supply and demand. It's also often cheaper to buy Peugeot parts for the DV6 engines. Looks like the Same price for both. Was looking here https://www.volvopartshop.com/front-lower-control-arm-left---31277463-with-21mm-ball-joint-10309-p.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomsFocus Posted May 19, 2020 Share Posted May 19, 2020 5 minutes ago, Wiggers said: Looks like the Same price for both. Was looking here https://www.volvopartshop.com/front-lower-control-arm-left---31277463-with-21mm-ball-joint-10309-p.asp Fair enough, still comes down to supply and demand though. It's the same with lots of cars that share the same underpinnings. Was often cheaper to buy Citroen parts back in my Peugeot days too. It probably costs about £20 to actually make a wishbone...all the rest is overheads for warehousing, haulage and parts departments, and then the individual brands can choose how much profit they want on top of that too... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wiggers Posted May 22, 2020 Author Share Posted May 22, 2020 Just an update Ordered the lower arms from the Volvo parts store. Turned up today, they have Volvo stickers on but FoMoCo stamped into the arms and bushes 🙂 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wiggers Posted May 24, 2020 Author Share Posted May 24, 2020 Does anyone know the correct torque figures for the control arm bolts? So far I've found 3 different sets of figures. All are similar for the rear bolts but very different for the front bolt. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomsFocus Posted May 24, 2020 Share Posted May 24, 2020 9 minutes ago, Wiggers said: Does anyone know the correct torque figures for the control arm bolts? So far I've found 3 different sets of figures. All are similar for the rear bolts but very different for the front bolt. Thanks 175Nm front 115Nm rears 70Nm BJ Front bolt should be torqued with suspension loaded. Ideally wheels on the ground but you can place a jack under the arm instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wiggers Posted May 26, 2020 Author Share Posted May 26, 2020 On 5/24/2020 at 12:38 PM, TomsFocus said: 175Nm front 115Nm rears 70Nm BJ Front bolt should be torqued with suspension loaded. Ideally wheels on the ground but you can place a jack under the arm instead. Ok thanks,that's what my Haynes manual says It was just there is a tutorial video on youtube where they say 120Nm rear & 115Nm Front and another that says 100Nm rear & 150Nm front. Seems to vary alot depending where you look 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomsFocus Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 1 hour ago, Wiggers said: Ok thanks,that's what my Haynes manual says It was just there is a tutorial video on youtube where they say 120Nm rear & 115Nm Front and another that says 100Nm rear & 150Nm front. Seems to vary alot depending where you look 120 rear and 115 front is wildly incorrect, just look at the difference in bolt size lol! Was that definitely for a Mk2 Focus? 100 rear and 150 front isn't too far off. You'll find most techs don't even torqueing these, they're not as critical as something like head bolts for example. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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