Coffin Arms on eBay

[K.I.T.T.]

11 minutes ago, PaulQ said:

What makes you think I think there are better arms then OE ?

Just the way I interpreted some of your comments re: aftermarket arms, that's all.

Agree with you re: the 50k comment. Guess the $1M question is how long do / can aftermarket arms last? Appreciate it's one of those how long is a piece of string evidence, with too many variables.

But from hearing others' experience (combined with my own), doesn't seem aftermarket arms are any better - quite often worse. 

[PaulQ]

12 minutes ago, K.I.T.T. said:

Just the way I interpreted some of your comments re: aftermarket arms, that's all.

Agree with you re: the 50k comment. Guess the $1M question is how long do / can aftermarket arms last? Appreciate it's one of those how long is a piece of string evidence, with too many variables.

But from hearing others' experience (combined with my own), doesn't seem aftermarket arms are any better - quite often worse. 

Yes, if you take the cost factor out of the equation, then there is no advange to buying atermarket arms that I can see, only potential disadvantages, though it's possible there could be something better out there that we don't know about.......yet.

 

[map]

1 hour ago, PaulQ said:

I don't think having to replace all the coffin arms every 50k miles is particularly good.

Fair enough - that’s one opinion. 

So if the OE arms don’t last long enough in your opinion and you’re....

1 hour ago, PaulQ said:

not sure I [you] would want to be replacing with the same.

...which manufacturer’s arms would you replace the OE versions with if you wouldn’t/didn’t use OE items?

Am genuinely keen to know - especially if suggestions are backed with some data or at least personal experience over a given mileage/usage pattern. 

My interest is sincere because I’ll be planning a refresh of my suspension (along with a coilover rebuild) within the next 12 months or so.  This sort of Info/experience helps everyone facing this work make more informed choices. 

[PaulQ]

14 minutes ago, map said:

Fair enough - that’s one opinion. 

So if the OE arms don’t last long enough in your opinion and you’re....

...which manufacturer’s arms would you replace the OE versions with if you wouldn’t/didn’t use OE items?

Am genuinely keen to know - especially if suggestions are backed with some data or at least personal experience over a given mileage/usage pattern. 

My interest is sincere because I’ll be planning a refresh of my suspension (along with a coilover rebuild) within the next 12 months or so.  This sort of Info/experience helps everyone facing this work make more informed choices. 

I honestly don't know because as Kitt says there isn't really any or enough data out there afaik that suggests there is anything that would outlast the oe items.

One of the reasons I bought my car was because 8 out of the 10 suspension arms had been replaced by the previous owner not that long before I purchased it.

The coffin arms are Meyle. They have done 25k so far.

I would expect them to last much longer then this but then you could argue that if they were say a third of the price of an oe arm, would a third of the life (whatever you would consider to be acceptable on the oe part) be ok for the cheaper one. ?

Anyway, it's no good asking me, as cost will always be a factor, where as with others this might be less of a consideration so they would probably plump for oe ones.

 

 

[Pordave]

I am in exactly that position of ‘need to do for MOT’ more urgently than 12 months so the arguments of OE at large expense V aftermarket and reasonable cost definitely come into play.  My car is 1999 and done 141000 miles, in the last 12 months I have done about 6,000 miles so even a cheap set doing 50k will still give me 8 years. Question is will I or the car still be around in 6 years to argue the point and do I give a t*ss either way.        My wallet and brain says keep it cheap, roadworthy and enjoy it whilst in my possession 

Dave

[½cwt]

13 hours ago, Pordave said:

I think my mind is made up to go for the Spyderperformance ones but where are the best deals on tuning forks? They all seem to be £100+ each

Meyle on carparts4less with their current code works out at about £72 each for front tuning forks I have discovered today but a pair form Spyder is £132 once you add postage.

Back on the coffin arms, there are two issues wear and age.  Mine are 20 years and nearly 100k miles, both I believe are reasonable for what is a high performance and lets face it usually a lower mileage car.  There is clearly deterioration in the rubber and perhaps some of the issue might be the design concept.  Clever compact multi link set up but relies on the flex to be compliant and this will over time break down rubber particularly as it ages.  If what ever I chose give me half the life for less than 30% of the OE the cost it makes some sort of sense to me but I'm not pretending I have an all original or preserved 986, I have a bargain sports car that I'm running in a fair but not limitless budget and an extra £200 or 300 here to use OE parts as apposed to after market there would compromise other maintenance or frankly too expensive to be worth while...

[bally4563]

At the price point and the quality of finish , I don’t think you can fault the Spyder ones from Eporsche not cheapies but not OE money, just going by how tight the ball joints are to move when ligning up with the hub smacks of decent quality

[T911UK]

Spyder ones are made by Meyle

[jonogt6]

9 hours ago, ½cwt said:

Meyle on carparts4less with their current code works out at about £72 each for front tuning forks I have discovered today but a pair form Spyder is £132 once you add postage.

Back on the coffin arms, there are two issues wear and age.  Mine are 20 years and nearly 100k miles, both I believe are reasonable for what is a high performance and lets face it usually a lower mileage car.  There is clearly deterioration in the rubber and perhaps some of the issue might be the design concept.  Clever compact multi link set up but relies on the flex to be compliant and this will over time break down rubber particularly as it ages.  If what ever I chose give me half the life for less than 30% of the OE the cost it makes some sort of sense to me but I'm not pretending I have an all original or preserved 986, I have a bargain sports car that I'm running in a fair but not limitless budget and an extra £200 or 300 here to use OE parts as apposed to after market there would compromise other maintenance or frankly too expensive to be worth while...

The Meyle ones are very good. Ive had them on mine now for the last 6 years & 30k miles and they're still performing well.

When I removed my oem Porsche ones at 88000, the two fronts had a lot of play in the ball joints so hardly the last word in quality.

[Ninesomething]

8 hours ago, jonogt6 said:

The Meyle ones are very good. Ive had them on mine now for the last 6 years & 30k miles and they're still performing well.

When I removed my oem Porsche ones at 88000, the two fronts had a lot of play in the ball joints so hardly the last word in quality.

Did you take them off because of noise? And did you notice an improvement in the car after the new ones went on? I ask because I have some noise although the MO T tester thought they were OK. But then the drop links didn't have much if any play either and there was def less noise after I replaced them. The car also felt a little tighter too. I were to do it I'd get the spyder ones I reckon.

[Ninesomething]

Is this cheaper than they were the other day or am I getting (even more) confused?

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Porsche-986-Boxster-Suspension-Coffin-Lower-Track-Control-Arm-X-4-99634105317/333331519813?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D20160908110712%26meid%3D54bde9b04418401c95c140925bbf1f7f%26pid%3D100677%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D30%26mehot%3Dnone%26sd%3D264872058321%26itm%3D333331519813%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2386202%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWeb&_trksid=p2386202.c100677.m4598#vi-ilComp

[jonogt6]

1 hour ago, JonSta said:

Did you take them off because of noise? And did you notice an improvement in the car after the new ones went on? I ask because I have some noise although the MO T tester thought they were OK. But then the drop links didn't have much if any play either and there was def less noise after I replaced them. The car also felt a little tighter too. I were to do it I'd get the spyder ones I reckon.

Yes I replaced all 4 because I had a creaking noise from the front. Ive replaced the suspension in its entirety since I owned it. It now feels tight as anything to drive and is worth doing if you plan on keeping it long term.

[Rjg]

Forgive my ignorance on this subject, 986 2.7 owner after a long BMW history, is it the arms themselves that fail or the rubber

components and if the latter are they available without the arms?

[Ninesomething]

They have a rubber bush at one end which I believe can be replaced or upgraded with poly but the other end is a ball joint which can't be serviced.

[Ninesomething]

56 minutes ago, jonogt6 said:

Yes I replaced all 4 because I had a creaking noise from the front. Ive replaced the suspension in its entirety since I owned it. It now feels tight as anything to drive and is worth doing if you plan on keeping it long term.

Did you replace because of MOT or just because the noise was irritating? And did you feel any improvement in the ride?

[edc]

On the coffin arms the ball joint can wear. It is otherwise delamination and degradation of the rubber bushes. 

[½cwt]

6 hours ago, JonSta said:

Is this cheaper than they were the other day or am I getting (even more) confused?

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Porsche-986-Boxster-Suspension-Coffin-Lower-Track-Control-Arm-X-4-99634105317/333331519813?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D20160908110712%26meid%3D54bde9b04418401c95c140925bbf1f7f%26pid%3D100677%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D30%26mehot%3Dnone%26sd%3D264872058321%26itm%3D333331519813%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2386202%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWeb&_trksid=p2386202.c100677.m4598#vi-ilComp

Same price per item. they offer as a set of 2 or 4.  Also their price for 2 front tuning forks is pretty keen too.

[jonogt6]

14 hours ago, JonSta said:

Did you take them off because of noise? And did you notice an improvement in the car after the new ones went on? I ask because I have some noise although the MO T tester thought they were OK. But then the drop links didn't have much if any play either and there was def less noise after I replaced them. The car also felt a little tighter too. I were to do it I'd get the spyder ones I reckon.

Replaced them because of noise. They'd have also removed some of the slack...one of them was so worn, the ball was rattling in the nylon socket.

[½cwt]

OK, must have had a generous tester today, Pass, but with advisories on all 4 coffin arms... No mention of the OS front tuning fork that Dove House recommended changing as they detected a knock in it when it was serviced 2 weeks ago.

Looking like a winter suspension rebuild project coming up with dampers too, (see Koni & Bilstein thread) and a bit of time to buy as cost effectively as possible.

[GmanB]

3 hours ago, ½cwt said:

OK, must have had a generous tester today, Pass, but with advisories on all 4 coffin arms... No mention of the OS front tuning fork that Dove House recommended changing as they detected a knock in it when it was serviced 2 weeks ago.

Looking like a winter suspension rebuild project coming up with dampers too, (see Koni & Bilstein thread) and a bit of time to buy as cost effectively as possible.

Good stuff. What was the cause if your coolant problem btw, I lost track?

[½cwt]

2 hours ago, GmanB said:

Good stuff. What was the cause if your coolant problem btw, I lost track?

Incorrectly refitted cap seem to be the only explanation.  No more loss, no wet boot and a little residual dampness in  the overflow pipe which dumps exactly where the pool of coolant was found.  I topped it off ran it up to temp for the cans to kick in and took it for a work out and all fine.  Another couple of hundred on top of £900 or so worth of suspension parts would not have been very pleasing!

[GmanB]

5 minutes ago, ½cwt said:

Incorrectly refitted cap seem to be the only explanation.  No more loss, no wet boot and a little residual dampness in  the overflow pipe which dumps exactly where the pool of coolant was found.  I topped it off ran it up to temp for the cans to kick in and took it for a work out and all fine.  Another couple of hundred on top of £900 or so worth of suspension parts would not have been very pleasing!

Indeed, great result. 👍

[Ninesomething]

13 hours ago, ½cwt said:

Incorrectly refitted cap seem to be the only explanation.  No more loss, no wet boot and a little residual dampness in  the overflow pipe which dumps exactly where the pool of coolant was found.  I topped it off ran it up to temp for the cans to kick in and took it for a work out and all fine.  Another couple of hundred on top of £900 or so worth of suspension parts would not have been very pleasing!

Ummmm - was that Dove House? Bit naughty....

[½cwt]

4 hours ago, JonSta said:

Ummmm - was that Dove House? Bit naughty....

'fraid so.  Even more it was a new technician to them that did the service who I used to work with at PalmerSport. Now I may have p*ssed him off a few times when we were there but 13½ years is a long time to hold a grudge!  Got to say they were suitably concerned and supportive (offered free time on a 2 post lift with their technicians if wanted it or I couldn't satisfactorily resolve it even if I wanted to DIY any repair) so as in other threads on local (to us 😉) Porsche outfits it is how you perform when it goes wrong that's important.  Worse thing to leave lose than a water cap... sump plug, oil filter, wheel bolts, suspension bolts. 

[½cwt]

Committed to a set of 4 coffin arms and 2 front tuning forks from Spyder Performance.  Contacted Dean at Spyder and he will consolidate postage so just under £300 for all the suspension arms I'm anticipating replacing.  Just shocks and drop links to choose now.  What's the difference between a £12 drop link and a £35 drop link when TRW (I believe OE supplier) ones are about £28...?