beware of moog control arms
 

My bushings recently failed so I decided to buy the Moog compression rod and transverse link for the front suspension based on general reviews that Moog was a quality vendor. The compression rods installed without issue but the transverse link was very poorly machined.

Where the transverse link mounts to the tapered spacer on the balljoint there is a recess that is machined on the arm. Unfortunately they occasionally overdo it with the machining. When they do this the end of the spacer extends past the aluminum seat of the transverse link and when you tighten the nut it seats against the spacer instead of the transverse link. Depending on the gap you will have slop in the suspension.

To fix the issue I found some 3/4" 304 stainless washers that I had machined to 31mm OD. Placing two of these washers between the nut and transverse link did the trick.

Pictures below are of the OEM and Moog control arms for comparison and the washer pre and post machining.


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....ef69b611a8.jpg

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....abadf9a79d.jpg

What was the part number on those moog components?

CK (K): MOOG PROBLEM SOLVER
The CK and K are Moogs Premium line of components. Utilizing their “problem solver” technology, these control arms address common factory design issues providing a better than original replacement for your vehicle

RK: MOOG R SERIES
The RK series is a more value driven part. Because there are so many different vehicles both foreign and domestic, Moog has introduced the R-Series arms to provide replacements for a wide range of vehicles.

http://www.suspension.com/blog/moog-...ms-ck-k-or-rk/

I don't buy RK anything as it's generally no better than Dorman, or any other budget replacement.
Never had a problem with any of the Moog 'CK' or 'K' parts.

The part numbers all start with rk. I dont see any other versions available for the g35 and presumably the 350z on the moog website.

I will run these arms while i finish some other projects. Then i will probably install some spl bushings in the old arms and swap them out. Also i spun the lower balljoint and squeezed out some grease before i realized there was a fitment problem so will probably change the ball joints as well at that time.

Good info. Thanks for posting the comparison between OEM and Moog on the front end. FWIW, the rear control arms (including bushings and ball joints) were an exact match with OEM and have worked out great on my '08. Parts were RK621762 on the left rear and RK621689 on the right rear. I'll probably just do a rebuild on the fronts, since I'm rebuilding the rears as well after I get around to buying a complete prothane bushing kit.

EDIT:
I'm going to amend my "exact match" statement from above. You did have to move the cone washers on the ball joints from the OEMs to the Moogs on the rear control arms. If you don't have a puller to remove the factory cone washers, you can just buy new ones from Amazon [

LINK

LINK

] for about $40 for a pair. And no, they are nowhere as big as the Amazon specs say they are. They're an OEM part and are identical to the ones that come with the car.

Thanks for the heads up! Was just about to buy these arms but I guess it looks like I'll just be replacing the bushings.

This is the issue I believe I'm having. My car almost does a wobble from time to time from a stop with the wheel turned hard. Also it wants to wander when I hit a bump. I'm not fully understanding your washers being machined, I'm just going to see if I can buy some that fit the hole. Thanks for the info, wish I saw this before I made the purchase.

https://my350z.com/forum/brakes-and-...repancies.html

I might have the same issue with SKP, but not as deep as the Moogs were.