[SW6Steve]

Thinking of getting a set of these..

https://www.superproeurope.com/produ...vehicleid=7335

Has anyone fitted a set?
What are the pros and cons?

Thanks

[ian332isport]

I can’t speak for those arms particularly, but SuperPro bushes are very well regarded.

[Wolverine]

Following with interest as I need to replace the lower arms on my F36. I was looking at fitting the F8x arms as a suitable alternative.

Be interested to see how you get on with these or similar

[Watsey]

Check VERY carefully in terms of compatibility. SuperPro assured me that they were compatible with the F31 chassis and it turned out that the wishbones were for the F8X.

The longer arms pushed the front wheels forward in the arches, completely ruined my geo, and with my Millway camber plates set at full positive the camber was stil -2.25 deg. It was a costly mistake and cost me £hundreds.

I've had them removed and replaced them with wishbones and sealed monoball bushes from Millway which use F3X arms and work perfectly.

[SW6Steve]

Thanks for the replies.

Watsey Is this what you are talking about? https://www.millway.se/front-tension...lemforder.html
Cant find a complete 4 arm replacement kit.
Did you use your existing lower arms, or did you buy new?

I have an F30, with ACS and Genuine 437's. 245/35 upfront. It didn't occur to me that the wishbones would be identical to the F80.

[Watsey]

Originally Posted by SW6Steve

Thanks for the replies.

Watsey Is this what you are talking about? https://www.millway.se/front-tension...lemforder.html
Cant find a complete 4 arm replacement kit.
Did you use your existing lower arms, or did you buy new?

I have an F30, with ACS and Genuine 437's. 245/35 upfront. It didn't occur to me that the wishbones would be identical to the F80.

The link you posted is for the lower front arms and bushes.

Here's a link to the wishbones and bushes for the F30/31 :

https://www.millway.se/control-arms-...lemforder.html

You'd need to buy both products to create a complete four arm set.

To reiterate, the arms from the F8X are NOT compatible with the F3X chassis/geo.

[SW6Steve]

Originally Posted by Watsey

The link you posted is for the lower front arms and bushes.

Here's a link to the wishbones and bushes for the F30/31 :

https://www.millway.se/control-arms-...lemforder.html

You'd need to buy both products to create a complete four arm set.

To reiterate, the arms from the F8X are NOT compatible with the F3X chassis/geo.

Thanks for that. Will give the Super Pro's a miss!

Did you order direct from Millway? Or is there a UK distributor?

[Watsey]

Originally Posted by SW6Steve

Thanks for that. Will give the Super Pro's a miss!

Did you order direct from Millway? Or is there a UK distributor?

Direct from Millway. Samuel and his team are super helpful and will set out the prices, local taxes, VAT and shipping costs very clearly. .

[SW6Steve]

Watsey

Thanks for your reply.

Another question...
Is it essential to change all four arms for better steering feel? Think I read somewhere that the upper arms make the most difference?

Thanks

[Watsey]

Originally Posted by SW6Steve

Watsey

Thanks for your reply.

Another question...
Is it essential to change all four arms for better steering feel? Think I read somewhere that the upper arms make the most difference?

Thanks

Sorry for the late reply.

In terms of steering feel and precision replacing the OEM hydro bushes (hydraulic mounts) in the tension struts (the forward-facing 'bendy' lower arms), and replacing them with poly bushes or sealed monoballs, makes a huge improvement.

The OEM rubber-encased bushes in the wishbones (the shorter, straight, arms) are quite firm and there's a less noticeable difference if you replace them, but I'd replace them anyway.

I still have poly bushes in my tension struts (because they haven't worn and the steering precision is still great) and the Millway monoball wishbones have been on the car for a few months without any problems.

Firmer bushes will transmit more NVH but in my experience it's minimal and massively outweighed by far greater taughtness in the chassis and suspension which brings far greater control / feel.

[SW6Steve]

Thanks Watsey much appreciated.

[SW6Steve]

Watsey
Decided to go with these... https://www.millway.se/front-tension...lemforder.html.
Would like to see how much of a difference they make first. See how the NVH is. The car is low mileage, so I'm not sure of the cost effectiveness/benefit to replace all four just yet.
Interestingly Millway don't say what benefit you get from the other arms, but do the tension-strut-thrust arms.
Do I need to replace bolts and nuts aswell?
Thanks

[Watsey]

Originally Posted by SW6Steve

Watsey
Decided to go with these... https://www.millway.se/front-tension...lemforder.html.
Would like to see how much of a difference they make first. See how the NVH is. The car is low mileage, so I'm not sure of the cost effectiveness/benefit to replace all four just yet.
Interestingly Millway don't say what benefit you get from the other arms, but do the tension-strut-thrust arms.
Do I need to replace bolts and nuts aswell?
Thanks

I think you'll notice a very significant improvement in steering precision - I had to adjust my inputs to stop over-steering into corners. The electrically-assisted steering racks are prone to feeling a bit numb, but you'll still feel some improvement.

As long as the bolts don't have any damage or excessive corrosion on the threads they should be fine to re-use.

[SW6Steve]

Watsey
Just received the Millway tension arms.
Did you fit them yourself?
There is a bag of spacers included, two long and two short I presume it is obvious where they go when fitting?
Im looking at getting them fitted, and having a Hunter alignment done at the same time.
I want to renew the hardware. I have looked on realOEM, but can't make out what bolts and nuts are required. I think its... 2x part number 9. 2x part number 8, but I cant make out what nuts need to go on the end of part 8.
https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=31_0942
Any help you can give would be much appreciated.

[Watsey]

All my suspension work has been done by Center Gravity in Atherstone, Warwickshire (https://centergravity.co.uk). Chris and Pete are experts in all things suspension, and able to convert "I want the car to handle like..." into a technical setup which delivers.

Looking at realoem I think you'd need 2 x No 8 and 4 x No 9 (or 2 x No 9 if Millway supplied new nuts for the tension struts for where they connect to the wheel hub carrier). That said, the original bolts and nuts were re-used on my car when I had the hydro bushes replaced with poly units - there was nothing wrong with them (bolts / nuts) so wasn't much point in replacing them for the sake of it.

If you have any doubts just call a BMW parts department to get/check the required parts and part numbers.

[johnung]

Originally Posted by SW6Steve

Watsey

Thanks for your reply.

Another question...
Is it essential to change all four arms for better steering feel? Think I read somewhere that the upper arms make the most difference?

Thanks

I swapped my front Upper Control Arms out for VAC monoballs. See photo. They definitely turn vague F3x steering into very precise steering with no NVH. A year later, I also swapped out my Lower Control Arms. They also contributed to the improvement but maybe 50% as much as the Uppers had.

They are made for F3x Xdrive and RWD. Links below.

Hope this helps!

FOR XDRIVE:

https://www.kiesmotorsports.com/prod...8;_ss=r?aff=22

FOR RWD:

https://www.kiesmotorsports.com/prod...8;_ss=r?aff=22

[Watsey]

Originally Posted by SW6Steve

Watsey
Just received the Millway tension arms.
Did you fit them yourself?
There is a bag of spacers included, two long and two short I presume it is obvious where they go when fitting?
Im looking at getting them fitted, and having a Hunter alignment done at the same time.
I want to renew the hardware. I have looked on realOEM, but can't make out what bolts and nuts are required. I think its... 2x part number 9. 2x part number 8, but I cant make out what nuts need to go on the end of part 8.
https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=31_0942
Any help you can give would be much appreciated.

I forgot to reply regarding the spacers.

The short answer is that I don't know the correct placement of the long and short spacers, because I'm not running Millway tension struts on my car (yet). I suggest emailing Samuel at Millway and asking for clarification.

[SW6Steve]

Thanks a lot Watsey

I found an installation guide on Millway's website... https://www.millway.se/pub/media/wys...96-web-eng.pdf
which includes info for F30 spacer fitting.
There are a couple installation guides for tension arm replacement on youtube.
The long rear bolt doesn't have a separate nut, this is welded to the subframe, so only the bolts are needed. Makes sense of realOEM now.
Also torque specs for anyone that is interested are...
Long rear bolt 100nm plus 90 degrees for a new bolt.
ball joint nut 175nm

Thanks again Watsey, I will come back here to give my opinion when they are fitted.

[MooLard]

I had the full front control arm kit on my previous E91, the handling and steering feel was great, really direct and immediate. The longevity for them a heck of a lot shorter than standard rubber ones though, I think because of friction on the poly bushed ends, and less shock absorbsion on the ball joints. I have two of the four arms replaced under warranty and when the other two failed outside of warranty I replaced them with standard arms. I have a semi bumpy commute to work on some smaller roads, this might have contributed to the speed of the wear.

[SW6Steve]

Originally Posted by MooLard

I had the full front control arm kit on my previous E91, the handling and steering feel was great, really direct and immediate. The longevity for them a heck of a lot shorter than standard rubber ones though, I think because of friction on the poly bushed ends, and less shock absorbsion on the ball joints. I have two of the four arms replaced under warranty and when the other two failed outside of warranty I replaced them with standard arms. I have a semi bumpy commute to work on some smaller roads, this might have contributed to the speed of the wear.

Thanks for your input
Was that the Millway arms or Superpro?

[MooLard]

Originally Posted by SW6Steve

Thanks for your input
Was that the Millway arms or Superpro?

Oh apologies I had SuperPro and I bought them from a distributor in the UK. The distributor were brilliant, it's purely the purpose of polybushed stuff just isn't the best for B roads in the UK in terms of longevity.

[SW6Steve]

Had the Millways fitted today, followed by a Hunter alignment.
Positives…
Steering feels more precise, but not night and day
Handling feels a lot more precise, particularly when pushing on. Definitely night and day the faster you go.
Negatives…
NVH is noticeably worse, particularly vibration.
But I may go to for MP4S, as I think they tend to be softer on the fronts, so I've read!
Overall I love the way the car feels when upping the pace, but I'm not sure I can live with the extra NVH. Some time for them to settle and a few more miles before I make my mind up fully on these.