12-28-2023, 04:41 PM | #23 | |
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12-28-2023, 05:20 PM | #24 |
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VAC doesn’t sell their bushings separately. I emailed them a while back specifically asking that question. You’ll have to go with another brand like Millway if you want just the bushing. Its what I plan to do since my control arms are covered under FCP Euro’s warranty.
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12-28-2023, 06:09 PM | #25 | |
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VAC won’t sell the bushings separate because too many idiots will screw up the installation and then try to return them. Instead the VAC machine shop (where they build race engines) installs their custom monoball bushings into brand new Lemforder control arms. Lemforder makes them for BMW. So you get the bushing along with a brand new control arm and a brand new ball joint on the other end. Understand that monoball bushings are NOT all the same. They are not a commodity item. IMO VAC has the best design. It’s made to race specs. Totally changes the vague F-series steering to be much more precise. |
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12-28-2023, 06:11 PM | #26 | |
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12-28-2023, 06:14 PM | #27 | |
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12-28-2023, 06:22 PM | #28 | |
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Mines are good now. Just wanted this upgrade. Maybe then. Great reviews for vac.
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12-28-2023, 06:28 PM | #29 | |
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I’ve had VAC’s for years and they have been amazing. I’ve probably recommended them to a dozen people. Everyone has come back with a positive experience. |
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12-28-2023, 06:36 PM | #30 | |
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12-29-2023, 09:40 AM | #31 |
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Let me clarify- I have a regular set of control arms installed right now which were purchased through FCP Euro. When the bushing wears out, I will get a replacement set of control arms via their lifetime guarantee and install the millway bushings, since VAC doesn’t sell separately.
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12-29-2023, 09:54 AM | #32 | |
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12-29-2023, 11:15 AM | #33 | |
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12-30-2023, 01:25 PM | #34 | |
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Hope that video works for you. But it's the main bushing and ball joint that are done for. The other side is solid as can be. VAC emailed me a few days after we talked. I am sending them this video. See how the customer service is, if good I will be buying the lowers |
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01-18-2024, 07:22 AM | #35 |
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Update on this: I sent my first email to support on 11/30/23, and I STILL haven't gotten an answer of what they want to do or not going to do… I sent another email Tuesday. I don't know if I want to buy any more products. Really would like to drive my car again…
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01-24-2024, 12:50 PM | #36 | |
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Last edited by Dobrin; 02-25-2024 at 12:46 PM.. |
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01-25-2024, 06:28 AM | #37 | |
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There’s a simple way to explain it. The stock bushing, which is relatively stiff, attempts to dissipate those road forces by squeezing fluid through chambers. It’s a cheap way to do it, but the stock bushing eventually wears out and leaks. While the monoball with its freedom of movement just deflects that force altogether. See photos. I’ve been modding my 2015 335ix for six years now. It’s all about making the car as much fun to drive as possible. The VAC monoball control arms are easily one of the top mods that I’ve done. One of the first things that I would do if I got another F3x. FOR XDRIVE F3X: https://www.kiesmotorsports.com/prod...x-drive?aff=22 FOR RWD F3X: https://www.kiesmotorsports.com/prod...set-rwd?aff=22 Hope this helps! |
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01-26-2024, 02:19 PM | #38 | |
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01-31-2024, 03:49 PM | #39 |
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Another update:
Don't procrastinate, I knew my control arm was bad in the summer and I didn't make time to take it out and video record it. So now I am purchasing a second one for that side. If another goes out again, I am NOT purchasing from them. I had to email them a dozen times, call a few times to get a response. I really like the driving aspect of these though, the handling is MUCH improved! Can't wait to be able to drive it again. It's been over a month. My fault for not taking it out prior to the 1-year warranty was up. |
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02-20-2024, 07:12 AM | #40 | |
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VAC is one of the most unique organizations that I’ve seen. Decades ago it had its roots in racing BMWs. It has a race shop that mods and prepares customer cars for the track. Out of that grew an engine building and repairing machine shop. And out of that grew a large engineering design and manufacturing shop with millions of dollars of CNC equipment. VAC’s roots and focus is on BMWs. Those VAC Monoball control arm bushings are made on a $750k CNC. I happened to be there on a day when a batch was being made. And of course out of those efforts grew a large service shop to take care of daily drivers as well as a retail sales organization to sell the parts that they make as well as all of the brands that they recommend. VAC in Philadelphia is local to me. Every time I’ve visited, I have seen something unique. Once I was there seeing race engine blocks being made from scratch. They start with a $3,000+ block of high quality aluminum. Then it begins a process that takes something like 60 machine hours on at least three different CNC’s. I asked the top engineer why they decided to build it. He said that they had the expertise and wanted to showcase what they could do. They had a stack of billet blocks (see photo) and had just finished building the first one out with all of the best racing internals. It went out on a pallet to a buyer in Europe to test and install in a car. When I asked they said it was probably in the 1200+ horsepower range. They would know more when the anxious customer’s test numbers came in. My point is that VAC isn’t designed and structured like the well oiled machine online retailers that many may be used to purchasing from. Retailing isn’t a super high priority. They don’t have a huge customer service organization. They are really focused on very high quality engineering, design and manufacturing. Kies Motorsports is also local to me in NJ. They have a great relationship with VAC and sell their products. Kies is a retailer who is focused on customer service. So you can purchase your VAC Monoball control arms from Kies and enjoy free shipping and great customer service. Kies has regular stocking orders in place with VAC. Products like this that are built on very expensive CNC’s have to be done in batches. Sometimes batches can take days. It can take hours for an engineer to setup a CNC with a dozen specialized cutting heads to create a specific part from a raw block of aluminum. Batches reduce the cost per unit. They could never make single units to order because it would be outrageously expensive. Professional race teams, NASA and the military could afford that but no one else. Kies has the same availability as VAC. They have stocking orders in place and their facilities are 30 minutes apart. So as soon as it’s made at VAC, Kies has access to it the next day. I’m never concerned when I see Pre-Order, etc on the Kies website. That just means that there are none of the shelf but more are on the way. I just put my order in so that I am in the queue for it to ship out to me immediately when the next batch arrives. Kies corporate philosophy is to be honest about availability. Hope this provides some additional insight. |
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02-20-2024, 11:40 PM | #41 | |
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https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6rBnBs8fSe4 As for the vague steering some complain of regarding BMW's hydro-bushing, there is a slightly muted response to steering inputs but I did not find it to be a significant problem. The hydro-bushings tend to fail through a combination of 'aggressive use' and time. In other words, used as a daily, you might get 4-5 years. Take on and off ramps a full highway speed (or track it), yeah, probably going to kill those bushing in 2-3 years. It should be noted that swapping out the bushing for a new one carries the risk of cracking the aluminium arm. The suggestions to avoid the problem is to remove the arm from the car and have the bushing pressed out with a press to ensure even pressure. Time should be taken to inspect the arm for cracks. If a crack is present, no matter how small, get a new arm. If you do decide to go with an aftermarket arm/bushing, the use of wider tires (e.g. 255) may help suck up some of the added vibration induced using a stiffer bushing. For the me, I found that the lack of negative camber was a far bigger issue and that altering BMW's standard 1.0 degree to 2.0 degrees proved to be a bigger benefit in terms of enhanced steering and stability, particularly in turns. Note this solution has a downside that the inside of the tires can take quite a beating in the process, which is probably why BMW doesn't do it.
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02-21-2024, 08:01 AM | #42 | |
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02-24-2024, 09:52 PM | #43 |
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Roughly 2 yrs, perhaps a bit less.
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04-27-2024, 01:18 PM | #44 |
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Anyone know if xdrive arms can be installed on a RWD car? VAC seems to have sent me xdrive arms even though I ordered RWD. I'm guessing the answer is no given that the subframes, and presumably pickup point dimensions are different but wondered if anyone has any better idea.
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