M3 Control Arm Question

[duperdog]

Last week, FCP Euro finally listed the TRW M3 control arm kit back in stock so I ordered it only to be told today that the left control arm is not available and there is no ETA. They are going to ship me the rest of the kit and refund the cost of the missing arm. The TRW part does not seem to be available anywhere except on eBay from Europe.

The Genuine BMW part is available and I know it is made by TRW (except that it is 2x the price). Any concerns with substituting this? I know I am being paranoid and I can't see any reason why they would be any different, but thought I'd ask before spending the extra $.

Thanks.

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by duperdog

Last week, FCP Euro finally listed the TRW M3 control arm kit back in stock so I ordered it only to be told today that the left control arm is not available and there is no ETA. They are going to ship me the rest of the kit and refund the cost of the missing arm. The TRW part does not seem to be available anywhere except on eBay from Europe.

The Genuine BMW part is available and I know it is made by TRW (except that it is 2x the price). Any concerns with substituting this? I know I am being paranoid and I can't see any reason why they would be any different, but thought I'd ask before spending the extra $.

Thanks.

PM us with the part number you are missing and we will try to find you one.

[Almuliman]

Maybe worth mentioning that the tension struts from FCP are manufactured in Malaysia. I don't know about these specifically and have absolutely no reason to question FCP's quality control, but I keep on hearing that even supposedly OEM parts manufactured outside of Germany aren't holding up as well as those from Germany. Could be hearsay, could only apply to certain parts.

The control arms in the kit are in Deutschland hergestellt.

[duperdog]

I ended up reaching out to FCP Euro customer support. They said the trw part was briefly in stock, but was sold out quickly before they could update the website. They gave me a credit towards the genuine version to help offset the additional cost. Appreciate that level of customer support.

[Almuliman]

I came across Bimmerworld's M3 control arm kit the other day and had them confirm it's mostly from Malaysia (and then the usual:

For the E9X M3 control arm upgrade kit, all of the arms are from the OEM manufacturer TRW.
The Front Left Wishbone and both tension struts are made in Malaysia and the Front right wishbone is made in Germany.

These are all OEM parts so they are built to the same specifications as the original factory parts and BMW replacement parts even carrying the same warranty, I'd have no concerns about the quality of the product.

The more I see vendors I either have good experience with or hear good things about not having any concerns with the TRW not-from-Germany parts, the more I'm inclined to just get them and not worry. Or maybe I'm just getting impatient (hey, it's spring and the roads beckon – but first, track day, then RSFBs. Focus!).