[lowrydr310]

I installed Febi-Bilstein end links on my E93 less than two years ago, and recently one of them started rattling badly. Upon removal I found it was the lower joint on one side that was trashed, stud was flopping around and there was a ton of free play.

Why would these fail so soon? I have 5+ year old Lemforder end links on my E90 sedan and they're still as good as new, even after many more miles over the same roads.

So I replaced the old worn links with brand new Lemforder links:

[mainbearing]

IMO Febi Bilstein is not a very good brand. Although I use their brand of Lifeguard oil for ZF transmissions. One of our Audi's got a Febi blower motor, next time I will try something else, probably TYC or 4-Seasons.

Delphi links have lifetime warranty on Rockauto. I use Lemforder links tho.

[The Nightman]

Junk parts. One of my Lemforder end links (Made in Turkey) snapped in half at 6k highway miles. I've since replaced both with Rein (made in Spain) and they've been fine for 13k miles of rough city roads.

My factory links were made in Japan and were still fine after 60k miles. I stupidly replaced them as preventative maintenance.

[bmwbusky]

Sorry to hear about the premature failure!

Parts, man…… I’ve always used Lemforder suspension parts on my BMW and Mercedes vehicles. Usually buy from FCP Euro to get the lifetime warranty.

I have had good luck with Lemforder, but I’ve seen more people in the last few years (after 2020) post about premature failures with Lemforder. It seems like most people agree that part quality among many manufacturers has generally degraded.

The older I get, the more I find myself gravitating towards genuine parts.

[kkasson]

I have a set of Febi lower control arms for my E60 that I'm about to install. Hopefully they last a little longer...got a great deal on them and figured it was worth the gamble compared to how expensive the better brands are. Even if I only get a couple years out of them that's fine.

I currently have TRW arms that I installed about 8 years/90k ago.

Since it was a couple years ago you probably don't remember, but do you know where your end links were made? The label on these control arms say they were assembled in Germany using parts from other countries (I think it said Spain, Taiwan, and maybe one other country)