Good afternoon, I want to thank in advance the community for sharing ideas and guides about Acuras their awesome cars.

I so have a problem my rear wheels wont align and my mechanic suggested to replace the rear lower control arms. I trust the guy that he is doing the right thing but I want to purchase the parts my self. Can someone please look at these parts and tell me if they are all the same things? I don't want to spend 170 or more at the dealer or those stores and I see there are some online for less than fifty bucks?

NAPA AUTO PARTS

1999-2003 Acura TL Control Arm - Suspension - Moog, Rear Lower 99-03 TL Control Arm - 5951-07192006 - PartsGeek

MOOG MOOG-RK640259 Rear Lower Control Arm Made by MOOG

 

Your first Moog Part is for an ADJUSTABLE Rear Lower Control Arm, Adjustable Arms are only good if you are planning on lowering your car otherwise no need to pay the extra bucks for unneeded adjustment range. This is a specialty item and as such its more expensive.

Your second Moog Part is for OEM Rear Lower Control Arm, This is basically the stock length and fit for OEM Ride Height (You probably want this)
The stock part is pretty cheap to manufacture so don't worry about the price.


BOTH FIT but the Adjustable isn't needed if you aren't planning on lowering the car.

 

Has this car been in an accident? maybe hit a curb sideways etc?
that's what would bend a control arm - causing the Camber to go out of spec
Normally that's not adjustable, unless you install the special ones as noted above

We need to know the specs you were told- what was out of spec- to make sure they are pointing you in the correct direction for repairs

If TOE is not adjusting correctly- that is a different issue- toe is the only thing we an adjust

 

another common failure is the bushings in the control arms wear out, that would give bad alignment readings
left front is very common
We also have a problem with rear wheel hub bearing wearout

Need to make sure what your tech thinks the problem - and origin of this problem are

 

So I bought these parts and guess what the part is about 2 inches too long for my acura and me and my mechanic tried 3 different stores and the rear lower control arm is just to long for my car. What the hell does that mean my cart was put together with wrong parts?

 

And I know I am buying the right part because I looked at the diagram and the parts my mechanic ordered were the same thing I got from MOOG. So there must be something out of place on my ride, how is this even possible> ?

 

Maybe its been crashed? is it salvage or rebuilt title? was it too cheap too pass up???

you never told us the actual specs/readings that resulted in need for replacement of the control arm

Usually its the camber is way off from a curb hit, also lowered cars the camber goes negative
Toe is adjustable to a limited degree

you and tech physically measured old part to new? and no way the are the same?

 

did you use Honda or acura dealer as a souce for the part?

when one maker assigns a part number to an aftermarket part, other makers use the same info - good or bad
So that is possible in your case

Similar example: our rear brake pads, many makers still use ones for the RL thinking they are for the TL (way different park brake system is the problem), because somewhere back in the day= the measurement of the pad plate was used as the only criteria, nice fit, but bad reaction~
With an extra raised tab that hits the caliper piston on our car and messes up the brakes!!

 

I did have a crash in 2012 I hit a high curb and ripped the wheels of the right side after someone ran me of the road but my insurance sank 9k to fix the car at that time and it was fine And yes my tech did measure the parts side by side the parts that we bought are all about 2 inches too long than the one on the car and I think we use the acura part number. The reason we are trying to replace the control arms is because of the camber my rear right wheel does not align and the tire wears on the inside more than the outside part.

 

not talking about using acuras number
acuras PART is the only measure

got a receipt from the body shop? that's who to ask what the heck they did!!
Does it even have a TL rear suspension under it anymore?

 

If you are needing parts that are adjustable for stock height there is something else wrong, or bad repair work from the collision. What is off on the alignment that you are trying to correct??? Does the mechanic doing the work now see any signs of bent or damaged parts? The TL is a 5 link rear suspension. Is the mechanic sure he is placing the control arms in the right spot?

 

Ok it looks like trying to order the same part from multiple shops we finally got the correct one, it seems there is some kind of an issue with numbering of this part in particular.

There only damage that we noticed is right when the right rear lower control arm attaches to the car it. It looks like it's been hit but it's not bent.

What I am trying to fix on the car is the camber in the right rear wheel, it's off by like 2 degrees or something and it makes the tire wear on the inside faster.

I am going to get these arms put on tomorrow and get an alignment after that since last time I tried they could not turn the alignment bolts in the back of the car on both sides.

 

only toe is adjustable on the rear- unless you install the special adjustable camber kit units- for lowered cars
All others- the stock part should work fine