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Gallardo - Control arms rebuild

6K views 19 replies 9 participants last post by  Muckman 
#1 ·
Hello guys,

Not everyone is probably checking out the "Vendor" section, so I have decided to share some of our work on Gallardo's here as well. Long story short. We are specialized in fabrication of steering parts (ball joints, bushings, uniballs, tie rods, control arms, etc.) and with increasing demand and inquiries about Lamborghinis we have decide to share our work here on Lambo talk forum. I hope you find it interesting and if anyone has any questions, you're welcome to contact us at info@vps-eu.com.

Here are freshly rebuilt control arms, new ball joints - removable and non removable) and new bushings for this 2006 Gallardo. The control arms we have received had signs of previously attempted repairs, so the rear control arm outer bushings were shot and the housing of control arm bushing was slightly damaged. The control arm was repaired (alu welded on and then machined to tolerance) and new bushing was fabricated to fit in place.

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#2 ·
TY for sharing and offering these products...coming from the P-car world, its jarring the lack of suspension support for this vehicle.
 
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#3 ·
...coming from the P-car world, its jarring the lack of suspension support for this vehicle.
Me as a car enthusiast (Owner of GMS, the leading Alfa Romeo 4C performance parts development and shop), I also find the Lamborghini extremely short on upgrades and performance parts. Probably one of the cars with least available mods, considering its sport pedigree. I spend quite some time on the race tracks around the Europe and I also rarely (never) see Lamborghini's ripping one. Occasional some factory race cars, but almost never a Gallardo, Hurracan or other street legal Lambo cars. Ferrari should be the closest equivalent to Lambo, yet in 2019, when I was competing in Time Attack Italia, there were at least 10 Ferraris, some 20 Porsches and zero Lamborghinis. Is it the clientele - the Lambo owners that you are not in to racing the cars and therefore the aftermarket support is bad or is it something else?
 
#4 ·
I have never tracked my Gallardo, but this owner here is into racing.

I would love to see more aftermarket support for our cars, but frankly the Lambo Tax to do anything with them makes it hard. Given there is little support, anything new coming out, potential buyers are always paying for the R&D / Prototyping costs too, so it will always keep the costs high.

Since there isn't a dealer close to me, I'm hesitant to race my car if anything transmission or clutch issues pop up, its a headache to get it serviced.
 
#5 ·
On the 2007 and on pre-LP vehicles, all LP cars and the R8 with the threaded-in ball joints, it's quite easy to rebuild your own control arms. I posted a YouTube video of how to replace the inner control arm bushings on my 2008, they are the same part (for front and rear, upper and lower) as what is used in the Ferrari f430 and are readily available all over the internet. Not saying your service is not greatly appreciated, particularly for the 04-06 cars' ball joints. It's great to see some aftermarket support. Just wanted to throw out there that if your a real DIY type replacing the inner bushings is pretty straight forward for any model year, and completely rebuilding the control arms yourself is possible with readily available parts if you've got a 2007+.
 
#6 · (Edited)
I agree, if control arms are of the type that can be rebuild, it's pretty easy job. Hydraulic press, some basic DIY and these parts (ball joints M12 screw-in type + bushings) is pretty much all you need. However, the R8 M12 thread ball joint and Gallardo M12 thread ball joint have different tapers. Also if I'm correct neither of these are available as OEM spare parts. @EvanK Where did you get the ball joints to rebuild your control arms?
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The problem is when you have control arms that don't have removable ball joints. These are not DIY without some proper tooling. We can rebuild these as well. We are not polishing the ball joint and re-greasing the interior. New ball joints are CNC'd, new sliding cups are CNC'd and then everything reassembled back together. Due to use of superior materials compared to OEM manufacturers, lifespan is significantly increased.
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I might also add that we can build custom spec. applications on customer's behalf as well. Here are some of our recent projects:

4130 CrMo custom control arms with roll correction center ball joints and conversion from rubber bushings to cross axis joints.
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Custom cross axis ball joint.
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Custom steering box for Polaris - Wildcat.
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#7 ·
When I replaced my control arm bushings I did not replace the ball joints as they were in perfect shape. Indeed neither part is available from Lamborghini OEM though. The bushings I purchased were Ferrari part number 184609 if I remember correctly. I saw the ball joints available from a company in Slovenia named Prekom and also available on eBay (perhaps from you guys?). Prekom says nothing about the tapers being different between the R8 and Gallardo and indicates they are interchangeable though.
 
#9 ·
Interesting. We mostly deal with worn out ball joints, while rubber bushings seem to last quite some time.

Here is the picture of M12 ball joints. On the left - Gallardo (the top of the tapper is 16mm), on the right - R8 (the top of the tapper is 18mm).

View attachment 296322
Is the difference just between R8 and Pre-LP or are both Pre-LP and LP Gallardos a different taper than R8?
 
#10 · (Edited)
I'd rather not state anything, because there are even differences between same type of R8's just different month of production and additionally, some R8's had a recall and entire control arms assemblies were installed from newer version, so we need bigger database to draw conclusions.

A simple caliper measure will tell which on you need when time comes. Or if you're not DIY type, we offer complete control arm rebuild.
 
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