I just got replacement upper control arms for my 1997 Civic LX (D16Y7), and they do not specify driver's side/passenger's side, so how do I know which one goes where? The old ones do not have any markings, either (The old ones were removed by a 'friend' who didn't pay attention to which one came from which side) - The only thing that stands out on them is a small tab on the front of the control arm, which is pointing towards the front of the vehicle (The old control arms do not have any tabs)

 

You put them side by side with the old one and compare.

 

Front or rear?

 

fronts are usually marked with L/R on DC/EG's at least as it matters... just how they're shaped vs on a 6th gen.

 

The old control arms were not removed by me, so I have no idea which side came off of where - There are no markings on either the old ones, or the new ones (Although one of them had a box with an arrow stamped into the metal, and the new ones have a small tab that points out from above the ball joint)

Front

 

The easiest most surefire way:

call the manufacturer of the new control arms

 

I put some on recently that had a "1" and "2" marked on them... instead of "L" and "R". fortunately i was able to compare them with the originals when i was taking them off.

I'll look back at the photos this afternoon, but i'm pretty certain that the ball joint offset should be towards the rear of the car. this is a typical arrangement for manufacturers to gain appropriate caster angle. it's very subtle but if you line the two up, one on top of the other, it should be apparent.

 

The part of the arm with the longer/bigger curve in it faces the rear of the car.

 

that is the way I had them on there originally, so I guess they are on right, they just didn't look like they lined up correctly with the knuckle

 

why didnt you spend 5 minutes of your time to contact the manufacturer? Its sort of their job to help you bro

 

Got the contact info of the exact guy who will actually know that answer?

 

it really seems like OP bought aftermarket arms, and being that I have no idea which brand he got I cant answer that. If you google their business, it'l take 2 minutes to find their customer service phone line

 

Why would aftermarket be different than OEM? I'm looking at a set of AMR UCAs which are based off of the Hardrace design and they are the same.

 

they could be slightly different but what I'm saying is it would have been easier to call up the manufacturer. For example I buy federal mogul **** cuz its cheap and I dont have problems with their stuff.

if I cant tell which way a particular gasket goes, or a control arm or anything, they answer the question quickly and with courteousness. Its way faster to dial a phone that write out a post on a forum, its way faster to hold for a couple minutes that wait for people to be generous enough to answer my question.

 

They wold NOT be slightly different or they would affect the suspension geometry.

 

my DX doesn't have swaybar link holes and the aftermarket ones all have em. Slightly different. They can be made from different materials, minor differences are possible

 

OMG. YOu're comparing apples to oranges. You really need to stop it right now. UCAs CANNOT be made to different specs where the suspension geometry and installation points are concerned. Materials? Yes. Colors? Yes. Physical dimensions? Nope.

You really don't know what youre talking about. Learn to admit you know nothing or are wrong about a subject and move on.

 

they have adjustable ucas too, thats actually a pretty huge difference.

 

I dont even ****** care, I never said aftermarket would be different from OEM.

all I was originally saying was that an aftermarket manufacturer would help OP figure out which one goes where in a more convenient manor than posting on a forum

 

 

 

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaanyways ... The longer curve is towards the rear of the car, so I am assuming they are correct - I got the control arms from PepBoys, and they were not sure which ones were which (The kid at the counter said it didn't matter, you COULDN'T put them in wrong, LMAO @ that!) - He said once they were out of the box the part number wouldn't matter, because I don't know which boxes the arms came from ...

 

Parts counter guys usually suck but pep boys is in a league of their own.

usually the retailer should know too, but I would trust pep boys on any matter. I really wouldn't trust most retailers though.

I guess you got generic white box parts?

 

 

Yup, with no distinguishable markings at all LOL