Thread: Tubular front control arms

I was just going to say that you should add all the info to your suspension thread shawn, thanks for the break down it should help a lot of people who have questions about these control arms.

Yup.

Plus I am just itching to buy O.E.M. CSK's for use with my Hypercos. It is a matter of time.

Now, I *think* I want these control arms as well.


You're welcome. I thought the same thing.

Basic info that I wanted to make a purchase decision, is the same information that other folks would want.

Yeah I wish I had the money to get these right now,they fix so many suspension problems that our cars have.

up for sale yet ?

Yes, these are ready to go. There is a 3 week time between ordering and shipping.

Mark

Provided they work as intended, yes they would be better for daily driver and track vehicles alike. Lowered cars and race vehicles get more of the advantage but stock height cars and daily drivers will benefit some as well.

No. The major reason for the 1.5" drop limit on the front of the car is due to the strut travel. This product has no effect on strut travel. To lower more than 1.5" and still have some room for wheel articulation you need shorter struts than factory (CSKs, Progress coilovers, or similar). However if you do have CSKs or Progress coilovers or similar you'll likely benefit even more from these pieces because they can correct for unwanted static and dynamic camber changes (in two different ways) that get exacerbated when the vehicle is lowered.

The strut travel is the real reason we can't go lower. Bump steer and other issues arise, but those aren't major problems compared to the lack of strut travel.

I believe so, yes. Depending on how the arm is mounted, it can have no effect on bump steer (stock ball joint height) or I believe it will make bump steer worse if you take advantage of the ability to mount the ball joint "lower" than factory. You'll want to compensate for that with a bump steer kit.

Like I said above, it seems people got a little too excited and weren't paying enough attention. Which explains why Eggman edited his post after I'm sure he gave it more thought.

These won't help bump steer, and if you use spacers to lower the ball joint mounting position, you will be making bump steer worse.
It's just the nature of the beast. It can't be avoided.
If you plan on correcting some dynamic camber changes by lowering the ball joint mounting position realize you're going to have a bit more bump steer and be prepared to correct that with a bump steer kit or just live with it.


As I'm sure you've gathered by now, if you use stock ball joint height you are no better or worse off for bump steer. If you mount the ball joint lower with spacers then the bump steer kit looks even more attractive.

It should work in conjunction with these arms, yes.

As to how many spacers you'll have to use on the bump steer kit... There's a possibility you could lower the A-arm so much and lower your car so much that you need an extra long bolt and extra spacers for the bump steer kit.

Thank you BenFenner.

I *think* I am going to have couple questions about your answers. I need to go look at the diagrams again to "picture" what you are saying. Then cross-reference your information/answers as provided. I'm mechanically slow, but intelligent and thorough.

However, I *think* these arms will help me in my quest for "the best" daily-driver street suspension, and with minimum lowering (1" with my Hypercos) that a bump-steer kit will not be necessary in my case. These control arms and some O.E.M.-built CSK's and I think I might hit "daily-driver suspension nirvana".

That bump-steer kit, and it's necessary (?) fancy machinery and calibration, kind of scares me. I *think* it would require a "race car alignment" shop, and/or someone owning one of those "bolt-to-the-hub" calibration devices as per the thread I linked previously. Or folks, much smarter than me, might be able to do it by "feel" and seat-of-the-pants trial and error (?).

I like "hand it to my mechanic" and "it bolts on" with no complications kind of modifications. These tubular control arms only require a "normal" alignment as far as I can tell.

Shawn B

Sorry guys...I had a brain-fart there.You are right ,I got a little overexcited..LOL
I was looking at the control arms and thinking about tie rods.Yes ,I edited it out after being corrected.
Didnt want to add any confusion,or post false info.
For the record,I plan on running these arms on my track car,along with the octotat bumpsteer kit,and progress front bar.

No issues or apology necessary sir. Like Ben, that is what I figured as well, but wanted to make sure.

It was really just a discrepancy that I wanted clarified. For the record.

If you cannot tell, I studied the sh*t out of this thread. I've read every single post a couple of times. Before this thread, I knew where the control arm was located (Superpro bushing installation previously), but only knew "it is that part right there, keeps your wheel on and working."

I had zero (0) clue about whether I needed/wanted this product for my intended purposes and performance goals or not.

Upon second or third glance, I kept looking for where the hell you posted the quoted "no bumpsteer." When I could not find that, I went back and looked for the rest of your post. Then I figured out the "edit."

For me, right now it appears that with no "bumpsteer kit", and only the addition of these control arms, will be a felt driving-improvement ("wow" per Joe). Plus it will make my vehicle more reliable (that stressed knuckle) and my control arm front bushings are 179,000 miles old. The new Delrin units will be far superior to the tired-ass Nissan rubber, bonus.

That being said, a bumpsteer kit appears to be a no-brainer for any reasonably serious track-hound.