bayer-z28

iTrader: (14)

Is there any benefit of swapping the upper control arms to some tubular units?? Besides a possible weight savings? Any noticeable difference?

BMR Sales2

iTrader: (40)

Well it depends on whether you are talking about the adjustable or non-adjustable. The non-adjustable ones are about the same weight as the stock ones but they have greasable poly-urethane bushings and our BMR arms come with brand new ball joints. The only benefit the adjustables have over the non-adjustable is that they give you the ability to add or take camber out of the front of the car.

UMI Sales

iTrader: (1)

Good afternoon Bayer.

Ours are similar in weight to the factory uppers as well.

The non adjustables contain poly bushings or can be purchased with a super-smooth travel Delrin upgrade. Delrin is a bit harder and offers an increase in precision over poly. Keeping in mind both poly and Delrin are much better than rubber from a performance standpoint.

Our adjustables feature quality rod ends so you can fine tune your settings. Keep in mind that hard street use could cause the rod ends to get noisy.

Both types are a great choice, we just have to keep in mind what's best for a customers application.

ramey

MidwestChassis

iTrader: (5)

For a street strip application, unless it is to save weight, there really is no advantage to tubular UCA. Better weight savings can be found from doing a brake kit on the front for similar money. Mind you our UCA are lighter than stock which most after market versions are not, ours use a Heim joint end which will make less noise on control arms than any poly end will over time and never bind which poly will bind worse than a stock rubber bushing will, the thing to look for is the use of a good quality heim joint.

Now if you were looking for a race version complete front end we can shave a decent amount of weight off the front of your vehicle with the use of a K-Member, LCA and UCA with race brakes, and manual rack.

bayer-z28

iTrader: (14)

^ I was mainly looking for an OEM upgrade and to see if there was any benefit of doing JUST the UCA's for now. I found a set for a good price that come with additional built in caster and Del-a-lum bushings. This is just a street-sweeper type car that will see occasional track days. Was getting ready to do springs/shocks this winter and figured; while I'm in there.

And yeah, I've been trying to stay away from the rod ends just because I don't want a noisy ride. Was thinking about Rod/Poly LCA's for the back to replace my Poly/Poly Hotchkis units that have been binding up like mad and to allow the rear to articulate a little better... but that's neither here nor there....

SparkyJJO

iTrader: (11)

I've toyed with the idea of the Global West control arms that are supposed to give more negative camber and increased caster for turns and such, thing is I don't know what kind of street manners they have - I'm sure they do well for turns and stuff, but what about straight down the road? Do they wear down tires faster even straight, or is the negative camber only in turns, or what?

I'm far away from doing any suspension mods (as I still need a car to mod first lol) but I like kicking around ideas like that anyway. I do know I want nothing to do with rod ends (too noisy) and don't like poly bushings (too much bind, at least on multi-axis rotation), so I'll either stick with rubber or use roto-joints, del-spheres, or whatever they are called by whatever manufacturer

UMI Sales

iTrader: (1)

We are having good luck and great feedback with our in-house manufactured Delrin bushings in our tubular uppers. Smooth, quiet, precise alternative to poly.

ramey

bayer-z28

iTrader: (14)

^ I hear UMI has some new FLCA's out for handling? Boxed and not tubular?

UMI Sales

iTrader: (1)

You are correct Bayer.

http://www.umiperformance.com/catalo...roducts_id=620

Our sale is on right now!

Merry Christmas

Ramey

UMI Sales

iTrader: (1)

Oh, and p.s., they are STRONG!

JimMueller

iTrader: (9)

I've had the GW del-a-lum UCA's for years in my daily driver and the only problem I've had is that the heads of the bolts damage the dust cover where it attaches to the spindle. I don't recall noticing a differences other than the ability to dial in more caster and camber. Your alignment will dictate your tire wear. If you don't need the additional alignment range say for autox/RR/HPDE, then decide how much you like swapping UCA bushings. If not very much, then I'd recomend a UCA with del-a-lum. I would prefer a heim joint but my concern is NVH in a daily driver.

bayer-z28

iTrader: (14)

^ How would the Derlin differ from the Del-A-Lum? I shouldn't need much more than Poly on the front upper. Shouldn't bind on that single axis. I'm gonna try and see if I can hit the AX course this year but I don't foresee the need for additional Cast/Camber adjustments.

And I'm sold on UMI's Roto joints! No room for noise! UMI has their UCAs on sale, but no Roto on the non-adjustables.

UMI Sales

iTrader: (1)

Our Delrin and Del a Lum are similar in concept. Del a Lums are intended for retrofit in stock a-arms while our arms have the outer housing integral to the arm.

We of course have replacements for our arms should they ever need refurbished (very rare).

Ramey

bayer-z28

iTrader: (14)

^ It says the UCA's come with poly though. I'm really digging the dual Roto LCA's for the front AND rear now! Love the concept of that and I'm sure it works awesome! I'm running some older Hotchkis LCA's in the back now, but if I don't keep them happy with grease they bind up like mad. I'll notice a big difference after I grease them if I haven't done it in a while.

UMI Sales

iTrader: (1)

Ah, sorry about that. We have poly as standard and Delrin as upgrade but. We'd to add it to the website.

And yes, we get great feedback on the Roto-Joints. I wish I would have had that option when I was racing street stock asphalt. The articulation is incredible and they are super quiet!

Ramey

UMI Sales

iTrader: (1)

iPhone typo fixed below---

Ah, sorry about that. We have poly as standard and Delrin as an upgrade. We still need to add it to the website.

99Bluz28

iTrader: (35)

The factory upper fender wells are contoured to the shape of the factory UCA's which allow for maximum compression travel, all aftermarket UCA's do not(that I'm aware of) which could possibly limit you front shock compression travel(UMI has already addressed this issue with there UCA's), If you have a track only car that needs more than 1.5 * - camber then you can benefit from some aftermarket tubular UCA's.
Myself I'd recommend a GW Del-A-Lum bushing up grade (#1082) in the factory UCA's. I've ran these in my UCA's for +5 yrs without any issues.

SparkyJJO

iTrader: (11)

OK so for a street DD car that you still want to handle well, just a bushing swap on the factory UCAs is really all that is needed. GW UCAs don't do what I thought they might (increased camber in turns compared to stock arms will retaining stock camber while going straight or something like that). That kind of thing probably requires more than just a UCA swap, we're talking a lot more suspension geometry changes I suppose.

Don't laugh at me if I was thinking something totally stupid, I'm still learning about the front suspension + steering lol

Rear I plan on rotojoint LCAs.

UMI Sales

iTrader: (1)

Hey Sparky.

There are no dumb questions when learning about suspension geometry. We all start somewhere and LS1Tech is a good place to learn. We're here to help.

Currently UMI doesn't offer a shortened a-arm for your car. We are working on tall ball joints in other chassis'. The 4th Gen SLA suspension is a step up from the strut type so we have that going.

Going from rubber to poly or Delrin in the uppers makes a nice improvement.

And of course the Roto-Joint LCA's help the rear tremendously. Not only is the suspension action better but the actual LCA is much stronger and more consistent.

Merry Christmas

ramey

JimMueller

iTrader: (9)

I'd like this but I've never asked if it's daily drivable:
http://www.cortexracing.com/store/su...3-2002-camaro/