Darth Cypher

I'm sure this has been covered to death in this forum. I recently installed Strano springs and Koni STR.Ts on my car and replaced the bushings and ball joints in the front. I also have an adjustable PHB with Roto-joints. I still need to replace the bushings in the rear. I went all out on the front and cleaned up the arms and painted them. I don't feel like doing that with the rears. So I am looking into aftermarket rear LCAs.

The ultimate goal for my car is a street cruiser. I will favor upgrades that improve handling. I am still planning out future upgrades. Further down the road I may get a new rear end. I want to install the MWC Fab 9. So whatever rear LCAs that I get, I want to make sure they will not complicate installation of this aftermarket rear. Any ideas? I do not mind sacrificing some ride quality and any improvement over stock is also welcome. Thanks in advance for any help and input.

psychosid30

iTrader: (7)

Everyone on this site has their personal favorites in regards to suspension components. For a street cruiser, I like the Founders Performance LCAs with 3 part poly bushings. They are nice and beefy, and the 3 part poly joints don't make a lot of noise like most 1 part bushings do. Oh, they're also @ $100 - $110 shipped.

blackandgold

iTrader: (2)

correct, this has been beaten to death.

Just wait till you get your FAB9 and pick up a set of MWC adjustables with rod ends at the same time.

Darth Cypher

I have thought about MWC and their HEIM ends for the LCAs. But I don't think my wallet can handle getting the Fab 9 rear, the LCAs, and the torque arm at the same time. I forgot to mention that if I get the Fab 9, I will get a torque arm with it. So that part of the project will be costly as is. I'm just trying to break down my car projects into smaller, more manageable pieces if possible. I am open to other company's LCAs. I am also curious if there are any users who use the MWC Fab 9 with another brand of LCA's. Tried to search but didn't find anything that addressed this question.

Also, whether my concerns are founded or not, I am still leary about using Poly for any of my suspension components.

blackandgold

iTrader: (2)

Don't get poly LCAs.

Why not just do the heim MWC LCAs and wait on the FAB9 then? Realistically it sounds like you're just looking for some under car bling though...

1/4insix

Stay away from any poly components if you are planning on doing anything related to racing or handling performance. Poly or delrin bushings will bind the suspension worse than stock rubber.


In your position I would suggest just getting the LCAs from MWC as you know it will all work together at the end. They do have very competitive pricing and great quality.

BMR Sales2

iTrader: (40)

I am actually conducting testing and will be releasing a video soon on the topic of the whole poly bushings and suspension bind issue I keep seeing brought up.

But for now, if your car is primarily a street cruiser and you want to maintain comfort and ride quality, stick with poly. Rod ends and spherical bushings are great because they freely articulate and are super strong. The problem is, there is no cushioning to absorb NVH, so it gets transmitted into the car directly. Leaving you feeling like you are now in a full on racecar. Some people don't mind the added noise, and if you don't, then by all means run rod ends. But if you like keeping your car somewhat stock feeling under normal driving conditions, stick with poly. If your plans include an aftermarket rear end in the future, I would go with adjustable arms to be able to correct any differences in wheelbase or thrust angle that may arise.
I would recommend something like our TCA002 arms, or is you want the best of both worlds we also offer TCA004 arms that have a poly bushing on one end and rod end on the other. Both are on-car adjustable

TCA002:
http://bmrsuspension.com/index.cfm?p...286&superpro=0

TCA004:
http://bmrsuspension.com/index.cfm?p...274&superpro=0

HioSSilver

iTrader: (8)

1le bushings in the stock lca's work well for cheap.

Probably the best way of doin it is rod ends on rear side and ridetech adjustable rubber bushings on the body side. You get the free movement of the rod end with the isolation of the rubber.

BMR Sales2

iTrader: (40)

I will also mention since this has been a hot topic of debate, we offer a neoprene rubber bushing upgrade for all of our lower control arms.

blackandgold

iTrader: (2)

It sounds like OP just wants to get ride of the stock arms, so loading up better bushings (I agree with you) isn't the desired result.

I'm really looking forward to this. I think some good info to include would be to calculate the arc the rear axle moves through and compare it to the amount of deflection available from a poly bushing. I have to disagree on the comfort of ride though, if you have good shocks and springs you won't notice, my car has a crap ton of rod ends but it feels vastly better than stock.

To play devils advocate: so rubber is an upgrade over poly?

BMR Sales2

iTrader: (40)

I plan to do this a few ways, both in car and out of car bind testing. We will be accompanying it with some cool under car footage of the car being thrashed on a road course




We sell it as an "upgrade" because all of our arms are built with poly bushings. When they are ordered with rubber, we have to pull a set and unbox them, reassemble them with the rubber, and then still include the poly bushings with the arms in case the customer changes their mind later. Maybe "upcharge" would be a more accurate term to use in this case

Darth Cypher

Yes and no. I did say that I don't mind sacrificing some comfort. I have Roto joints on my UMI PHB and haven't noticed any decrease in comfort or increase in noise or vibration. I hear rod ends are pretty rough but want to hear more about them (and the HEIM ends) before I totally dismiss them. I've just understood them to be mostly for drag racing type cars.

I did originally want to put new rubber bushings on the stock LCAs. I was going to clean them up and repaint them. I am OCD about rust so if a part is off, I will clean it up. After just finishing this on the front, my body is not feeling it. I am willing to just get aftermarket LCAs (adjustable just in case it's needed for future upgrades) and swap them in and be done with it. And if I do go the aftermarket route, I might as well look into the other type of ends and I am willing to sacrifice some comfort.


See above, I was planning on having a shop press out old bushings and put in new. And also use elbow grease to clean off the rust and repaint. But you did bring up a good option to look into, a combo ended LCA.

HioSSilver

iTrader: (8)

Well it's one thing to put new bushings in.....it's another to use a 1le solid bushing.

The combo ended lca has no draw backs at all from what i can tell. It's just something you have to make yourself or use a single adjustable lca then get the ridetech bushings to screw in.....but then you're left with a poly on one side.

I had aluminum lca's fir a long time. Threaded on each end instead of this bullshit adjustable in the middle junk. They worked great . Here's a link to the part I'm talking about

http://www.ridetech.com/store/rod-en...ng-insert.html

Darth Cypher

I like on car adjustable but not the turnbuckle in the middle. I'm sure it may be fine but I don't feel comfortable with that type. I like the double adjustable. I'll look into a combo ended one with a rod/HEIM end and see if I can put an end like the Ridetech you mentioned on one side.

eb110americana

iTrader: (4)

I am interested to hear other's experiences. I have the full Strano setup on my car (springs, hollow anti-roll bars, Koni yellows) and solid 1LE-style MOOG rubber bushings everywhere. The front is nailed down and I am very happy with it--although there are a few squeaks that emanate from the top of the spring perches when cold.

I did wind up swapping the rubber bumpers on the rear rollbar endlinks, as the Strano ones were way too soft, and one popped off. I put some harder urethane ones on, which have been good. The panhard bar is a Founders adjustable with urethane ends. Both rollbar shackles are urethane as well, but that is the extent of that stuff on my car.

The control arms (fronts too) are stock with 1LE rubber bushings. In the rear, I feel there is not enough roll control in fast corners. The car can bounce back-and-forth from outside to inside if there are mid corner bumps. I feel like the stock control arms may be too flexible based on the amount of axle articulation I see when jacking the car up. I could go with a stiffer antiroll bar, but that could wind up creating even more of spring-like effect. Perhaps the best answer may be a boxed/tubular control arm, or a Watts link, or both.

However, this lack of control may simply be a limitation of physics with a live axle plus a gas tank and large glass hatch sitting directly above it.

JROC

I'm with this guy. The Founders three piece poly roto ball setup is very smart thinking. It gives you the benefits of poly without the negatives of it binding in turn. That and the price is why I chose to run them. So far I have about 5K miles on them and no issues yet. They're very quiet so far as well.

If you want adjustable ones they make them as well.

https://www.foundersperformance.com/...r-control-arm/