I'm looking for some upgrades for my rear suspension, or anything to help my 1/4 times, so im turning to suspension, imo atleast, as a good more affordable alternative to performance.

So in all reality, do brands really matter? if so, which ranks supreme and which should i avoid?

sponsors please chime in, I'm somewhat new to the suspension game for fbodies

btw im not lowering my car, period.

 

See my response here.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/suspensio...p-lcas-ph.html

If you have further questions do feel free to give us a call. Thanks.

 

thx for the reply

What kind of difference does a us made vs a chinese made rod ends do? Reliability?

does that zinc plating really worth the investment? I know they do that to rotors and stuff, but why do it for suspension? like to protect better from corrosion ?

 

The Chinese vs. U.S. rod ends issue doesn't seem to be in the material used, but in the tolerances accepted. I talked to J&M about this a long time ago, and they stopped using QA1 rod ends when they moved production to China - according to J&M, they were finding that a lot of the China-made QA1 ends had too much slop. Too much slop = noise with a rod end, and consumers don't like noise (although they should know that some should be expected out of a rod end regardless). I think they use FK rod ends now, and found that their tolerances were much better across the board. Or at least so they said.

 

Never looked at it that way,

is the quality of workmanship reflect these chinese tolerances found on aftermarket suspension parts?

 

Good now you can! That's what's great about the boards.

And yes!

 

You are correct, on their J&M line that we carry they use the FK now. I believe UMI and BMR also do which we carry.

 

From what I know of the major suspension vendors on this board (BMR, UMI, J&M), the vast majority of their products are produced state-side. There have been rumors that some companies source the materials (like the steel tubing, etc.) from overseas, but as long as the material meets the specs, it meets the specs. The rod ends are a very expensive part of most adjustable aftermarket parts, so if a company could get those for less, they could likely increase their profit margin. QA1 rod ends have been and still are pretty pricey, but it appears a few years back that their quality started to suffer (around when they outsourced production, or so the rumor goes). Here's the thing though...if you outsource something to China, you can hold them to tight tolerances. If they were producing sloppy parts, they should have been rejected and sent right back to them to fix. I have a feeling that if that had happened, the Chinese factory would have said "Okay, but the cost has to go up." That wouldn't make much sense since the cost savings is what you were after in the first place.

It really isn't much to worry about, though...what typically sets the bigger companies apart from the smaller, Ebay-type, makin' stuff in my garage companies is the customer service. Most suspension stuff is just tubing and some welds, but the big companies have a little more overhead to handle the problems. You'll find the companies with the best reputations will fix or replace faulty components for little or no charge...they'll also usually modify designs if they are known to fail. Try that with a dude crankin' stuff out in his garage and your experience might be a little different.

There's lots of good stuff out there for 4th-gen f-bodies - you seem to know what you want out of your car, so you should have no problem finding what you want.

 

Very good info in here about material and hardware, something else you might want to look for is who can and will help you if you need any advice on the items you purchased.

 

SNAP

So correct me if i'm wrong but, so what your saying is that its all the same concept/purpose, jus different people with there badge on the product? With vendors having the statistical edge with minor refinements and way better customer experience?

I definitely want to stay away from ebay tbh, (unless its a barely used part) I'd rather give my bidness to ls1tech sponsors, ya dig?

So with that being said, anyone know which material to consider when buying suspension parts? I hear people sayin chromoly is the way to go, and also they say its over priced? To much conflicting information

or what to consider when buying parts to shed off some et times? I was thinking LCARelocation Brackets, LCA's, Panhand bar, rear sway bar first, is that a good start? Obviously i want a badass torque arm, but i was thinking for $500 I can get all that first, pimp decisions?

 

You'll find some minor variances among the different manufacturers - LCA design is a good one to look at. You'll find all sorts of different versions - some companies now have roto-joint designs (sometimes called a Johnny-joint), others have a poly-ball design (J&M). Both serve the same purpose (to provide the articulation of a rod end while keeping the harshness and rattling to a minimum), but the designs and materials chosen are different. That's just one example of many...but most things are very similar due to size and shape constraints on this platform.

You can do chromoly instead of mild steel for most things - since chromoly is stronger than mild steel, you can use thinner wall tubing to make your parts and end up with a lighter part that is just as strong, but the cost goes up - it also requires more labor since most will tig weld chromoly.

As for what you need/want, you need to identify what your car is doing poorly - are you getting wheel-hop under heavy acceleration? No traction at all? Different problems usually require different parts to fix, but usually if it ain't broke, you don't need to fix it.