SS7

PM me a link please.

trackbird

iTrader: (4)

Vip,

Actually it seems to be "enough" of rotation. I've got a set of them as well. They use a hard poly ball with soft rubber "cups" on the ends. It's packed with grease and the ball can rotate in the end of the LCA. Since the dust seals (cups) are soft, it moves far more easily than a standard poly design. You don't need a ton of rotation back there, but you need some.

Somewhere I have torque numbers to deflect that arm and a conventional poly arm measured in degrees at several points. At one point, the poly/poly broke the bolt that was running through the LCA before they could get to a specific point of rotation, the poly-ball design allowed that level of rotation and took far less force than a standard poly setup did for far less deflection. If I can find the numbers, I'll post them. It was interesting.

koolaid_kid

iTrader: (21)

I saw a thread a while back discussing the pros and cons of the hotpart.com ball/cup design. It went back and forth. You can go to their web site and see the product.
Vip1, if the heim joint provides more of the required articulation, would you want it on both ends, such as the hotpart set shown in this thread? If you go to their web site, they state that it is a race part. Or would the UMI part, also shown in this thread, with the heim joint only on the lower end, be better for street use, where a minimization of noise is also a factor?
UMI sells a matching set of LCAs and panhard bar with that arrangement, poly on the end that mounts to the body, and heim joint on the end that moves.

trackbird

iTrader: (4)

UMI makes great parts, Hotpart makes great parts (but you asked about the hotpart LCA's specifically, so that's what we discussed). The rod/rod versions aren't noisy until the rod ends open up. Good quality rod ends will take a long time to wear and open up (possibly as long as a few years), cheap rod ends will take about 5 minutes. The Poly/Rod version is designed to cushion the shock of the rod end bouncing around in the shell (once it opens up), they work well for street use. So will the poly-ball design. I can see merit in both of the designs.

What are you planning to do with the car.

VIP1

trackbird, thanks for the clarification. I forgot that you got a set to try out. I'd like to see those numbers too. Do you have anything on degrees of rotation on the bolt axis? How compressible/flexible are the rubber cups?

koolaid_kid, the poly/rod combo will transmit less noise and still give you most of the benefit of rod/rod. For a street car, I'd stick with poly/rod instead of rod/rod. (BTW, I have poly/rod on my Formula)

BTW, trackbird has much more experience and knowledge than me on this subject.

koolaid_kid

iTrader: (21)

Thanks, guys. From this thread, I had kind of drawn the same conclusion. UMI has a good deal on the combo, I suspect my credit card is about to feel another hit.
BTW, an excellent discussion. No one got upset, different opinions were heard, and I learned a lot. I appreciate it.
Trackbird, this is a street car that will see occasional strip use for test n tune only. It will never be used to autocross, road race, or do any hard cornering. It will, however, be used to show my taillights to ricers and stangs when the occasion merits it.

DuronClocker

iTrader: (25)

Hmm good to get some feedback on those rubber ball joints. I've been debating between UMI's poly/rod combo or those rubber ball setups. Only problem is I wanted to get some adjustable LCAs (even though my rear tires seem centered in the wells almost perfect as-is with my poly/poly LCAs).

Car is 95% street car. I take it to the strip a couple times a summer, and I plan on going to Road America in October. NVH is a big concern of mine

01Z28M6

I just installed the relo brackets and the street version LCAs with the poly ball in the socket. Both components of the joint are polyurethane. The socket portion is a softer compound but still poly according to an email from J&M. I haven't taken an opportunity to launch hard or power shift to see if the wheel hop is gone but I can say that the car is quieter than with the oem LCAs. One factory end was worn. The car seems to feel different as in more solid but it's a subtle sensation and I can't know for sure of the change.

BTW, I don't know how control arms can center your axle. I installed an on-car adjustable panhard rod for that.

DuronClocker

iTrader: (25)

Adjustable LCAs can center your wheels fore/aft in the wheel wells. A lot of people have issues when running larger tires, where the tire will want to rub the front or rear part of the fender lip. Adjustable LCAs can remedy this. Can also adjust thrust angle to take into account for a twisted frame and such along those lines.

Good feedback on those arms, let us know more once you drive some more!

01Z28M6

I should have realized it was wheel centering rather than the axle; you said it correctly, thanks for explaining. Now I understand another benefit of the adjustable LCAs. I'll try to post up the results with the arms. It's a little hard to find the right place and time to go full open. The area is congested even at 6 in the morning and cops seem to be everywhere.

VIP1

* Adjustable LCAs allow you to adjust the rear axle forward/aft/diagonally.
* Adjustable PHB allows you to adjust the rear axle left/right.
* With both you can adjust the rear axle in all horizontal directions (left/right/forward/aft/diagonally) to center it under the car.
* Ajustable PHB isnt necessary for stock right hide, but is necessary when the ride height is changed (ex: lowering the car).

When I say centered, I mean with the running gear (during an alignment) and not just visually.

Its in the sticky:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/suspension-brakes/696182-general-suspension-issues-questions-faq.html

01Z28M6

I got to do some driving in familiar places with the new relocation brackets and the j&m special street control arms. I think my money was well spent.

I went into 2nd gear hard, the tires spun for a good distance. There was some fish tailing but no hop or shake. It was fun! I rounded a couple of off ramps that used to have the car on the edge of tire squeal. They seem like an easy thing now at the same speeds. Today I went through a series of sharp, 35 mph banked S turns. The car has never handled better. It's quiet and the ride feels like I'm in a new car.

That's my evaluation on the arms and brackets so take it for what it's worth.

69_YENKO

iTrader: (16)

I messaged them about what rod ends and tube they use and got this reply, what do you guys think.

"We use the JM-T series from FK Bearing which is a high precision 3 piece Teflon lined rod end. We stopped using QA1 back in 2003 when they sent manufacturing overseas and we started rejecting 50% of the spherical bearings and rod ends direct from the factory. Our rod ends typically last over 4 times longer than the Chinese made QA1 junk. The tubes themselves we have extruded from the foundry using 1.125" x .220" 6061-T6511 material. Our control arms have seen impacts into concrete walls on the race track that bent the axle housing but left our control arms un-touched."

Big Bird WS6

iTrader: (9)

i have had. steel. chromolly and aluminum. and the aluminum have worked the best.

99Bluz28

iTrader: (35)

I've had every variation of rear control arms on my car. I've had the best luck with the J&M w/poly-ball ends, their quiet with great articulation (better than regular poly/bearing LCAs). The only variation I had with better articulation was the GlobalWest bearing/bearing , but eventually those got really noisy!

Pick your poison.

slw ls1

iTrader: (6)

I just bought a set of these along with the matching PHB. So far I like them, no noise and I can fell the difference between them and the stock pieces.

I bought mine from byunspeed, they had a package with both LCA's and PHB for something like $275 shipped.