Prophylactic change of suspension parts on a track car, do you do it?
11-23-2011, 02:49 PM
#1
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Prophylactic change of suspension parts on a track car, do you do it?
I have no reason to suspect that my knuckles or lower control arms are on the verge of failure nor are the ball joints exhibiting any abnormal behaviors...but mechanical failure of these parts is my biggest fear...right after fluids on the track and blowouts. Do the heavy trackers replace these on any particular schedule?
I have a C5Z, I see folks allege that I can use C6Z control arms and knuckles up front; has anyone here actually done it? I know the C6 rear uppers are different, but can I use the C6Z rear lower control arms on the C5Z with the stock rear crossmember?
I have a C5Z, I see folks allege that I can use C6Z control arms and knuckles up front; has anyone here actually done it? I know the C6 rear uppers are different, but can I use the C6Z rear lower control arms on the C5Z with the stock rear crossmember?
11-23-2011, 03:33 PM
#3
Safety Car
I know people that replace the wheel hub/bearing assemblies once per year, but never heard of anyone replacing the control arms or knuckles on a time schedule. You'd really have to be racing the car all the time and then the weak link is the wheel hub which would fail first IMO.
The C6 spindle is much beefier around the caliper mounting holes so it should have less flex under load. Forum member Pumba installed them when he put ZR1 brakes on his C5 Z06. I don't know anything about the control arm being interchangeable.
Interesting choice of words for a thread title
The C6 spindle is much beefier around the caliper mounting holes so it should have less flex under load. Forum member Pumba installed them when he put ZR1 brakes on his C5 Z06. I don't know anything about the control arm being interchangeable.
Interesting choice of words for a thread title
11-23-2011, 04:27 PM
#4
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
The hubs are SKF on all 4 corners and I change those out about every 40 track days. My used rubber 
(sorry) are the Pirelli D2 Grand Am tires and those things are amazingly sticky.
A well known vendor on this forum suggested that this should be an annual event...not gonna happen...but I need to replace my poly bushings this year and figured this was as good a time as any to do the work. I probably have about 22K track miles on the car.
(sorry) are the Pirelli D2 Grand Am tires and those things are amazingly sticky.A well known vendor on this forum suggested that this should be an annual event...not gonna happen...but I need to replace my poly bushings this year and figured this was as good a time as any to do the work. I probably have about 22K track miles on the car.
11-23-2011, 05:26 PM
#5
Le Mans Master
11-23-2011, 05:42 PM
#6
Drifting
Member Since: Dec 2005
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The knuckles/spindles are 100% interchangable and the C6 ones are preferred do to the stronger mounting boss for the brake caliper as noted earlier.
Also, they are cheaper than the C5 ones.
Also, they are cheaper than the C5 ones.
11-24-2011, 01:54 PM
#7
In order to use C6 control arms you must use C6 cradles. You can use the spindles by themselves though. Unless you have been in a crash where it could have affected the suspension I would not worry about changing them out. The other reason to change things out would be if you had billet spindles or fabricated control arms.
11-25-2011, 04:27 AM
#8
are you talking about swapping parts before they exhibit ANY sign of stress/wear/impending failure?
I would replace stuff, especially in suspension where I could feel abnormal play or hear odd sound or observe movement etc.
if you are talking swapping perfectly functioning OEM parts to new ones on a schedule, just in case, this is entering paranoid territory - even by my standards.
I would replace stuff, especially in suspension where I could feel abnormal play or hear odd sound or observe movement etc.
if you are talking swapping perfectly functioning OEM parts to new ones on a schedule, just in case, this is entering paranoid territory - even by my standards.
11-25-2011, 08:13 AM
#9
Le Mans Master
I have well over 60,000 plus track miles on C5s. I replace hubs on failure and have never replaced a suspension part that has not been hit by a dang Porsche.
Except for one spectatcular hub failure you can feel it before they shred.
Except for one spectatcular hub failure you can feel it before they shred.
11-25-2011, 08:15 AM
#10
Le Mans Master
Road Atlanta keeps the locals well supplied with cheap C5 replacement parts....
11-29-2011, 01:54 PM
#13
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Like I said in a post above, the suggestion to change parts came from arespected vendor on this forum...apparently the folks here do not subscribe to that school of thought.
On using the C6 lower control arms on a C5Z...I am running coil-overs, so spring perch issues do not pertain to my situation. I am still interested to know which, if any, control arms are interchangeable between the C5 and C6; C6 parts are cheaper.
11-29-2011, 02:43 PM
#15
Le Mans Master
11-29-2011, 03:56 PM
#16
Drifting
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Something else I can bet on...
11-29-2011, 04:23 PM
#17
Le Mans Master
