rfn026

Here's an article I wrote last month for Vintage Motorsport magazine. I tried to ever the basics. This is hard core racer stuff. I would be hesitant to use these on the street. Mainly because of the fact I would have to clean them fairly often. Enjoy.

Richard Newton
Historic Racing Images

froggy47

Good stuff,

I use them on both sway bars (that's 8) and tie rod ends all corners (that's 4).

On Corvette you should be careful to figure if you need "high misalignment" ends. Depends on suspension setup.

I would not waste my time with "cheap" ones.

Of the 4 different brands I have tried the QA1 seem the best value wise.

Aurora are best, but $$$$.

troyguitar

The first sentence seems to disagree with the rest of this paragraph. Does the Teflon stuff work as advertised or not?

rfn026

I've never used the teflon bearings. The dirt problem probably doesn't exist when they're new but as wear takes place it can be an issue. I'm just not sure how quickly this will happen.



I use these little rubber booties on my rear suspension. I'm not sure how much good they real do but they can't hurt. On the other hand I have to take the suspension apart to clean the heim joints.

Richard Newton

froggy47

I have a dozen high quality 3 piece teflon lined heims on my car. Mine last about 4 + years. Self cleaning, no lube.

I did once lube the front tie rod ends as I had a little squack noise in my garage. Used liquid teflon lube, worked for over 9 months now.

QA1 or Aurora.

c4cruiser

I use the Banski Motorsports heim joint components on the rear of my '87 autocross car. These are the teflon coated ends and he also offers rubber boots for them.

I had read that the boots are not easily installed, but from the pics on his website, once they are installed they should do a very good job of keeping dirt and water out of them.

froggy47

Do they manufacture their own? Or is this a race shop relabel which is often the case?

Just curious, not accusing anyone of anything.

mgarfias

I really really doubt they have the tooling required to build their own rod ends.

froggy47

Yeah, that's the point I'm getting to. I have used half a dozen different MANUFACTURER ends & come down to only two MANUFACTURER ends that are any good.

A race shop MAY have a MANUFACTURER do a special run with some special feature or other, or a name engraved or who knows?

But you guys on the forum should know that, IMO and personal experience, most are inferior and only good for an easy drive to the golf course, use them on the track a few times and they get loose. They are built to a price point, in other words, there is a reason why they are cheap. And you may or may not get high quality ends if you pay a lot.

There are engineering specs for tolerances, strength, hardness etc. Those are what matters. Order the Aurora or QA1 catalog & give it a read if you want to become knowledgable about rod ends.

They are free.
.

Kubs

Banski uses high quality telfon lined joints from Aurora Bearing.

froggy47

and aha, there ya go.

Thanks Kubs.

trackboss

There is a place for mid-grade rod ends. I have used them on control arms to act as a fuse. While they wear faster than the high dollar alternatives they do bend earlier and help prevent really expensive damage. IMO I'd rather replace them more often rather than have a high dollar control arm failure or even worse have damage transferred into the chassis.