crease-guard

I had a 2 day HPDE last month. The whole weekend went great, really in the grove, driving really well getting faster and faster each session while feeling smoother and smoother.

During the 3rd session on the 2 day I started to fell some sort of "click-clunk" in the front suspension. Thought it was my imagination but felt it a couple more times. Wouldn't always happen, plus I noticed the laps times starting to go down. Something didn't feel right so I pitted and called it a day. Was really tired so I packed it up and went home.

Today I went to check out the car and put it on the lift and this is what I found:





Seems the alignment bolt and eccentric managed to work themselves loose (or were already loose) on the forward bushing of the left front lower control arm. As consequence, this happened:



I've only been on R6s from street tires about a month with maybe 10-12 sessions before this occurred.

Corded my fairly new R6 on the right front...which is what I'm most pissed about. I also think my bushing are starting to walk. So now I'm at the crossroads of doing suspension mods.

I'd like to do everything at once to save the labor costs being duplicated down the road. Thinking of going with the Pfadt spherical bearing kit and camber kit. I've got new SKF hubs and LGs drop spindles.

Any suggestions on how to proceed...i.e should I just bite the bullet and do the sways and coil overs as well or can those wait? Of course they can wait but would I be better off just doing it now and getting it over with?

Jay

jimtway

Do you ever plan on time trials or racing? If so, check the class rules youre planning on running. Most don't allow spherical bearings.

Bill Dearborn

It's hard to tell in the pictures but did the cam destroy/open up the inset on the cradle when it was moving around? If so you may need to replace the cradle to be able to hold LCA Cams or Camber kit parts in place.

Bill

crease-guard

I hadn't thought about that until I was writing this post and looking at the pictures again. I thought the very same thing. I won't really know until I pull off the LCA and have a look see.

Jay

crease-guard

I don't ever plan on racing, too expensive and too many rules. Plus the car I have doesn't have a "legal" cage.

Someone else had mentioned the time trials and that might be a little more interesting to me so I'll need to look into that before making and decisions.

Jay

geerookie

Slight correction.......Most will allow it...just some you will pay a penalty and others you won't.

I would recommend sphericals and the camber kit.
Wait on the rest, you will be amazed at how much better the car feels, turns in and handles just with the switch to sphericals.

And your cradle looks fine. You may have to do a bit of cleaning up to some edges with a file or die grinder but otherwise you will be fine.

davidfarmer

I don't think it is damaged, it just came VERY loose. The only time I had this happen on track, is when I had a shock "blow" and the excessive suspension travel worked the concentric loose. Just to be safe, I would check your shocks for any damage, and not just assume someone left the bolt loose.

I wouldn't go overboard unless it is something you were already planning on doing. Camber plates are great, but concentrics work fine 90% of the time.

JDIllon

You may want to consider Pfadt poly bushings! instead of the sphericals. And the camber kit. It looks like you can clean up the cradle and use the camber kit to solve the problem. Also check tie rod ends and the boots on the ball joints. JD

J.R.

If you are going to street it:

I would look at Pfadt poly bushing and camber kit.

The sphericals are not really designed for street use.

Gas Junkie

With the loss of camber, I would have expected the outside edge of the tire to cord first.

rfn026

Skip the poly. Very few people have had good experiences with poly bushings at the track. You need Delrin. You need to talk to the folks a Phoenix Performance or DJ Racing. Either one can help you out with the right stuff.

Richard Newton
Newton's Laws

Pfadt Racing

Sorry to see this! As I was reading your description before seeing the photos I was thinking it may have been the eccentrics backing off. As long as there isn't any damage to the bores our camber kit should clean up this issue for good.

Coming down to Poly vs. Sphericals it depends on if the car is seeing street time. Aside from an increase in Noise there isn't a reason why the sphericals won't work on the street, but you absolutely will accelerate wear on the bearings themselves. If the car is seeing more than 10% street time we generally recommend running Poly bushings. That being said there really is a huge difference in handing after moving to sphericals in the right application.

Properly fit and designed poly bushings are really the best solution for your C5/C6 that sees a good amount of street time. The install is pretty straight forward and requires no special machining to get right the first time. A little trimming to the front upper bushings may be necessary depending on your particular control arms, but fitting the new parts is really pretty easy and the instructions are well outlined in the latest revised instructions.

If you have any questions please let us know! We definitely have the parts to get your Corvette handling the way you want it too!

froggy47

I run Pfadt poly & camber kit for street/track & it's a terrific set up, you won't be disappointed. Just clean up (file/grinder) the sub frame edge so the kit will have a nice sharp edge to set against. It's way more solid than concentrics (stupid GM design).

I don't think there is much labor savings on any of the upgrades you are looking at, are you doing it yourself or paying?

I have videos on most of this stuff, see below.



I had 4 tires ruined when I let an alignment shop do mine. The d**k head did not torque any of the concentrics enough. Now I do my own.

sothpaw2

Do you all sell individual bushings or groups of them? The stock rubber upper control arm bushings on my car are ok for now but look like they will be the first to go by far; it'd be less expense and work to just replace those rather than install the full poly kit.

naschmitz

I'm pulling out the poly and putting in delrin this month. Wish I would have skipped that step.

el es tu

I have the pfadt poly but wish Id have just saved the few extra bucks for their metal setup or a delrin setup. the labor is the worst part about the bushings - not something you want to do or pay for twice.

honestly I dont understand why people are whiney about the metal stuff "making noise" on the street. if its functioning properly who gives a damn? its a sports car, not an old man bentley.

use good powdered graphite to lube the joints (grease will attract dirt) and if youre really paranoid, use some rubber boots over the joints - end of problem.

pfadts camber plate kit is great - just buy some longer studs (theyre for the upper control arms) because you may need the extra room if you run a lot of shims

crease-guard

Car is a track only car, it will never see the street again as it's gutted and caged.

Tie rod ends on the front were just replaced a few months ago and I wrapped the boots with heat reflective tape. I need to grease those now that I think of it.

I was thinking of doing the work myself as in the disassembly and assembly of the CA and spindles. I have a shop that has done the bearings on many cars so I will probably let them install the bearings in the CA and then I'll put it all back together again.

Thanks for all the options, I think I'm going to do just the sphericals and camber kit for now and then come back and do the coil overs and sways later.

Jay

travisnd

First thing that popped into my head looking at the pics. Inspect the inset area carefully and make sure it is still OK to hold the LCA in place.

I race W2W and do TT currently, but making the jump to TT after years of driving in circles in HPDE groups was invigorating. I grew up playing sports constantly so adding competition to my track addiction made it much more exciting. Never looked back. You don't need a "legal" cage to TT. In most groups HPDE tech applies.

While Delrin may be superior, there are many of us running PTA/TTA who have had lots of success with the Poly. Most who complain about it drive their cars on the street and don't like the increase in NVH. I've been TTing and Racing my car for two seasons with them and they're still perfectly fine.

That's the nice thing about the camber blocks. Set it and forget it

Don't be afraid to DIY. The install isn't hard, it just takes time. Getting all the old bushings out is easy, but pressing in some of the 1-piece polys can be tricky. If you're going spericals the install is even easier.

rfn026

Ok - Here's a poly bushing. Now explain to me why this is better than Delrin.



The good part was that Energy Suspension made me a special batch of bushings to replace these. The bad part was I had to do all the work. If you don't mind taking your car apart on an annual basis poly should work just fine.

Richard Newton

JDIllon

Those are not the Pfadt Poly's!! I ran a HPDE car 25 to 30 track days a year for 4+ years with Pfadt poly's and they were actually in good shape when I replaced them with the updated Pfadt kit, plus they really take care of there customers. As mentioned earlier most of us have been very happy with the Pfadt's. I just redid the entire suspension including bushings,shocks and sways,bearing, ball joints and tie rod ends. Give me a call if I can be of any help. JD