is there a good reason other then cosmetics to switch to them. in particuler for a pro street car? if so what are the best sources.

 

lightweight, strength. Only one I know of is jim meyers

 

Except VBP which have been confirmed to not be any lighter.

 

but they only offer them for use w/ their transverse leaf kit.

 

Van Steel is supposed to have round tubular A-Arms available pretty soon. They're designed to work with either stock coils or coil-overs as well. Sounds pretty interesting but I don't know what the $ is going to be. Probably out of my price range for now unfortunately. I'm sure they will post an announcement on the forum when they have finished testing.

Rick B.

 

stronger ???

 

That is correct. Our prototypes will be done shortly as mentioned above. Ours will be stronger and lighter. They will be tubular not boxed. Ours will also use delron bushings as well w/aluminum shafts (shafts on uppers only).

 

Are they that much lighter to justify the cost?? As for strength our stock arms seem more rigid. Compare you upper A arms to a stock set???? You lack rigidity.

 

The stock ones rigid? you must be kidding right? There's nothing rigid about the stockers, they're pretty weak. Put one in a vise and try to bend it..you can see it deflecting if you put some muscle in it.

My upper arms are not tubular and they are rigid when fully tightened down. Why do I lack rigidity there?

 

Your upper arms are only rigid in one direction. How can they possibley resist twisting when they are only on one plane?? Subject a stock A arm to the same plane of rigidity and they are strong. Putting one in a vise and twisting it is taking it out of it's plane of motion.

 

They are not rigid in one plane, they can't twist, the bolts will only let the adjustable legs move in one direction, the bolted sections are all sort of clevises, machined to close tolerances so it fits together pretty tightly. Why is it that some here constantly tell me these arms are not rigid enough and what not but have never seen them in person, how can you know they are not good then??? If these things were weak they would certainly deflect under full load, I compressed my shocks to full bump and the arms are solid as a rock, the springs are 400# close to the ball joint, that equates to over well over 650# for the original position to get the same spring rate w/ the resulting force arms.

Have you done it? I have, put the stocker in a vise bu the cross shaft, bolt a long beam to the ball joint pad and twist it, you will see that theya re very easy to twist. I tested both control arms and wasn't too impressed with either, I also tested my frame in several locations, bolting a large bar to it sticking out several feet and then standing on it checking the deflection, that's how I know my front end is much stiffer than stock, there's no deflection in it anymore, same for the rear..especially the kickup area is very bad.

 

The upper and lower tubular A arm available for the VBP leaf spring front suspension are not lighter than the stock A arms??

 

I have them they didnt seem any lighter maybe even heavier.

 

FWIW, I have a bare stock trailing arm in my living room and I weighed it out of curiosity. It weighed in at 4.5 lbs on the bathroom scale. This weight is the arm only - nothing else attached.

Rick B.

 

Upper or lower?

 

BWP..wrong end of the car..

 

Van Steel, I already have tubular upper control arms from VBP with poly bushings. I am undertaking this suspension build/rebuild project this winter (street/ performance car), and would like to use tubular lower arms as well. 1. Will your tubular lower arms be ready soon & how much +/- $$ ? 2. Will delron bushings be O.K. with poly on the top ? 3. I understand that you supply VBP with alot of their products, did you supply the tubular upper control arms ?? And if so can you tell me which arm is Left which is right ?? I haven't disassembled my car yet so I'm not sure if this is obvious.

 

Not a 100% sure on pricing yet. They should be done in about 2 months. Delron will be fine in the lower and poly in the uppers. We are not sure if we are going to sell the arms seperate or only as a whole kit. We rebuild a lot for VBP but those a-arms are their design, Their arms and stock arms weigh the same amount, 8lbs each for the uppers. Jim Meyers uppers are 7 1/4lbs.

I've never assembled VBP's arms b/c the always come preassembled but, I can tell you that stock arms and Jim Meyers's upper a-arms bend very easily.

 

Oops. What I meant to say was front upper control arm. I can weigh a lower arm tonight if anyone needs the numbers.

Rick B.

 

The VBP arms also allow greater camber/caster settings which are hard to even get within the correct range in older worn stock settings.