Control Arms Question
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: Jan 2022
Posts: 36
Likes: 4
From: San Jose, CA
Control Arms Question
I'm looking to replace my front upper and lower control arms. My current plan is to send the lower arms to Van Steel to have them rebuilt with Delrin bushings. For the uppers, I was planning on getting SPC Performance control arms with rubber bushings (Part #94370) rather than their full metal-on-metal race version (Part #97190). Would there be any issue with running a softer upper setup compared to lowers? Any other suggestions? The only reason I’m not going with the full track SPC arms is budget, they’re about $500 more. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated, thanks!
PS: If it makes a difference long-term, I’m planning on going with Van Steel sway bars and I already have Ride Tech shocks installed all around. My goal is to track the car but still keep it street-friendly. I drive some clean canyon roads pretty often, and since it has some bumps here and there, I don’t want the setup to be so stiff that the car bounces excessively and becomes harder to control when I start getting higher speeds.
1996 LT4
PS: If it makes a difference long-term, I’m planning on going with Van Steel sway bars and I already have Ride Tech shocks installed all around. My goal is to track the car but still keep it street-friendly. I drive some clean canyon roads pretty often, and since it has some bumps here and there, I don’t want the setup to be so stiff that the car bounces excessively and becomes harder to control when I start getting higher speeds.
1996 LT4
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 6,086
Likes: 1,972
From: St. Charles MO
There would not be an issue with softer bushings on the UCAs. There is no problem with the setup you are proposing. However...
What's your goal in doing these changes? If the goal is to increase your front camber, you could do that with offset LCA bushings and then just keep the upper arms stock. Van Steel may sell those. After Dark Speed does. That would be far cheaper than the SPC arms. That's the setup I had, and I could get -3.5 deg camber while still keeping lots of caster (which you want).
Also, the upper arms aren't loaded very much compared to the lowers, and they don't take any vertical loads to speak of (such as when going over bumps). Therefore, I don't think those bushings affect ride quality very much one way or another. I went from stock rubber to urethane (with urethane offset LCA bushings in both cases) and couldn't tell a difference in ride.
What's your goal in doing these changes? If the goal is to increase your front camber, you could do that with offset LCA bushings and then just keep the upper arms stock. Van Steel may sell those. After Dark Speed does. That would be far cheaper than the SPC arms. That's the setup I had, and I could get -3.5 deg camber while still keeping lots of caster (which you want).
Also, the upper arms aren't loaded very much compared to the lowers, and they don't take any vertical loads to speak of (such as when going over bumps). Therefore, I don't think those bushings affect ride quality very much one way or another. I went from stock rubber to urethane (with urethane offset LCA bushings in both cases) and couldn't tell a difference in ride.
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 1,690
Likes: 726
From: Stay dangerous my friends
I agree with the above…
For the UCA rubber bushings on the SPC arms, I personally prefer those over urethane (hate urethane) Most rubber bushings need to be set up so bolts are loose when you install and torqued at ride height. Delrin is my preferred choice, I have the Delrin SPC arms.
The LCA Delrin bushings are great from both Van Steele and ADS… both companies have taken good care of me. If you’re not looking for extra neg camber, go for the center design ADS offers rather than offset as those can be fidgety if you do it yourself, and it’s no fun removing the old bushings either way and if Van Steele has a service to swap them out, that’s a great idea. One item of caution is to inspect the subframe area that houses the lower attach points and bushings, look for damage and slag in the area that the Delrin is designed to rotate, clean off any burrs or slag or manufacturing defect (it wouldn’t have any impact on original rubber bushings but the Delrin ones work differently.)
For the UCA rubber bushings on the SPC arms, I personally prefer those over urethane (hate urethane) Most rubber bushings need to be set up so bolts are loose when you install and torqued at ride height. Delrin is my preferred choice, I have the Delrin SPC arms.
The LCA Delrin bushings are great from both Van Steele and ADS… both companies have taken good care of me. If you’re not looking for extra neg camber, go for the center design ADS offers rather than offset as those can be fidgety if you do it yourself, and it’s no fun removing the old bushings either way and if Van Steele has a service to swap them out, that’s a great idea. One item of caution is to inspect the subframe area that houses the lower attach points and bushings, look for damage and slag in the area that the Delrin is designed to rotate, clean off any burrs or slag or manufacturing defect (it wouldn’t have any impact on original rubber bushings but the Delrin ones work differently.)
