heard and felt some popping in my rear suspension. checked the lower control arm bolts, then removed the lower control arms and found this. the first pic shows how the LCA is on the car. The left is the rear axle side, the right is the chassis side. You can see the seam on the axle side is facing 9o'clock where braking force would spread it, but it seems fine. The bushing on the chassis mount has the seam facing about 9o'clock as well, where acceleration force would try to spread it. Here is the other side of the bad bushing. Obviously the gap on each side is about the same, the bushing spread all the way across. I should mention that THESE ARE 4TH GEN CONTROL ARMS, hence the star shaped bushings. The thirdgen bushings are solid rubber, but the sleeve in the ID of the bushing is the same. I'll be ordering a set of these very soon... http://www.hotpart.com/shop/index.ph...ct_detail&p=85

I'd suggest....
http://www.umiperformance.com/catalo...06jbormpbrhh87

I went with.....
http://www.umiperformance.com/catalo...06jbormpbrhh87 (you can get equal sized bushings too, but I needed the extra room for my 315s)

While your at it....
http://www.umiperformance.com/catalo...4fvvlk126jlj40

I went with.....
http://www.umiperformance.com/catalo...4fvvlk126jlj40

Not to be a jerk, but those control arms are terrible for cornering performance. The hard poly bushings and stiff arms won't allow the axle to rotate in the car causing the car to be very loose under cornering. This car is used for open road course days and auto-x. I found this out the hard way when I put poly bushings and boxed my stock arms on the car. I went to the stock 4th gen arms and the loose condition went away. The control arms HAVE to twist in order for the axle to rotate in the car. Thats why I'm using the control arms from Hotpart.com. Click the link and read what they say. You can also go to www.frrax.com and find out TONS more info.

I'd like to hear your idea on how your Hotpart ones, can rotate more than my UMI ones.

Mine have not vertical side wall beside the rod ends, restricting their rotation, unlike your Hot part ones.

You really think these captive rod end ones...

Have more flexibility over the UMI open end ones?


The Hotparts.com ones look like they could introduce a bind or restriction sooner, due the "captive" pieces.

I've been to fraxx....I left & I'll just leave it at that.

well for whatever reason I can't get your links to work. So I did a quick search and all I found were the non-adjustable poly ones. I just searched more and found the rod ended adjustable ones.

The adjustable UMI ones will rotate as well as the Hotpart ones, but I am concerned about using rod ends for a car that sees around 6-8K street miles per year, so I'm going to use the poly ball design from Hotpart. Besides a member of frrax is a hotpart dealer and I can get a deal on them. If they wear out in a short amount of time, i'll consider it a lesson learned and I'll buy the aluminum ones hotpart sells.

I've been a frrax member for a few years now, and the site is full of intelligent and helpful members. I'm sorry you don't get along with them.

I dunno why the links are not working for you. UMI make Poly, Poly/rod end, Rod End/ Rod End....All 3 options the above with & with adjustability.....


But apparently you spoke without seeing. Had you you looked before speaking the 1st time, you wouldn't have spoken.

If you can get a discount, or are concerned about mileage, that is one thing. But commenting without seeing.....Why does this thread feel like fraxx? "I'm right...I don't need to see before speaking."

If the rod ends were out on me, I could buy the different ends from UMI & go that way instead, but my car is my "daily driver" & I average 4k miles/year.....

jegs.com has everything you need ,if you lowerd your ride, you might want to check out the drop brackets for the rear conrol arms, they sell adjustable arms, and well as panhard bar adjustable, and drop bracket for the panhard bar. they sell torque arm bushings, adjustable torque arms, and camber adjusters for lowered cars.

I did a brief search before I spoke, all I found were the poly arms. Its not my fault the links you posted didn't work. They seem to be working now for whatever reason, and I am now more educated about what UMI offers. Thank you.

I now see why you don't get along with the guys on Frrax. They probably don't like your attitude anymore than I do.

I was just reading the hotparts description of their "extreme joint". It does seem like a good quality piece. I'm wondering what sort of validity there is to their claim that their joint is better on acceleration compared to a regular rod end. From what they're saying the standard spherical end deflects too much. However I can't really see this happening since the combination of torque arm, LCAs and panhard bar should rather effectively limit the range of movement for the rear axle. Any thoughts?

Hello
Thanks for the suggestion and the business with UMI Performance!
Take it easy.
Brad

Hello
I noticed that you are not familiar with our products. We do offer a wide variety of suspension parts for you specific needs. If you have any questions or problems with anything feel free to ask and I will be more than glad to help.

http://www.umiperformance.com/catalo...klscl4dffpb097

Thanks
Brad

My "attitude" is black & white". I don't deal with gray areas. If I can't SEE or FEEL something, I don't judge it, until I can. Had you held off posting how "bad" mine were, I doubt you would have dismissed them so quickly, would you have? Seemed to be real common on fraxx, people judging because they "knew" & not need to see. It's not my fault the links didn't work before either & now they do. I'm not crazy about UMIs new site. Never had a problem accessing it, until they changed it a few months ago. Now it doesn't always work good.

What I can't figure out about the Hotparts ones....Is how the description said something about polyurethane diminishing effectiveness, yet their own LCAs have a polyurethane shell around them! I think the poly shells Hotparts puts over their ends, plus the tubular/metal mount shell to hold those on, is what is going to restrict their deflectition & rotation, as the axle twists up & down.