There are four sets of Spohn LCA's

Lower Control Arms - Std. Tubular with Poly Bushings
Lower Control Arms - Adjustable with Poly Bushings
Lower Control Arms - Adj. Spherical/Poly Combo
Lower Control Arms - Adjustable Spherical Rod Ended

Here is my thing:

My car is not very powerful now, but I have problems with hooking up and wheel hop big time. I plan on lowering the car eventually (1-1.5" Eibach Pro Kit). I will run a Spohn Adj. Panhard eventually as well. In a few years I'm planning on putting in 600HP+. I don't really road race/ auto cross the car, but I would really like it to handle well. I'm buying relocation brackets with the LCAs. Will I need adjustable? Will I need Spherical or whatever? What would you recommend for around 350HP?

Thanks
T-bone

 

here is my opinion when it comes to performance parts....if your not gonna buy the best...dont buy anything at all O_o So I suggest getting the adjustible chromoly tubular one with spephirical rod ends. thats the one that I ordered for my car. Cant wait for them to come in.

 

However, if you plan on doing a lot of street or daily driving, go for the poly bushings. Spherical ends have zero deflection and are great for the racetrack, but you will definitely notice the increase in road noise. The poly bushings do a better job of attenuating this noise. The spherical/poly combo is a compromise between the two. For the money, I'd definitely go with the CrMo LCA's- lighter, stronger.

 

well, the problem with poly, is it will bind, if you do the ocational drag racing, and aren't so concered with great handling, then the poly is a great choice.

if you are concerned about handling, the poly/spherical combo is a good choice. the only draw back is you will eventualy have to rebuild the sherical bearing. and if you drive your car alot, that will come sooner.

as the original poster said, he said he wants it to handle well, and he is going to be puting 600HP under the hood, if he does that the minimal road noise of the combo vs the poly will be something of little concern. especialy since he will notice an increase in road noise from the poly vs the stock rubber.

 

hmmm..would wraping the ends of a sephirical rods with something help it last longer? Just wondering...I'm considering putting something around the ends so that dust and dirt and all that dont get onto it.

 

Damn Revlimit, your suspension is comming together pretty quick here!! I got some catching up to do!! I agree with Revlimit, just buy the best in the first place. Its cheaper and easier than buying something sufficient for now, and then finding out you have/want to upgrade later.

 

So would you guys recommend adjustable ones or not?

 

If you want a rod end, adjustable is the only way to get that. Rod ends are the best for handling. They are noisey. Mine sounds like a box of tools loose in the back

 

I recently installed BMR tubular LCAs and panhard rods on both my Iroc and my RS. Real nice pieces and I recommend them. I did notice a reduction in wheel hop on the Iroc, especially when turning corners (posi rear). Didn't see much on the RS due to the weak 305 and the open 10 bolt.

(No offense intended, Dewey)

What I do find interesting is that a lot of people say that the poly/poly combos will "bind" up the suspension, and often squeak. I have had NO problems with mine.

Here's my issues:

First, the poly bushings in the LCAs have the steel sleeve in the middle that the bolts go thru. When you tighten the bolt down, the sides of the frame channel pinch down on the sleeve, not the bushing. With greasable LCAs, which most aftermarket ones are, if you lube them properly it seems to reason that the bushing will rotate around the sleeve, therefore no binding. You also have to liberally lube the sides of the bushing, which I made sure I did.

I didn't see any reason to go with the rod ended ones, although others may. For street use, if installed right and lubed routinely, poly/poly should be a great choice.

Second, I don't see where a street car would need the adjustable LCAs either. Most cars I assume would have no rearend damage if they're driven so why would the goemetry back there be AFU? Even with lowered cars the only real change you need to make is to the panhard rod and getting an adjustable one takes care of that. Then install a set of relocation brackets and you're all set. Unless you lowered the car a whole lot, even the pinion angle wouldn't be that far off...you'd have to be riding the frame to have that much of a problem.


Here's mine:

Ed

 

adjustable would not hurt to have, more fine tuning for the street/strip...

 

None taken ... one of these days it won't be an l03 anymore

yes the poly bushing can rotate around the sleve, that is the the problem i am talking about.

the problem i was refering to is this:

you take a RIGHT hand turn.

when you do (i hope i don't need to explaine this to everyone) the car "Leans" to the left, so now the rear end is not parralell to the car anymore (this should be obviouse, the left side of the axle is now closer to the car, while the right side is farther away).

so what does this cause the rear suspension to do?

well, it (in very simple terms) cause your LCA's to "Twist"

so lets look at the diffrence between Poly, and Spherical ends.

poly, the bushing is not meant to twist like this , causing it to "BIND"

spherical, because the bearing can move in move frealy, it will accept this twisting motion, the and the rear axle will function as it was meant to.

 

I understand the "bind" thing now.....guess I didn't really think of it that way.

Ed