Maybe its just me, but it seems like the LCA's, torque arm's and panhard bars that are adjustabe would be weaker than the non-adjustable ones. is there any truth to this, or am i just parnoid? i ask cus i am starting to get all my suspension stuff together for this winters build. also, what does everyone think of BMR

 

The threads on a bolt are so close to being as strong as a solid piece it does not make a difference. If something were to break an adjustable piece it would break a solid piece too.

As for brands, it does not matter. Everyone builds pieces virtually the same. Go with what brand you like.

 

i just wasnt sure, but thats good to know

 

Actually that's not true, threads are a perfect stress riser. In order for a piece to be as strong in the threaded portion as it is in the solid portion the threaded section has to be larger in diameter than the non threaded portion. Most adj. suspension pieces do the exact oposite and neck down at the threaded section. In the real world it doesn't matter because the pieces are (should) be overdesigned. I would only use adj. pieces where needed. So basically get a adj. panhard bar and torque arm, but get the solid lower control arms since there really isn't much reason to need to adjust these plus they are going to see the most stress. For a street car I would stay far away from anything that uses heim joints. They just aren't protected from the elements well enough to run everday, and even when they are protected you won't get more than 10,000 miles out of them.

 

If adjustable lca's are weaker then how do you explain a drag-race 4-link on a 3000+hp Pro Mod?
You have to remember that the rod-ends are fine threaded, and that you would have to shear every thread off from inside the tube/nut to break one. 3/4 or 1" rod ends....nothing any of us have is that bad.

 

The aftermarket overbuilds stuff, and it is more than enough for 95% of the public. Same goes for some bolt in vs weld in things. Such as bolt in LCA relo brackets. The bolts used, or that should be used, are strong enough to hold up to some pretty good 60' times. Subframes are a different story.

And I still stand by what I said. I think threaded is just as, or so close to being as strong as solid pieces. If you have enough power to strip threads clear out of an adj. torque arm, you have enough power to bend that torque arm, and bend a solid piece at that.

 

The adjustable stuff is not necessarily weaker (I'm sure there are companies that put out junk, adjustable or not), it just wears out faster due to the heim joints. If there are no heim joints, then the adjustable stuff should be very comparable to the non-adjustable stuuf (heck, most of the adjustable stuff is used by people who race). Side note: Heim joints make for a much rougher and louder ride. They are used for racing so that handling characteristics can be changed easily. They are also used on lowered cars to bring the suspension geometry/driveline angles back into 'alignment' (for lack of a better word).

If your car is stock height (or close) and you don't do any racing, either will be fine. You will just have to adjust the adjustable parts to get the suspension 'aligned' (there's that word again) where it needs to be.

If you daily drive the car and/or don't race, I would stick with the non-adjustable stuff. Then you won't have to worry about adjusting anything.

As for the discussion about the threads being weaker than a solid part, it's not the stripping (i.e. pulling the threads out) that you have to worry about, its having the shaft break in shear at the base of the threaded portion. In the case of the parts we are talking about, they are so overdesigned that it is not an issue unless you are making un-goddly amounts of power and/or are beating the snot out of the car on a race track.

FWIW: UMI makes some really nice stuff, and BMR has a bad reputation with hardcore road racers. I have never had BMR stuff, but I do have UMI parts and I'm really impressed with their quality. Spohn also makes good stuff from what I have read on some of the racing boards (I have no experience with spohn so I can't say from experience, just like I can't speak from experience with BMR, just passing along what I have heard).