I understand the benifits of installing a pair but why should we even have to install them? Is this something that the car designers overlooked? Or does this fall into the same catagory as why they put rubber bushings in vs. Polyurethane, to appeal to a wider rang of consumers?

 

They probably didn't want the car hooking real hard for warrenty reasons. There is a potential for breaking axles and rear-ends. A car with a low 0-60 time could raise insurance too.

As long as we're on this subject the car was also designed to drive with a lot of understeer so the general public wouldn't kill themselves and sue GM.

 

Unless you've lowered your rear suspension or have wheel hop you won't need them. LCA relocation bracket correct the geometry after the car has been lowered. You want the rear mounting point of the LCA where it attaches to the rear end housing to be level with the front mount point or a little below. When you lower the car the front LCA mount point lowers along with the body which now puts it lower then the rear mount point. At this angle there is less leverage there to prevent the rear end from twisting when torque is applied. As a result the rear is more susceptable to twisting and untwisting creating wheel hop. This is very hard on the driveline components. A relocation bracket corrects the geometry bringint the rear LCA mount point back lever withthe front so it can have the greatest lever arm in preventing the rear end hoousing from twisting. An adjustable torque arm can help as well. You often have to consider doing modifications as a package. Lowering the car lowers it's center of gravity but also creates some other problems. Lon

 

what is meant by understeer?

 

This link will explain the terms. http://www.seansa4page.com/resource/steering.html

 

Lon's pretty much nailed it, but I disagree about the benefits on a non-lowered car. They really made a difference on my firebird hooking up, which is not lowered.
John

 

When the trailing arms are angled upward (towards the front of the car) and power is applied, the force tries to raise the rear of the body. Of course the body doesn't want to go up (because of gravity) so it effectively jams the rear tires into the ground.The more angle the more "anti-squat". The angle doesn't let the car "squat" down. That's why when you watch a drag car launch, the rear of the car comes up. The drawback to too much angle is during braking the rear end wants to come up easier, making the rear of the car light. Everything is a trade-off. F-bodies definately need some increased angle to the trailing arms (more anti-squat). Unless you like doing burn-outs and not going anywhere.