Aftermarket suspension arms and bars?

[IJ.]

Aluminum if used correctly is good...Stainless is better though

Operative term VERY important

I could have made a pair of H beam bars here at home on the CNC but the cast Stainless one's are such an elegant solution I was happy to pay almost the same price again in shipping to get them here again for my own peace of mind!

Only thing I'd have done differently would be longer fillets where they widen to the end mounts and maybe a series of holes in the vertical wall to drop some weight.

 

[Jack]

thought about it but it would mean complete retooling and thats not going to happen....better safe than sorry

 

[IJ.]

Not just safe think "BombProof"

 

[Jack]

I like that...bombproof...I think thats going to be in the traction arm description. And yes so far no one has broken any of our SS Traction arms

 

[Mk3runner]

IJ has spoken. lol, end of story.

 

[Wiisass]

Cast? Stainless? Suspension arms? Really?

 

[IJ.]

And people wonder why I have a big head :biglaugh:

 

[Wiisass]

I did my own thing.. People on here dont like but it works for me.. I wanted something stronger then what was offerd and cheaper...Figured 2X the tubes should be stronger then what i could find..
Cost me about 125 or so... I ferget...

Do NOT do this.

 

[Wiisass]

I've heard bad things about the A1's quality, personally I'd like to see an adjustable bar with normal bushings and not heim joints, but nobody makes them.

"keeping it in the USA" is an idiotic statement on most counts, so don't get me started (betcha the parts that the A1's are made from aren't made here), or how about the RonnieK bushing set that isn't made here?

I don't know how A1's quality is now. But one of my good friends is the one who designed their arms originally and they were tested on another friend's car.

They use decent bearings, probably FK quality, not as good as Aurora and definitely not as good as New Hampshire, but much better than the Jap/China crap bearings. They were originally using Alinabal bearings, but again, I don't know what they're doing now.

The only arm that I don't like is the toe rod. I never liked the design my friend ended up using, but neither did he, but it did work.

And that RonnieK point, you're really stretching. I'm pretty sure the intent of the "Buy in USA" argument is don't buy china crap. Ronnie is just like a lot of the small companies in the states. He doesn't have a factory of chinese 8 year olds making parts for him. At least I don't think so.

 

[Jack]

Hey we love Ronnies Bushing here...been selling them for years


And yes my comment was towards the cheap chinese junk that hits the market not producers like Ronnie or all the others. Guys like Ronnie or Greg at LIPP love the car and can make the product....Support it or lose it forever


I can sell anything but the personal products are easier to sell because there is a face and name that is behind it.....it's a hard thing to find these days

 

[Wiisass]

Jack, I wasn't saying you guys didn't like Ronnie's stuff. But I think I might have actually read Poodle's statement wrong. If he did mean, the Ronnie stuff is good even though it's not made in the states, then ignore what I said.

 

[Poodles]

That was my point exactly.

Don't get me wrong, the LIPP traction bars are great, but you don't make the other bars.

Still waiting for someone to make a good STREETABLE (no heim joints) set of bars that are adjustable.

Double adjustable would be nice as well...

 

[LordDigital]

That was my point exactly.

Don't get me wrong, the LIPP traction bars are great, but you don't make the other bars.

Still waiting for someone to make a good STREETABLE (no heim joints) set of bars that are adjustable.

Double adjustable would be nice as well...

I guess that saying that one car is streetable is kind of personal opinion ,so here is my oppinion for the MK3 rear suspension with A1 components:

For the (TRACTION ROD) and the (Camber Rod) there are two AllTrack rubber bushings on the spindle ,then on the other side of the rods you do get a HeimJoint. In addition to that the whole subFrame is also connected to the body with more rubber bushings. IMO one replaced bushing with HEIM out of 3 total does not make the car unStreetable

For the (Toe Control Rod ) A1 opted out to a Rubber bushing for one and only one reason - they wanted to have a streetable setup. (The Toe Control Rod connects to the spindle directly)





I'm ready to bet that the A1's ALUMINUM ROD or Rod Ends are made in China simply ,because it would never be economical for them to do the manufacturing in the USA. The point is that the R&D was done here and they stand behind their products. After 2 years of use on my car ,including many AutoX events ,a few track days and >10 000 miles on the road I managed to finally develop a small play in one of the Rod Ends ,called A1 and they send me a replacement RodEnd for $20 or so.

IJ.'s concern about the work hardening of the ALUMINUM is interesting - I would want to see him elaborate a little further. I personally would not be concerned ,because I know that the ALUMINUM RODS are widely used in the MotorSport and I've never heard of anyone opting out for steel rods not only because the weight in general matters but also because the Unsprung weight is far more critical than many people realize.

Last but not least the A1 arms are not perfect:

- I've installed mine in 2007 and the fitment issues with new Toyota bolts were annoying - I had to drill all of the HEMIs to get the bolts in. Last year I installed a set of Camber Rods on another Supra ,and I was able to do it without drilling - it is either that A1 changed something ,or the 20 years old bolts were smaller in diameter than my new bolts ,or some other factors.

- I would like to see some dust covers on the ROD ENDS (as seen on most of the Cusco suspension products)

- Every time when I need to adjust them I have to dust out my Imperial Wrenches ,could not believe that someone would still sell you products with non-metric hardware on them!!

 

[IJ.]

Motorsports is a very different environment to road use....

Cars are also inspected at regular intervals and the duration just isn't there.

Road car can do 60K Km's a year easily a race car might be 1/10th of that if endurance raced.

Work hardening is a time issue with aluminium.

 

[HommerSimpson]

Do NOT do this.

Ive got over 5k miles on these arms.. they are in same place same shape and I dont think anyone could push a car much harder then me..Feel Free to tell people DONT DO THIS all you want... bet they are stronger then anything eles out there..and they are not Aluminum.Even the bolts are bigger then the factory ones.

 

[Big Rob]

Just to clarify, work hardening aluminum or anything for that matter is only an issue when a structure undergoes fatigue. Using some engineering references fatigue analysis can be conducted during the design phase to insure that the part will not fail from fatigue during the life cycle of that part.
Examples of this are parts like aluminium wheels and the supra front upper control arm.

SAYING this, during design if fatigue is ignored or some poor assumptions are made work hardening can occur.

Work hardening is it is propagation(moving) of dislocations(irregulatites in the material lattice), a practical example for you all is to get a small flat piece of plastic like and bend it in your hands over and over again in the one spot. You will notice that the material begins to turn while or very pale, that are dislocations moving in the plastic and eventually the material will brake do to fatigue and work hardening.

These are street cars, you will probably notice a bee's dick in performance if you took out 100 grams from your outboard mass. If you are playing around with suspension parts be conservative, make sure everything where applicable is in double shear, don't put welds in tension and heat treat where necessary.
And most of all understand why you are making changes, why are you changing this arm or bush, why are you using rod ends, what are the advantages to these changes ect.

 

[Keros]

Do NOT do this.

Could you elaborate a little more?

 

[IJ.]

Rob" "Poorly designed parts" are the norm not the exception as is the wrong material choice and it's treatment after working so I tend to shy away from Aluminium suspension parts as my life depends on them being right.

Use the wrong radius tip in the lathe or the mill and you're introducing a built in stress riser and inviting failure

 

[Poodles]

Also, the lower arms are under more stress than the upper arms (look at the balljoints in our cars and the arms). Hell, look at the issues they had with the Ford GT when it first came out and they had to do a recall on them because the aluminum A-arms could fail...

 

[Big Rob]

I guess the point I am trying to make is if a part is designed correctly with consideration taken with regards to the material choice failure can be avoided be it from work hardening, fatigue, stress concentrations, poor material finish ect.