"New" OEM Control Arms - What to do?
02-11-2007, 04:40 PM
#16
Nordschleife Master
I have the longer 17mm pins from Rennbay in my control arms with the solid upper bushing. The nylon bushing bit the dust in about 4k miles and 3 auto-x's. I have about 4 or 5 auto-x's and roughly 10k miles on the arms with the solid bushing and they are holding up well. My car is both auto-x (track) and my daily driver..and sees plenty of pot holes and crappy roads.
Personally i would just rebuild them now. If the arms are in as good shape as you say, the pockets probably have little if any wear in them. Replacing everything now will make sure they stay that way.
BTW, my car is dropped about an 1 inch and 1/4 in the front (a little less than that). I would say if you drop your car more than 3/4 - 1 inch from stock you should do the longer pins. I also run a relatively low spring rate, 200lbs. 3/4 - 1 inch with 300lb springs would probably be fine with the regular length pins if you watch where your going.
Ski, are those spherical bushings in the front of the OEM alloy control arms or something else?
Those Charlie arms look great. One day ill get those..
Personally i would just rebuild them now. If the arms are in as good shape as you say, the pockets probably have little if any wear in them. Replacing everything now will make sure they stay that way.
BTW, my car is dropped about an 1 inch and 1/4 in the front (a little less than that). I would say if you drop your car more than 3/4 - 1 inch from stock you should do the longer pins. I also run a relatively low spring rate, 200lbs. 3/4 - 1 inch with 300lb springs would probably be fine with the regular length pins if you watch where your going.
Ski, are those spherical bushings in the front of the OEM alloy control arms or something else?
Those Charlie arms look great. One day ill get those..
02-11-2007, 05:00 PM
#17
Rennlist Member
Can someone clarify the recall on the Racers Arms???
02-11-2007, 05:41 PM
#18
Three Wheelin'
Originally Posted by 333pg333
Can someone clarify the recall on the Racers Arms???
One of the guys in our PCA club was outfitting his S2. They were planning on putting the Racers Edge stuff on because the Charlie Arms are hit or miss if you can get them. Anyway, our local 944 expert shop told the guy with the S2 that they had a failure at Sebring this week and that they were going to recall the RE arms in the field.
If this data is true, the guys with the RE arms have probably heard about it already.
02-11-2007, 05:58 PM
#19
Addict
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
Duck, yes RE. There was a chance that someone was going to bring a new arm to the market and we were waiting on him, so we rebuilt the stock units - we have two sets, change them every two years. RE bushings, RE castor block, and SSI ball joints. Charlie Arms will be put on after Barber, I just don't have time to change them, get the car aligned, and head to Barber with my work schedule. Not to mention, I have a friends car in my garage with a delayed oil pressure upon start up.
02-11-2007, 06:39 PM
#20
Rennlist Member
Originally Posted by f1rocks
One of the guys in our PCA club was outfitting his S2. They were planning on putting the Racers Edge stuff on because the Charlie Arms are hit or miss if you can get them. Anyway, our local 944 expert shop told the guy with the S2 that they had a failure at Sebring this week and that they were going to recall the RE arms in the field.
If this data is true, the guys with the RE arms have probably heard about it already.
If this data is true, the guys with the RE arms have probably heard about it already.
02-11-2007, 09:42 PM
#21
Rennlist Member
Ian,
If you are certain that the arms only have 9600 miles on them, and are not damaged in any way - absolutely run them as is. If the balljoint bushings are not worn out, there is no reason to rebuild them.
If you are worried about failure of the standard balljoint pin, then consider upgrading to aftermarket arms that use a spherical bearing, instead of factory type ball/socket (ie charlie arms, fabcar, etc). The rebuild kits use a similar to factory ball/pin (and there is no guarantee that the material hardness is better or even equal to the factory part).
I would also like to see a factory ball/pin next to one of these 19mm pin kits (anyone have a pic?). The base of the factory pins are machined down, where they connect to the ball. This allows for more movement within the control arm socket. I believe the 19mm pins also have this machined taper/bevel. If so, then I dont know if there is much benefit of using this type of 19mm pin. One of the two failure/weak points of the ball/pin, still exists (the other weak point is the groove in the pin for the knuckle pinch bolt).
Seems to me, the geometry correcting pins are a problem waiting to happen. The longer the pin, the greater the lever arm, and the more likely that an impact or cornering load will pop/pry the balljoint out of the socket, or bend the pin.
If you are certain that the arms only have 9600 miles on them, and are not damaged in any way - absolutely run them as is. If the balljoint bushings are not worn out, there is no reason to rebuild them.
If you are worried about failure of the standard balljoint pin, then consider upgrading to aftermarket arms that use a spherical bearing, instead of factory type ball/socket (ie charlie arms, fabcar, etc). The rebuild kits use a similar to factory ball/pin (and there is no guarantee that the material hardness is better or even equal to the factory part).
I would also like to see a factory ball/pin next to one of these 19mm pin kits (anyone have a pic?). The base of the factory pins are machined down, where they connect to the ball. This allows for more movement within the control arm socket. I believe the 19mm pins also have this machined taper/bevel. If so, then I dont know if there is much benefit of using this type of 19mm pin. One of the two failure/weak points of the ball/pin, still exists (the other weak point is the groove in the pin for the knuckle pinch bolt).
Seems to me, the geometry correcting pins are a problem waiting to happen. The longer the pin, the greater the lever arm, and the more likely that an impact or cornering load will pop/pry the balljoint out of the socket, or bend the pin.
Last edited by Oddjob; 02-12-2007 at 09:47 AM.
