86 951 Driver

Would it be bad to use Steel Control Arms on my car? I have a 1986 951. I was thinking that it might be a cheaper option than even rebuilding my aluminum ones.

Willard Bridgham 3

This is a race car and, if you make choices by price, you eventually will regret it. The alum ones are lighter and, if you are not going to lower the car for track use, the alum ones are fine.

V2Rocket

this may be true but i am skeptical until a weight number is taken...the al arms are like an inch thick casting, the steel is sheetmetal spotwelded together...you can throw them like a boomerang they weigh so little

xschop

The steel ones flex and even moreso if you install a larger sway bar. Some guy posted a video of it and it was erie.

User 41221

If you are going to put steel a-arms on a 951, you *must* seam weld and box them, imo. Once that is done, its a decent alternative to aluminum, with the much desired bonus of having easily replaceable ball joints, which is great for a track car. I was taught that trick originally by Don Istook, and if its good enough for him, its certainly good enough for me.

Jeff, you have no plans of tracking your car, correct? Just stick with the aluminum a-arms, it will be better and cheaper for you in the long run, altho, as always, ymmv.

rlm328

The one thing you do when you switch from aluminum to steel is that you change the weak point of the system. You may have a cheaper part now but if you have a failure it can break unintended parts.

GreyDog

My '86 951 came with beater steel arms, which I upgraded to Blazak arms which are welded and reinforced. I have never been able to find the weight difference between the Alum vs steel/reinforced arms, but would guess the upgraded steel ones are slightly heavier than Alum.

Benefits perhaps being the balljoint issue over time/repeated replacements, and especially if you are lowering.

Downside being you can not run the better factory caster block, but would use the Welt red bushing. Not sure how much a trade-off there is there.

ninefiveone

I'm running the blazak steel arms for the last 3-4 years. They are seam welded, boxed, etc. They've been holding up very well and I prefer the failure mode of steel (bend) vs aluminum (break).

The ease of swapping the ball joints is great as well. I run the car fairly low with a very stiff suspension since I track the car heavily. As an added bonus, they've got the attachment points for 968 brake ducts.

If you're not going to track or significantly lower the car, I doubt I'd bother with steel though.

86 951 Driver

The aluminum ones are really pricey even the rebuilt units. I am thinking of replacing my ball joints. I have heard that some arms aren't rebuildable. I would like to make sure before i bought a kit that i could rebuild mine.

I may track my car, but that won't be til next year still have a few things to sort out first. The list is getting shorter everyday.

ninefiveone

What's a rebuilt alum. arm going for these days? Maybe a blazak steel arm is comparable in price, in which case I'd go with the blazak arm since it would be the better long term choice (ball joints, etc).

I have no memory of what I paid for mine, unfortunately.

Antonio

I have been racing with both stock and boxed steel control arms, together with Racer's Edge spherical bushings, for five years. I have not noticed any difference in feel and in lap times between the stock and the boxed. The boxed tend to be heavier depending on how much reinforcement is added. Also by boxing them the failure point could move to the more critical caster block spine and barrel. Last year I clipped a curb way too hard and slightly bent one. I think an aluminum arm might had failed all together. I change them every 10 or so race weekends and the ball joints twice as often. IMO it is a good alternative for both street and track.

xschop

Problem with the steel arms is they only come in Early offset.

ninefiveone

Luckily OP has an early offset car.

YZ250

I've been racing with unmodified steel control arms for two years with no issues. The parts are cheap, so I carry a set of spare arms and ball joints with me if I bend something in an off. I inspect them before every race weekend, and they still look new. Its not cheap to make the conversion because of the caster blocks. Paragon Products can assemble a kit for you, which is where I got mine.

ninefiveone

What was your issue with the castor blocks? I ask because I went with steel arm castor blocks with Weltmeister poly bushings and after only 6 track days, they are pretty torn up.

I'm planning to go with racer's edge spherical bearings next but wanted to know what you're running.