Nick Wong

I run the ERP stuff on my car. They use the good quality Aurora bearings, not the lower tier ones. I thought the Tarret arms used similar rod ends.

If I had my choice I'd run the pinch bolt style Champion arms. In fact I enquired about them last year but the cost to swap over was too high for me. Pinch bolts are superior to jam nuts.

NJ-GT

I had full ERP and Porsche Motorsports in the 996 GT3 ($$$), Tarett in the RS, and RSS in the Cayman.

ERP stuff was better on the bearing quality than the Porsche Motorsports bearings, and the tread had better finish as well. I had to replace the ends of my PMS front axle steering links (front toe links) that already replaced my stock 996 GT3 links to resolve the standard bump steer in the 996 GT3. The PMS end links corroded the ball joints, and these bits were expensive ($750 each just for the end links).

ERP uses the Aerospace version of the Aurora bearings, so this alone justifies the price. Go to the Aurora Bearings website to research about the 2 certifications that these bearings pass, a car doesn't see that kind of abuse.

I have also tried two types of grease on my monoball bearings: Royco 13 in the 996 GT3, CRC White Lithium in the 997RS, no grease in the Cayman. Royco 13 is a ball bearing grease specific to the aviation industry, while the CRC is over the counter Parts store available. None of the GT3 experienced bearing failures. I re-greased them every 6-months average, cleaning the old grease with WD40 then paper towel, then re-grease, easy job when changing tires.

The Cayman has gone through 2 front sets of drop links (Tarett) due to worn-out bearings. Tarett replaces them for free with their warranty policy, one set failed as early as 6 months. I'm sending one set to Ira for replacement, and I'm going to upgrade the other set to Aurora myself. The third set already in the car should fail sometime this year, it already froze the bolt that passes through the sway bar, so I had to cut it and use the bolt from one of my faulty Tarett drop links.

The RSS stuff is holding OK, but there were some issues with cracked control arms and accidents that are documented in RL. It would be nice if RSS could provide an update on the issue, as quite a few cars were involved on incidents/accidents due to a product defect.

For a lowered car 10mm or more, the bump steer adjustment spacers are required, not optional.

Serge944

Seriously. This is an odd problem to have. These cars aren't 20 year old winter beaters!

utkinpol

agree, they are junk.
what I have on my car now is stock droplinks with an additional rod welded on top of stock rod.

But stock bearings on stock droplinks seem to be first class. I destroyed tarett ones after I got second set replaced back in 2011 spring, since that time I have those modified stock droplinks in fonrt/rear and they do not rattle at all and do not get loose.

Carrera GT

The Champion design is certainly attractive. I've aligned a lot of GT3's (years ago) and used to spend my days under an alignment rack, just doing 911's. I certainly wish every 911 had threaded rod links with spherical bearings and pinch lock adjusters. The damn eccentrics are horrible, nearly useless and absurdly time-consuming. Every owner with eccentrics is paying more time for their alignments and getting a less accurate result. While pinch nuts have an intrinsic design flaw (the length of the link increases as the nuts cinch down) it's no issue, especially in a world of paddock alignments and silly strings. Still, the pinch bolt design would be pure luxury. I hate to ask what they'd cost ... Alex?

Nick Wong

Pinch bolt- one hand adjustment, no migration from measurement.

Jam nut- minimum two hand adjustment, length change as jam nut is torqued. Karts use jam nuts for steering rods. Every race weekend I wish they were pinch bolts- alignment is checked at least a dozen times over three days, and jam nuts are horrible for that application.

NJ-GT

What I do is to lock the end link in the direction of tightening the link itself, rather than the pinch nut. I use a heavy 3rd wrench so its weight keeps the ball bearing in the attachment to the wheel carrier maxed out to the locking position. Then I hold the rod with one wrench so it doesn't move, and tighten the pinch nut using another wrench, while holding the rod wrench not changing its angle. It gets me where I want all the time, but just an extra annoying task.

Now, those champion end links, that's the best setup I have seen. With a Laser Toe kit and those end links at all corner, I would not need to go to the Alignment rack anymore.

Protocav

I can understand stripped/seized threads, but for those of you that have had the actual spherical rod end fail, what are the symptoms? Does it loosen up, and just start making noise?

porka

i just would not feel that comfortable with the pinch bolt system. it looks the busines but fatigue comes to mind

i just purchased the torque solutions dog bones and toe links - they use FK rod ends - are these comperable to aurora

https://www.awdmotorsports.com/Produ...TS%2DPOR%2D002

where can i buy the dust boots from?

mike

Carrera GT

A worn spherical joint can make a helluva racket on a quiet but bumpy public road when the rest of the car is quiet (you'd not notice it on track with earplugs and helmet and windows down and 100 mph.)

There's been some references to vendors that make aerospace products. In simple terms, it's a shoulder joint, ball-n-socket on steroids engineered to handle extreme loads without deflection, comprised of a sphere trapped inside a plastic bushing. The qualities of the metals and bushing material (friction, compression, stiction) and the tolerances and clearances make all the difference in terms of durability and precision under load bearing. A 30-50,000 psi urethane can survive extraordinary conditions (to the point that in open wheel race car design, there are weak links designed to fail rather than transmit impact forces to the driver, leaving the wheel carrier and wheel to flop around on the end of a safety tether cable.) The old "dog bone" rod ends we were using in the 90's were maybe 1/10th the load limits, but still far more precise than the factory ball joints today. Comfort sells.

http://www.aurorabearing.com/aerospa....html#rod-ends

Carrera GT

Made in the USA is a big plus. I'd suggest you contact the OEM directly for dust boots and specs on the bearing load limits. I imagine they'll have competitive information to prove they've got a good product. You could contact Champion or Sharkwerks or any of the RL site sponsors for generic boots, or just do the maintenance described in this thread. I just put electrical shrink wrap tube over joint to keep the crud down to a minimum. A couple of cuts to the shrink tube, a 75lb zip-tie ... that's my solution for most things ... : )

http://www.torquesolution.com/product-p/ts-por-002.htm
http://www.fkrodends.com/

Steve W

Rad, how did you determine that bump spacers were required? With the rear set to about 120mm height, and a set of Smart Strings, setting rear toe on one wheel to 15" (2.1mm), as the rear suspension articulates to full compression, the toe increases to over 21" (3.1+mm). Spacing down the tie rod with bump spacers would increase the toe change under compression as it moves it farther off the center of the bump steer curve.

Steve W

Whatever links you install, use Seals It rod end boots and pack with CV grease to protect the monoballs, similar the ends of the factory front tie rods/toe links:
http://www.sealsit.com/rodendboots.asp

mdrums

Yes Bob is who does my work, alignments and installed my Bilstein Damptronics. My car is lower than stock so I need bump steer on these rear toe arms....thanks for chiming in.

NJ-GT

When you lower the 997 GT3, you will notice that the stock toe link (or a non bump steer adjustable aftermarket toe link) sits closer to the ground on the attachment to the subframe compared to the attachment to the wheel carrier.

Under compression, this toe link will change the angle, the more angle this toe link has at static load, the more negative toe (changes toward toe-out) that compression is going to cause to the car, and the more bump steer.

Ideally, once you have setup the desired ride height, just add spacers on the wheel carrier attachment, with the intended goal of having the toe arms parallel to the ground (0 degrees angle between the two attachment points in the toe link). This Zero degrees angle will produce the lowest possible dynamic toe changes.