I am looking to get my rear control arms replaced. I really am not sure what direction to go in. I've been think of adjustable upper and lower. But I have heard that this is for anyone who is doing alot of track time and has experience with pinion angles, track conditions, etc. I just want a set up that is well rounded for street, strip and road courses. My main goal is traction espically at the strip. I dont want to add any power until I can get it to the ground. I have heard just to do lowers and stay with stock upper, and the reverse of that. I have also heard to go with adjustable both upper and lower and others say non adjustable upper and lowers? So I guess what I am asking for is what kind of set up any of u have luck with and what brands. I am looking at maxium motorsports, upr, granatelli, steeda, or bbk. Any other brands out there I should consider? I also plan on going with tokico 5 way adjustable. Right now my best 60 ft is 2.3 with the 1/4 14.5 at 95 miles per hour. I do know that I need more seat time and tires will help too but I want to do suspension first then tires. Any help would be great.

 

Stay far away from GMS. I'm sure R3d will jump in and have the best set-up but if you are concerned w/ the most traction at the strip, the Lakewood Traction...Action bars are the best probably for you. However, if you want something more rounded, the pieces from MM and Global West are the best. For now, leave the uppers alone and save for a torque arm/single upper set-up w/ either a watts link or panhard bar. However, for the time being, just have your uppers boxed but keep the rubber bushings, if you wish to improve the uppers.

 

Not sure what u mean by having the uppers boxed? What does that mean and explain what that does for the uppers? Sorry not mechinic savy What about BMR? I hear alot of good things about them on the newer model cars but what about late models? And as far as lowers should I go with non-adjustables then? I think I will probably just do lowers like you said (bassman). Any more advice would be great

 

the stock control arms are stamped steel and form something resembling a c-channel. They're flexible as all hell under racing type loads. Boxing the uppers is simply welding a little slap of metal on the open face of the arm to make it into a full box. That makes them a lot stronger.

I only recommend and use Maximum Motorsports. A set of their rear height adjustable lower control arms, FRPP uppers, and a full set of adjustable shocks and struts would be a good start.

After you finish that come back and I'll give you stage 2.


BTW, if you buy anything with Granatelli's name on it you'll: be ridiculed by me and thousands of others, be playing with disaster cuz GMS makes crap, be slapped with a fish if we ever meet.

 

That makes sense as far as boxing the upper arms. I have a local guy here that may be able to do that. As far as the lowers I am going to go with MM but non-adjustable just to take the worries out of set up. Plus I dont live at the track enough to get that serious. How much can I expect to shave of my 60 ft time? And will I be able to lauch at alittle higher RPM? Right now I lauch btw 3000-3200 RPM. I am still trying to get it all down I just need more time at the track. GMS sucks that bad huh? I have heard that but u always hear guys say that about certain products all the time and then other will say they love it? Anyway I will stay away from GMS b/c I have seen alot of bad reviews on this forum about there quality and I trust my fellow stanger here.

 

Just to ask what is the diff in price btw the adj lowers and the non-adj? And how hard is it to adjust them and figure out what adjustments work best?

 

Basically to adjust them, you can just measure their lengths and do a couple of launches to make sure that you're launching straight. However, w/ the adjustable lowers, you can play w/ pinion angle so you need an acurate way of measuring that angle.

 

I'm talking about height adjustable arms. That way he can even out the ride height side to side and front to rear with a 1/2" breaker bar.

As for what performance gain you'll get... that's all on you. The parts will help you achieve more consistent results. Price should be your last concern but the difference in weight jacker type and standard sticks with perches is minimal. You'll want poly bushed at the front and spherical at the back. That should keep the noise down but help with bind reduction.

Don't bother with adjustable uppers.

Go to www.corral.net/forums and search for "granatelli problems" or "granatelli catastrophic failure" or "granatelli sucks" and you'll have plenty to read on the subject of GMS.

 

Thanks for all the advice. I should be ordering MM rear arms in the nxt couple of weeks and there is a fabrication shop in town that will box in the uppers. I might try to install the arms myself but if not we have a good mustang shop in town that will give me a great deal on install. These mods along with the 5 way shocks/struts will be the last mods for the year. Then of course tax season is not long after that!!! And I will be up here again with more questions and advice.