Nolathane or Superpro

[Adz2332]

31 minutes ago, Leroy Peterson said:

OEM would be designed for comfort and longevity vs strength and handling, non?
If looking for upgrades, then OEM isn't an option.

This one is just my daily. have a track car for fun! 

[GTSBoy]

1 hour ago, djr81 said:

Then buy the NIsmo version.

Nismo arms solve nothing.  They are actually worse in almost every sense.  They only make sense at stock ride height when combined with the Nismo upper bracket and the Nismo caster rod.

The problem is that they are shorter than the stockers.  Most of us actually need to lengthen the upper arms to undo the extra camber from (even sensible) lowering.  Only need ~1.5° of camber on a streeter, but can easily have lots more than that (and also different values side to side) with stock arms.  This is where the GKTech arms looked good to me.  Apart from Duncan's shit news about someone breaking one on the track, they look strong and they handle the twisting that gets jammed into the FUCA when the 32 suspension moves.  Oh...and they are adjustable for length.  I had to lengthen mine compared to stock to get the right camber, and had to have the RHS one ~5mm longer than the left.

In reality, adjustable poly bushes in stock arms would make a lot of sense, if they didn't get annihilated by the incorrect geometry caused by winding on even just a tiny bit more caster.  They even crap themselves without winding in any extra caster.

[Leroy Peterson]

I'm not shitting on gktech, they do handy parts that don't cost an arm and a leg, but most are billet items from China which have broken on time attack cars. I'm sure drifters have broken heaps of stuff too, but they break everything.

[djr81]

I was referring to bushes alone, not arms.

I hadn't ever heard of anyone wanting to lengthen front upper control arms. The overwhelming experience is to do the opposite.

After looking for ages I gave up on finding a decent UCA and made my own.  It is worth contemplating if you have access to someone with fabrication skills.

The other point to make is don't run a rod end castor rod.  This is where compliance is built into the suspension and removing it trashes your UCA bushes (The rear one, usually). You can get adjustable for length rods with bushes at the front end.  Hardrace from memory.

 

[niZmO_Man]

Funny thing is, I have those red ones from Just Jap. I didn't fully tighten the adjuster bit so it can rotate with the suspension.
It's been fine for 3+ years, although my car sees mild use compared to the track people here.

Shame to see the GKTech ones break, I have there rear upper arms and they've been silent for the same period of time.

I did have Hardrace front upper arms to go in, in case the JJR ones went noisy, but I sold them off.

[Meathead]

I just rebushed my rear with full nismo (bushes only) including subframe and diff.

However as the car is around 355/345 F/R there was too much camber with the upper rear arm so used the Nismo pro rear upper arms which took the camber back to -0.8deg.  Have a set of new set of Silk Road track and camber arms in case it wasn't right but happy with it now and the OEM eccentric bolt gives enough  although cannot go past 0.8.

Front has Ikeya upper with Nismo bush outside and Ikeya castor rod (hard rubber bush model)

Mainly road car with occasional track day.  Still drives good on the road.

 

 

[GTSBoy]

2 hours ago, djr81 said:

The other point to make is don't run a rod end castor rod.  This is where compliance is built into the suspension and removing it trashes your UCA bushes (The rear one, usually). You can get adjustable for length rods with bushes at the front end.

Ah, but there's the rub.  Rod ends make the caster rod work like it should - stops the wheel moving fore-aft under load.  The car improved out of sight when I replaced adjustable Whiteline urethaned caster rods with Teins.  I've been preaching that line for years.

With the GKTech FUCAs, I set them to stock length when I installed them, having no other guide to a starting number.  Ended up with a bit more camber than I wanted so had to wind them out a few mm.  Car is at legal height.

[Meathead]

25 minutes ago, GTSBoy said:

Ah, but there's the rub.  Rod ends make the caster rod work like it should - stops the wheel moving fore-aft under load.  The car improved out of sight when I replaced adjustable Whiteline urethaned caster rods with Teins.  I've been preaching that line for years.

With the GKTech FUCAs, I set them to stock length when I installed them, having no other guide to a starting number.  Ended up with a bit more camber than I wanted so had to wind them out a few mm.  Car is at legal height.

Had a Cusco Pillow ball  castor rod in there for the last 10 tears, if this rubber one is not up to it I'll change back. So far its good.

[djr81]

Had Cusco rods in my thing.  Car was horrible over transverse bumps (Say pot holes or train tracks).  Replacing the rods with something with compliance made a huge difference.