OK, so I'm sitting at the light and a debadged BMW M pulls up next to me. Of course you know where this is going. Honestly this is the fastest car that I have ever tested my car against. Light turns green and we get on it! We leave hard together and my stang is spinning its wheels while still thrusting forward. The Beemer is hooked up and going straight as and arrow. My stang starts to fishtail and I have to peddle the throttle to keep it in control but the engine has a lot more in it. During this the Beemer pulls ahead by half a car and that's where it's going to finish as it was time to shut down. Just a couple hundred feet after getting across the intersection is about all it lasts here in SoCal. Anyhoo.................
First time I had to drive the car with the rear end a bit out of control and I didn't like it. Stang definitely had and has the power to take the car mentioned above but lacked the control.
So I want to get some aftermarket rear lower control arms to help fix this issue and have what I'm trying to put together as a , "Well balanced car". I will later also get some wider tires for the back cause what I have is the factory sized 245/45 19's . But first the rear suspension mods.
Has anybody done this to their ride and can you tell me if it did in fact make an improvement with control and straight forward acceleration?. dpchug.gif
Control arms and relocation brackets help with traction some but what they do more is eliminate wheel hop. If your not hopping then you probably need better/wider tires in the rear. However once you put better/wider tires on there is a good chance you will end up with wheel hop. So yes, get the control arms/relocation brackets. Then if you still have traction issues get better tires or ease off the gas a bit till you have some traction.
I recently installed a set of J&M Extreme rear lower control arms on my '14 GT. I bought them as a Christmas present to myself [ I installed them on Christmas day in fact since it was warm then ]. I was going to do a review of them here anyway so now is as good a time as any to do so. First I want to make it clear that since they have only been on the car for a short time this is necessarily a preliminary and incomplete evaluation. They seem to have totally eliminated the wheel hop that is so common to these cars on hard acceleration. This has to be tempered by the fact that I am using my winter tires and wheels. These consist of my original base 18x8 wheels and 235x50x18 P Zero all season tires. It has also gotten much colder since I installed the control arms. These aren't the grippyest tires under the best of conditions and the cold only makes it worse. Keeping this in mind and the fact that I wouldn't ever consider pushing myself or the car to ten tenths on public roads it appears that so far at least, they are free of any undesirable or dangerous handling characteristics, eg. snap oversteer. On the minus side there is a slight, but noticeable increase in normal bearing noises, ie. rear axle & diff bearings. There is also a noticeable increase in the clunking sounds that these cars with the stock two piece driveshaft and manual transmissions are known for, especially at low speeds or when shifting slowly and normally. Neither of these noise increases are all that bad, but if you're particularly fussy about having a quiet car [ why on earth did you buy a performance car anyway? ] you will probably find it annoying. On a final note for those interested in technical details the J&M's are made of .120 wall 1026 DOM tubing. They were the only poly bushing arms I could find that combined the long life and relatively quiet running of poly with the ability to articulate [ rear only ] of a spherical rod end bearing.
From everything I've read, it's a combination of upgrading both the lower control arms along with the upper control arm to fully eliminate wheel hop. Some have also said a upgraded panhard bar helps too, but I'm skeptical on this.
My car is put away for winter, but a few weeks ago I did install BMR LCAs along with their UCA and mount. I had severe wheel hop at the drag strip so I can't wait to try these new parts out. Installation was simple and straightforward. A lot of folks complained about installing the UCA; I didn't think it was that bad at all.
For starters I want to buy the BMR fixed LCA's. The ones that sell for $139.00. They are a little beefier than the ones they sell for $89.00. I'll use the stock mount and later get the UCA from BMR. The lowers I can install myself but the upper does look a bit tougher. Do you recommend a fixed or adjustable upper? The drop in the rear of my stang is only 1", hardly noticeable, I have the Roush springs in the rear. :smile:
One of my first mods were the rear LCA's and relocation brackets using 1 hole down from stock position. Wheel hop disappeared and traction increased. I went with BMR with poly ends. Best bang for your buck in my opinion besides bigger and better tires. If you are lowered you definitely want/need relocation brackets.
I don't believe an upgraded Panhard bar will do anything to reduce wheel hop.
Right out of the gate, the biggest improvement are summer tires. I've almost ditched my car three times trying to do 0-60 runs using my dash computer with those horrible, worth for nothing, OEM all season tires. Any amount of solid launch, those tires break loose and my Stang swings out. I will not do street light runs against anyone during time period between late fall and early spring when I'm running the all seasons. When April swings around, the summer tires go on, and my launches stay straight and smooth with just the right amount of modulating pedal. To hell with those BMW's.....I'll lay waste to them all (unless they're the $100,000 plus versions)!!!
JediDave
P.S. LCA's/UCA's and aluminum driveshaft's can increase noise and induce gear whine. I put a aluminum one piece driveshaft on 14 GT/CS and it created some annoying gear whine. I took it out and reinstalled my factory driveshaft, and bam, gear whine gone. It all comes down to individual vehicles and how each one reacts to suspension/drivetrain mods. Some handle them well with little noise, and others, like mine, roar like a Banshee!
Sounds like you're spinning, but not having wheel hop. Control arms will not fix spinning.
If you're lowered, relocation brackets are a good idea. I don't think they are ideal for a non-lowered car though.
If you are running factory 245s that is your problem. Don't change anything else until you address that problem.
Also don't try to squeeze giant tires on the same wheels. Start saving for a good wheel/tire combo now, or get the best 245 or 255 you can find
Then you are good to go with 285/35/19's in the back just like Boss 302 (or all 4 corners so you can rotate front to back) assuming you have the right offset and backspacing etc.
I have 275/40/19 continental extreme contact DW's on all 4 corners. (Summer tires only) I wish I had wide enough rims for the 285's on the street.
Actually, those 245/45's are being stretched half an inch above max recommended. While I don't have much problem with running half an inch out of spec on the too-wide-wheel end, I wonder if that makes the tires more apt to follow road contours. Try to recall if the road had 'truck ruts' or similar out-of-flatness where you were fishtailing.
At this point, with traction problems but no hop, just relo brackets could help by increasing the anti-squat % (plants rear tires more quickly). If you can get your existing rear LCAs to fit up to somebody's relo brackets, try just that for starters. Not even LCAs yet.
Yes I know the tires are stretched a bit, I just wanted to get the new wheels on while I saved for new tires and the fact that the tires I have are really great shape, Continental extreme all seasons. I know now these aren't the best for hook up.
This may sound funny but I noticed the tires breaking loose more easily under hard acceleration when I had the new wheels mounted. Could this be because of the 1/2" stretch?
Don't forget that Norm said to try relocation brackets first (after tires) with your stock LCA's. Personally I have been very satisfied with BMR's relocation brackets which will work with all their other aftermarket rear suspension components.
But be aware that with relocation brackets if not lowered I would try 1 hole down from stock. And be aware that you may want to consider having the axle tubes welded so they don't twist and displace your rear end significantly to the point the thrust is way off and damage your rear fenders. Special welding procedures required with the dissimilar materials to avoid damage. It can be done without removing rear end/axle assemblies.
consider having the axle tubes welded so they don't twist and displace your rear end significantly to the point the thrust is way off and damage your rear fenders. Special welding procedures required with the dissimilar materials to avoid damage. It can be done without removing rear end/axle assemblies.
Very good advice, particularly with LCA relo brackets since they apply greater torsion to the axle tubes to diff housing joints than the shorter OE LCA brackets can.
I believe your response was to JediDave. I did the same thing but because I ran the shaft out of tolerance and messed up the CV joint I believe. I am finally going to send it back to get fixed this weekend. Then I may or may not put it back in. Pain in the butt on ramps and jack stands to get it torqued back in with a long torque wrench and having to get in and out of the car to rotate the shaft. Maybe I will just pay the tech at the dealer if I have the extra money. Oops threadjack.
Nobody said anything about shocks? Bilstein Drag Series Rear 46mm Monotube Shocks are the best! Even the bilstein sport shocks are better than the stock style(Monroe ETC).
Not getting much of anything. But some stiction does develop over time and the car does feel like the suspension is moving 'smoother' immediately after re-lubing the bushings & Johnny-joints.
I have the standard J&M lower LCA's (not the extreme ones) and they are great. I can't say how well they eliminated wheel hop because I installed them when I lowered my stang, along with a steeda upper control arm, bmr panhard bar, and whiteline LCA relocation brackets. For a non lowered car lower control arms + good tires should get rid of the wheel hop, if not add the upper control arm.
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