for those of you with lowered stangs...

[94fordmustanggt]

I have had a problem with the lower control arms for about a year now and it's driving me insane. My car is lowered with the Eibach pro-kit from the previous owner. I got the blue oval industries UCA's and LCA's for my 94 GT soon after I purchased it because the bushings in the factory control arms were shot. The blue oval ones were fine for a few years and then it started tearing up the polyurethane bushings in them. It is always the lower control arms- never had a problem with the uppers. I have replaced the bushings in both sides of the lower's where they connect to the rear axle- once on the driver's side and twice on the passenger side. Now the bushing where the LCA hooks to the frame is torn up on the pass side. I took the car to a body shop and had the frame checked and the frame is straight. I took it to a mechanic today to see if he could find something I couldn't with the rear end. He said it's fine. His suggestion was because the rear of the car is lowered- when the car is sitting at ride height the LCA doesn't go down from the frame to the axle it goes slightly up and this could possibly be causing the bushings to bind causing premature failure. His suggestion was to put it back up to stock height. I called Eibach and asked if they had ever heard of anybody having similar problems due to the angle of the LCA and he said I was the first person he had ever heard of with this problem. SO-what's left Has anyone else experienced a similar problem? Help me out before I go postal!

 

[WhiteCobra95]

THe poly bushings are too rigid. The axle is trying to rotate, as it should under hard cornering, and the bushings won't let it happen. The stock rubber ones allow a lot more flex so they last longer. The four link in our cars is a bad design and this issue almost can't be avoided. That's why the more expensive control arms use a three piece poly bushing or just switch to a spherical metal bushing.

You have two options: Replace ALL of the LCA bushings every couple years or buy better arms.

My car is still stock and I know how bad the production bushings are. I've been obsessing over what suspesnsion impreovements to make. If you don't mind drilling some holes the MM pahard bar and LCA's are the way to go. If you're like me and don't want to make any permanant changes, check out Global West.

 

[earleys94gt]

Do you still have the quad-shocks on the back? From what I have heard once the car is lowered, the quad shocks can go.

This is because the quad shocks are supposed to help reduce wheel hop on a stock level car. Once the ride height is lowered, they can start to cause a "binding" action. Just my 0.02

 

[94fordmustanggt]

Do you still have the quad-shocks on the back? From what I have heard once the car is lowered, the quad shocks can go.

This is because the quad shocks are supposed to help reduce wheel hop on a stock level car. Once the ride height is lowered, they can start to cause a "binding" action. Just my 0.02

No the quad shocks are long gone. I have 17x10.5's on the back.

 

[uNdErCoVeR]

Lemme know if you are able to fix this prob.. I have 17x10.5's too. I went to put them on and only one side actually needed to be flipped. So i flipped them both anyways... but I cant wait to do my suspension! I hope i find a good one.

 

[1TallMF]

I agree the problem is likely all the stiff poly bushings. Those bushings don't have alot of give to them, and the rotation of the axle puts a helluvalot of load on them, so they eventually give. If in your shoes, I'd be inclined to move to either 3-piece poly bushings or spherical metal bushings (such as MM arms), as mentioned by WhiteCobra95.

 

[Methodical]

Plus with the MM you can grease the bushings

 

[94fordmustanggt]

Plus with the MM you can grease the bushings

The ones I have have are greasable also. I grease them every time I change oil.

 

[94fordmustanggt]

I agree the problem is likely all the stiff poly bushings. Those bushings don't have alot of give to them, and the rotation of the axle puts a helluvalot of load on them, so they eventually give. If in your shoes, I'd be inclined to move to either 3-piece poly bushings or spherical metal bushings (such as MM arms), as mentioned by WhiteCobra95.

Would I be OK to just replace the lower's and leave the uppers as they are? I've never had a problem with the bushings in them (yet)

 

[Mr. Hawver]

The uppers are probably one of the lead causes of your problem. Maximum Motorsports recommends using stock replacement upper control arms. The complacent rubber bushings in the uppers are just right to avoid binding.

 

[WhiteCobra95]

I'm not sure. If you replaced the LCA's with better ones that allow the axle to rotate, then the upper bushing might start to fail. Apparently the lowers are the week point in the system based on what your experiencing, which I find interesting. In a way it makes sensee since those would see larger amounts of stress (more movement) on the bushings since they're further out on the rotation.

The solid poly bushings on both sides of each arms work well in straight line performance, but cause a lot of problems in cornering. In some cases they can cause the whole rear end to bind up in a hard corner. This can give the illusion of a tighter suspension, but it's tighter in the wrong way. Ultimately it will either damage the control arm mounting locations on the body side or trash the bushings like in your case.

I still haven't found a good solution for this problem without installing a panhard rod. I have debated using the Steeda spherical upper bushing on the axle side along with either MM LCA's or Global Wests, but I'm not sure if this will make the "axle wag" issue worse.

In any case, I think you can make your situation better but the ultimate solution is debatable (wihtout making heavy modification - i.e. torque arm).

 

[94fordmustanggt]

Well for now I guess I'll just replace the bushing. I still have 1 new poly bushing left so might as well fix it for free. When I get some $ I'll definately go with an all new set of arms. WhiteCobra I understand what you're saying about the poly's wearing out due to hard cornering, and I don't really know why that would be an issue for me because my car is just my DD. I don't think it knows what hard cornering is lol. It has a pretty cushy life- mostly hwy miles- RPM's rarely go over 2500. I'm in Florida so all the roads are straight! Does anybody on here have aftermarket control arms that have a lot of miles on them with no problems? I would guess these bushings on mine lasted about 60-80 thousand miles.

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

Do you tighten the bolts while the car is in the air? You should tighten them while it is on the ground. I tightened the ones on my 81 notch in the air. The thing had a horribly stiff suspension and it sat up 29-1/2 inches. I then loosened them, put it on the ground and tightened them......Yeah....lowered the car to 27-1/2"..(where it should be) and the ride was 100% better. The damn bolts were too tight and it was holding the car up and binding everything. This was just in the lowers, I didn't touch the uppers.

 

[94fordmustanggt]

Do you tighten the bolts while the car is in the air? You should tighten them while it is on the ground. I tightened the ones on my 81 notch in the air. The thing had a horribly stiff suspension and it sat up 29-1/2 inches. I then loosened them, put it on the ground and tightened them......Yeah....lowered the car to 27-1/2"..(where it should be) and the ride was 100% better. The damn bolts were too tight and it was holding the car up and binding everything. This was just in the lowers, I didn't touch the uppers.

I put the bushings in and left the bolts loose- put the wheels on it and drove it down the driveway and back into the garage to let the suspension settle a little. Then jacked it up by the diff and tightened the bolts up. The rear suspension was compressed so it should be the same right?