It really bums me out how Ford Racing has dropped so many of the Fox/SN95 parts like the control arms you mentioned. They had some good stuff in both upgrade parts and replacement parts at reasonable prices, and al lot of the production-based upgrade parts were far better quality than most of what you find in the aftermarket. Ever since these FR items got dropped from their catalog most retailers have just used it as an excuse to price the remaining stock through the roof. …okay, rant over.
To your question:
The options really depend on what you’re going to do with your car; daily driver, weekend cruiser, road racing, …..
I installed the D-arms on my car a couple years ago and I like them. A noticeable improvement over the stock setup, but it didn’t fix my complaints about the funky steering feel (that requires a new low-lash rack and a solid steering shaft).
So here’s how I would approache the options:
1) Daily driver: If your A-arms are in good shape, sand blast them, slap on a new coat of paint, and see if you can get replacement ball-joints and bushings for an ’03 to ’04 Cobra (double check to make sure they’ll fit). Have them all pressed in at a shop, and it will probably feel worlds better than your current warn-out parts.
2) Weekend cruiser: Check out the ball joints that Steeda offers. I’ve never used their stuff, but it seems like they’ve put some thought into their ball joint offerings. Others could probably chime in here. There may also be some other good options on Maximum Motorsports site 0 read their articles, they have great free tech advice. Then, look at some polyurethane bushings for the A-Arms to stiffen up the front. (I ALMOST replaced mine with polyurethane bushings, but since they were brand new I couldn’t bring myself to do it.)
3) Something more serious: Same ball joint plan as above, but check out the delrin bushing that Global West offers for our cars. They’re pricey and probably make the car ride rough, but they do change the A-arm geometry similar to the D-arms. I haven’t installed these on any of my cars, but I have a bunch of friends with GM vehicles who have used them (in the front and rear suspension) and swear by them. Again, Maximum Motorsports sells something similar on their site.
I think that if you find the right parts combo for your application, you’ll end up with A-arms as good as or probably better than the FR D-arms. Unfortunately, you’re going to pay for the separate parts by a factor of about 2x$ to put them together. So if you don’t have the time to mess around with it and you just need something to bolt on, nab the D-arms if you can still find them for $340 or less.
I hope that helps.
