LCA questions???

[bluextc]

I refuse to buy any of that crap called MAC. I have seen too many of their suspension parts break. It is pure junk. I would get MM. They are built strong, have spherical bushings on the axle end and poly on the chasis end and eliminate binding of the axle and prevents axle movement. One of the best setups. You really dont need UCA's as the stockers are fine.

The car may have a tad bit more NVH from them but they are more of an improvement over the stock LCA's

A good set right here.

What's NVH??? I think I want to order my parts tonight... and thought mm were supposed to be the best... but these shop owners always try to talk me out of the brand I want and say it's not necessary to spend so much...

 

[Gearbanger 101]

Unless you do a lot of autocross, or strait line drag racing with a set of Drag Radials or better out back, don't even bother with the LCA's. They'll just turn into one of those mods you know you have, but never feel.

You'd never notice them under anything but the most aggressive driving and they'll actually make your 60ft times worse without a good set of tires out back to match them up to. Not to mention provide a harsher ride out back with the solid or urethane bushings replacing the factory rubber ones. Yes….once you’ve decided that you’re going to make this car handle like it’s on rail, or plan on spending a lot of time at the strip, then by all means upgrade them, but otherwise, don’t waste your money. There’s a reason MM, Steeda and the Previous Kenny Brown Performance promote “handling/drag racing packages” over just the sale of a single item. You’ve got to go over the car from one end to the other to really notice the difference the components as a whole make. Anyone who states anything to the contrary has fooled themselves into thinking they've actually made an improvement to their car in order to justify the money they've spent!

 

[propellerhead]

MM LCAs reduced the fishtailing when I stomp on it.

Thats crap from the new breed of stangers that havent tried them or are scared of trying them. The "plenum generation" if you will. Back in the day, pulleys were proven over and over again with dynos and track times on these very boards. For those that remember, I thinking of when Bill Putnam actually frequented stangnet. San remembers I'm sure.

How can you argue with improved fuel economy (and about 7hp) for 150 bucks anyway - gas is crazy expensive these days.

Pulleys made a bigger improvement on Fox bodied Mustangs. Not so much on the SN95s. Unfortunately, I have no first hand info on this. Just a statement I've read several times.

 

[san~man]

Unless you do a lot of autocross, or strait line drag racing with a set of Drag Radials or better out back, don't even bother with the LCA's. They'll just turn into one of those mods you know you have, but never feel.

You'd never notice them under anything but the most aggressive driving and they'll actually make your 60ft times worse without a good set of tires out back to match them up to. Not to mention provide a harsher ride out back with the solid or urethane bushings replacing the factory rubber ones. Yes….once you’ve decided that you’re going to make this car handle like it’s on rail, or plan on spending a lot of time at the strip, then by all means upgrade them, but otherwise, don’t waste your money. There’s a reason MM, Steeda and the Previous Kenny Brown Performance promote “handling/drag racing packages” over just the sale of a single item. You’ve got to go over the car from one end to the other to really notice the difference the components as a whole make. Anyone who states anything to the contrary has fooled themselves into thinking they've actually made an improvement to their car in order to justify the money they've spent!

Brian,
I have to disagree with you there. After my friend and I installed my MM std LCA's, we went out for a test drive. I could immediately feel the difference as the rear planted from a standstill takeoff. Even he noticed the difference (he has a 00 GT) and was surprised as well.
San

 

[bluextc]

I'm going to get mm sfc's and lca's. Next question is whether to spend the extra money on the black sfc's, or just get the bare steel? Is the extra money for the black to prevent rust???

 

[blackfang]

Unless you do a lot of autocross, or strait line drag racing with a set of Drag Radials or better out back, don't even bother with the LCA's. They'll just turn into one of those mods you know you have, but never feel.

Well I felt a difference as just about every other person who has installed these. Worst advice yet in this thread.

You'd never notice them under anything but the most aggressive driving and they'll actually make your 60ft times worse without a good set of tires out back to match them up to. Not to mention provide a harsher ride out back with the solid or urethane bushings replacing the factory rubber ones. Yes….once you’ve decided that you’re going to make this car handle like it’s on rail, or plan on spending a lot of time at the strip, then by all means upgrade them, but otherwise, don’t waste your money. There’s a reason MM, Steeda and the Previous Kenny Brown Performance promote “handling/drag racing packages” over just the sale of a single item. You’ve got to go over the car from one end to the other to really notice the difference the components as a whole make. Anyone who states anything to the contrary has fooled themselves into thinking they've actually made an improvement to their car in order to justify the money they've spent!

Sorry more innacurate info as the stock LCA's suck compared to MM ones. Honestly if you plan on building the suspension for drag racing then you are stupid in general for not running a decent tire. However, that doesnt mean these wouldnt improve handling and making the car better to drive for those daily drivers.

Yes they do provide a harsher ride aka Noise Vibration Harshness because the bushings do not allow the axle to move as much like the stock ones. This causes the rear to be tighter and plant better on launch. Being I got these things for under 180 bucks I am not worried about the money justifying having them. Hundreds of people and others including many top shops must have fooled themselves then.

I hate to say it but being in this hobby for 7 years now on my 3rd Mustang and having spoken with alot of people, seeing a ton of threads over the years from various sites, this has got to be the worst advice I have ever seen regarding LCA's.

My HPM SFC's had a gold plating but when we welded them on, I prepped the SFC's and undercarriage by using a die grinding with a sanding wheel to clean it up. Then when we were done welding, I painted them black with rustoleum.

 

[blackfang]

What's NVH??? I think I want to order my parts tonight... and thought mm were supposed to be the best... but these shop owners always try to talk me out of the brand I want and say it's not necessary to spend so much...

Noise Vibration and Harshness. That is a term we use in some of our customer concerns.

That is because they A) want to make the sale as it puts money in their pockets or B) they really shouldnt be giving out advice if they recommend some of the *****tiest products like Mac UCA's and LCA's

 

[steveb24]

sounds like your spending alot of money on stuff you know little about. do your own research, than make decisions. im just being critical, not calling you out. honestly, if i were to do it all over again, i wouldnt buy lca's and sfc's untill i was making some real power. i also feel like you were just "convinced" to buy 4.10's, and im sure youll like them.. but we'll see for how long. dont be "convinced" by people to buy $500+ dollar parts w/ install's, because you might regret it and thats the worst thing can happen. i feel like w/ some of my mods, i wanted them just to have them in my sig like everyone else, but when im acctually in this car we all love to talk about, driving like i do 95% of the time, i dont feel a damn difference.

 

[Gearbanger 101]

Brian,
I have to disagree with you there. After my friend and I installed my MM std LCA's, we went out for a test drive. I could immediately feel the difference as the rear planted from a standstill takeoff. Even he noticed the difference (he has a 00 GT) and was surprised as well.
San

I didn’t say anything about them not allowing the rear end to plant any harder. As a matter of fact, that’s exactly what they do. That being said, I can't count on both hands the amount of guys I've seen at the track who've changed nothing else, end up with worse 60ft times because of the use of beefed up LCA's alone. Yes, they plant the rear end harder, but that's where the problem lies. A stock radial has a harder compound rubber on the tread face and stiffer side walls that don't buckle or hook anything like a slick, or even a DOT drag radial. When you stomp the rear end like that, it "shocks" the rear tires causing them to break loose that much easier. Lower Control Arms are great for consistency, but without further traction enhancements, your more often than not consistently worse.

Well I felt a difference as just about every other person who has installed these. Worst advice yet in this thread.

You believe what you'd like, but the LCA's on an otherwise stock car do very little to improve strait line acceleration and handling alone. This misinformation has been running around for years now and instead of questioning it, most people just accept it as gospel because it seems to be the buzz amongst enthusiasts that don’t often know any better. Ask anyone who’s serious about drag racing, or autocross racing and they’ll tell you that running any one part alone, isn’t going to win you any races!

You call it bad advice….I say the only thing worse than bad advice, is a person who consistently walks around with their blinders on and believes everything they hear, just because it sounds like the right answer. Before you criticize, go back and re-read what I posted above and pay attention this time. I didn’t imply a set of LCA’s wouldn’t improve traction or handling at all. I stated that without additional supporting parts, their impact would be minimal. LCA’s alone won’t shave any time at all off of your track time, but combine them with stickier tires, sub frame connectors, autocross or drag friendly shock and spring combinations and then you’ve got a contender.

My suggestion to anyone wanting improve the way their car handles or accelerates would be to purchase all or most of the suspension and/or chassis stiffening components at once and install them together. Or if money is tight, buy them one at a time and wait until you’ve accumulated the necessary combination of parts before installing them for maximum effect. It’s just like adding a set of cams to a stock car. The cams alone although they provide a nice lumpy idle really won’t improve things a whole lot, but combining them with host of intake and exhaust mods and/or a recalibrated EEC will really let you extract their full potential. And in turn provide a much more satisfying feeling afterwards.

Be careful where you’re pointing fingers and what you’re quoting as bad advice….cause the guy who decides to go against the grain may be the one who walks up and down both sides of your car at the track next time you run…..and perhaps with a lot fewer high dollar and possibly unnecessary parts in their car when they do it.

 

[blackfang]

I didn’t say anything about them not allowing the rear end to plant any harder. As a matter of fact, that’s exactly what they do. That being said, I can't count on both hands the amount of guys I've seen at the track who've changed nothing else, end up with worse 60ft times because of the use of beefed up LCA's alone. Yes, they plant the rear end harder, but that's where the problem lies. A stock radial has a harder compound rubber on the tread face and stiffer side walls that don't buckle or hook anything like a slick, or even a DOT drag radial. When you stomp the rear end like that, it "shocks" the rear tires causing them to break loose that much easier. Lower Control Arms are great for consistency, but without further traction enhancements, your more often than not consistently worse.



You believe what you'd like, but the LCA's on an otherwise stock car do very little to improve strait line acceleration and handling alone. This misinformation has been running around for years now and instead of questioning it, most people just accept it as gospel because it seems to be the buzz amongst enthusiasts that don’t often know any better. Ask anyone who’s serious about drag racing, or autocross racing and they’ll tell you that running any one part alone, isn’t going to win you any races!

You call it bad advice….I say the only thing worse than bad advice, is a person who consistently walks around with their blinders on and believes everything they hear, just because it sounds like the right answer. Before you criticize, go back and re-read what I posted above and pay attention this time. I didn’t imply a set of LCA’s wouldn’t improve traction or handling at all. I stated that without additional supporting parts, their impact would be minimal. LCA’s alone won’t shave any time at all off of your track time, but combine them with stickier tires, sub frame connectors, autocross or drag friendly shock and spring combinations and then you’ve got a contender.

My suggestion to anyone wanting improve the way their car handles or accelerates would be to purchase all or most of the suspension and/or chassis stiffening components at once and install them together. Or if money is tight, buy them one at a time and wait until you’ve accumulated the necessary combination of parts before installing them for maximum effect. It’s just like adding a set of cams to a stock car. The cams alone although they provide a nice lumpy idle really won’t improve things a whole lot, but combining them with host of intake and exhaust mods and/or a recalibrated EEC will really let you extract their full potential. And in turn provide a much more satisfying feeling afterwards.

Be careful where you’re pointing fingers and what you’re quoting as bad advice….cause the guy who decides to go against the grain may be the one who walks up and down both sides of your car at the track next time you run…..and perhaps with a lot fewer high dollar and possibly unnecessary parts in their car when they do it.

I am not saying just get LCA's and be done with it. Nowhere in my post did I say that. I am arguing the fact that those who say getting them is a waste. Yes it is better to get the entire package. However many cant afford every bolt on for their car all at once so they get bit by bit when they can, just like suspension. Some cant get everything at once. Yes each item by itself wont improve alot, but all together it will.

I am not worried at the track. I have gotten what I need that I want and have researched it. I researched my suspension, the gears, what bolt ons make the most power and comparing them with other companies, even have asked advice from top shops. I am not out to have the fastest cobra, but I do alright with the choice I made.

 

[Stang|ess]

honestly, if i were to do it all over again, i wouldnt buy lca's and sfc's untill i was making some real power.

+1. I could feel NO difference at all when I had my MM FL SFCs welded on. Kind of regretting them since I want to go with a side exhaust setup .

 

[bluextc]

Well I've found out I can't get the lca's yet anyway... I have $200 in AmericanMuscle gift certs and $100 in an amex gift card... so basically I have to shop at AmericanMuscle and they do not have the lca's that I feel I should get (according to mm's site), and the amex gift card will not even put a dent in them. I guess at this point I just have to get the sfc's and save the rest until I get the ok to buy more parts.
I can't buy the whole deal at once, budget does not allow, so I have to build my car one or two parts at a time.
And as far as later becoming unhappy with the 4.10's, I don't think that will happen. This car is my dd, but I made the decision that I do not care so much about it being comfortable, or a show car. I do want it to look nice, but am more interested in turning it into a car that will do well at the track, but still be driveable on the street... this is what I am working towards, one part at a time. And I do research the parts I buy... here, other websites, the books on performance that I buy, and the various magazines, which I rarely trust as I assume they are biased to their advertisers. It's ok to be critical of me, I understand that.. but also understand that I am new to this, it's only been about a year since I started even trying to learn how to do this, and I am happy with what I have accomplished so far and with how far the car has come, and I mainly have the people here to thank for helping me with this. And thank you to everyone who has done so either by answering my questions directly, or posting in the threads I pull up in the searches.

:SNSign:

Sorry for the long post...

 

[steveb24]

thats good to hear really. just wanted to make sure tho because modding a mustang gt is a very addicting and hard thing to do. addicting because these are the best cars ever and we want them to be "fast" and look sexyer than they already do in stock form. hard because its a small 2 valve v8, and cheap parts and HP is hard to come by. my stang is not "comfterable" to drive on the steet either, thats at least what others would say, and i still have to stand by 4.10's being too much and sometimes dangerous for a dd. do what you do tho, and really, give pro3 a look if you really do want some LCA's.

 

[bluextc]

I'll look into them, but like I said, I have to use what money I have at this time at American Muscle, and they are not carrying pro3, so lca's are out for now. I thought about this thread all day and realized I have been a pita with my stupid neverending questions, so I am going to cut back on them and just try to learn what I'm doing more quietly. Thanks for all the input and help.

 

[blackfang]

+1. I could feel NO difference at all when I had my MM FL SFCs welded on. Kind of regretting them since I want to go with a side exhaust setup .

See, the problem is people expect they should feel a gain or a difference for something for it to be worth something. SFC's aren't going to be that noticeable, but they sure are worth it for the car. Makes the chassis much stronger and helps eliminate flex even in an accident.

You can always cash in on a decent Group Purchase somewhere. I guess thats the advantage of actively posting on almost 10+ Mustang sites. I got my MM LCA's to my door for under 200 bucks from a GP.

 

[JOEGTS]

If you want to hook at the track just buy a set of M/T's. Those tires are EVIL!

 

[tomustang]

+1. I could feel NO difference at all when I had my MM FL SFCs welded on. Kind of regretting them since I want to go with a side exhaust setup .

Drive it harder in a turn, you'll notice them

 

[blackfang]

Drive it harder in a turn, you'll notice them

You are alive Tom

 

[tomustang]

You are alive Tom

Yes bro! tooting around living it up

 

[blackfang]

Ha ha ha.