Steeda ball joint or Cobra control arms?

Screamin' Demon · Jun 5, 2007

Alright, guys I need some help here pretty quick if anyone can offer any suggestions. My ball joints in my 97 are shot and so are my inner tie rods. I ruined 2 front tires due to this and not being able to get the car dialed in right with an alignment. It was fine then all the sudden bam.

OK I am trying to decide if Steeda ball joints are the way to go or to buy the Cobra control arms. The car is lowered with Steeda sport springs so I want to know if the ball joints in the COBRA A-arms will hold up to the lowered geometry of the car currently. I also hear the Steeda ball joints will lower it even more, which i can't have as I hit EVERYTHING.

So here is my list at the moment:

Caster/Camber plates
Inner tie rod
Outer tie rod
Ball joints

OR:
CC Plates
Inner
Bumpsteer(steeda)
Steeda ball joints

Money is tight, can I get away with the Cobra a-arms?

Sorry long post(also posted on corral)

Dragstr05 · Jun 5, 2007

You'll need to fix the tie rod issue nomatter what. How are the tires worn? If its a toe issue (tie rods), you probably have severe wear on the inside/outside edges.

Getting the steeda extended balljoints will help to make your control arms more parallel to the ground. I suppose this could affect camber, but I've never heard of anyone with CC plates having an issue setting camber up with stock control arms/ball joints.

Do both the inner and outer tie rods have play? If its just the inner, you dont need the outers, you just need to transfer the outer end on to the new inner. If you can do this yourself, I think the cheapest and most effective route would be CC plates (to get the alignment right), Cobra control arms or just the ball joints and press them in (if you need a shop to press them, just take them the arms and balljoints, dont pay to R+R the control arms), and whatever tie rod configuration you need plus an alignment.

Suspension on these cars gets stupid expensive if you do it right, thats why mine is still stock ride height. It seems like just doing springs screws the entire front suspension up, which in a way it really does.

Screamin' Demon · Jun 5, 2007

Yes I wish I would have known more about suspension on these cars when I lowered it. I have been getting a popping in the right front and both tires are worn on the INSIDES only. They are showing wires while the rest of the tires has a little life left. I did get 45,000 out of these Nitto's which I am happy about, but this wear came out of nowhere.

I was going to replace the Inner and outer tie rods just for maintenance, but the inners have tons of play and the outers seem like they will be right behind. Ball joints seem to be squeaking, but again I am going to replace anyways.

I guess my biggest concern is the Cobra control arms wearing the ball joint due to the suspension being lowered and don't want to keep replacing them. Will they last you think?

The CC plates are bonus

Thanks for the reply!

SaleenGT2001 · Jun 5, 2007

do the cobra control arms. they are cheaper than buying ball joints and having them installed by a shop. hell, a good ball joint willrun you about $45 each. the cobra arms are a good deal!

the inners are fairly easy to replace. you will need an inner tie rod tool. they cost about $100 but you may be able to rent one. the outers dont cost too much so you might as well replace them while you're at it.

the M/M plates are great. they are the ONLY plates i recomend to customers b/c they are so damn easy to adjust. steeda plates suck!!

Screamin' Demon · Jun 5, 2007

Just ordered CC plates tonight! Hmmm nice!

I am leaning towards the cobra control arms too

...and some new Nittos.

Back2Mustangs · Jun 5, 2007

When I lowered my 96 GT I installed the following parts:

> 2" fixed-rate Springs
> Polyurithane A-arm Bushings
> Polyurithane Sway-Bar Bushings
> Tokico's
> Steeda Bump Steer kit
> UPR 4-bolt Caster/Camber plates

The wheels could be properly aligned, however there were still issues. My A-arms were angled, severely upright and I had alot of noise... almost as if the Tokico's I'd just installed were blown. But since all the parts were new I I couldn't figure out where the noise was coming from. So I ordered the Steeda X-2 ball joints, installed them to bring my a-arms down and get my front sway-bar parallel to the ground, and voila! The noise went away and my handling even improved a noticeable amount! They set the wheels out nicely in the fender-well too. There was a visible difference.

Since X-2 ball joints are taller than your standard ball joint, it doesn't lower your car more at all. It only pushes the A-arm down, away from the spindle. The X-2's come with spacers to use with your springs so that your ride-height doesn't change. They put your A-arm back into place and put your wheels closer to the correct range of geometry they should operate in. I rented the tool from AutoZone to remove the old ball joints and rented the tool to press the new ones in. Getting the ball-joints out and the new ones in was the easiest, fastest part of the whole process. The X-2 ball joints will solve your lowered-car woes. The bump steer kit - I really don't know how much of a difference it makes, but just looking at it's mechanics gives me the feeling that its better than the stock outer rod-ends.

I got my X-2 ball joints new on ebay for 99.95, shipped. Shop around. They're out there at a reasonable price.

I'm replacing the k-member, a-arms and coil springs (to coil-overs) when my new motor goes in. I assume I'll have to pop in two new X-2's in the new A-arms to keep everything square, but its worth it.

CRZYHRSGT · Jun 6, 2007

Just curious, what about these from Ford Racing? They're a little cheaper and I have yet to get anything bad from FRPP. Anyone have any experience with these?

97speedster · Jun 6, 2007

Are you running off-set bushings or a Bumpsteer?

If you don't have either one that will be your problem with noise and tire wear. You have to have one or the other.

But keep in mind also that you cannot use them both together or you will have the same problem. I have Steeda sport springs and Steeda bumpsteer kit with 4 bolt Steeda caster camber plates and mine aligned out perfect. Keep in mind too that there are 2 different bump steer kits too. One for manual racks and one for power steering racks.

Screamin' Demon · Jun 7, 2007

Yea If I go with the ball joints I will be getting the Steeda Bumpsteer as well. I Just ordered the MM Caster Camber plates. And I got standard Rack bushings because I was reading that about the steering rack.

97speedster · Jun 7, 2007

You can't put on both ball joints and bumpsteer it is either one or the other. The bump steer eliminates the ball joint.

Back2Mustangs · Jun 7, 2007

67effie said:
You can't put on both ball joints and bumpsteer it is either one or the other. The bump steer eliminates the ball joint.

How? I don't understand. The bump-steer is just a spherical bearing on the end of the tie-rod end. The only thing the taller ball joint does is lower the a-arm and spring at the same rate. The bump-steer tie-rod ends attach to the spindle so how do they conflict?

From what I understand, "bump-steer" is just your wheels not pointing in the right direction as they move vertically, up and down, during turning. The bump-steer kit supposed to eliminate this and also help will keeping the car tracking straight.

Taller ball joints bring your a-arms back down, nearer to parallel with the ground, so that the Sway-Bar and A-arm are both within their effective range of operation.

Screamin' Demon · Jun 7, 2007

Yeah my understanding agrees with back2Mustangs. Are you thinking of the steering rack bushings? Ive seen many people running the Steeda ball joints WITH the Steeda bumpsteer, as they are supposed to work together and help each other.

97speedster · Jun 7, 2007

Obviously you have no clue as to what a bump steer kit is. click on this link to see what I am talking about. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.crazymustang.com/images/bump-steer/P3170020.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.crazymustang.com/bump-steer-kit-install.php&h=480&w=640&sz=39&hl=en&start=9&um=1&tbnid=RBCc4yJsUFGpzM:&tbnh=103&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsteeda%2Bbump%2Bsteer%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3DSUNA,SUNA:2006-08,SUNA:en

Look at the pics of the ball joint and the bumpsteer kit. The solid rod on the bump steer kit replaces the ball joint and the spherical bearing on the bottom it what you get. If you can show pics of both ball joints and bump steer installed I will show you an anomily.Also you should never install offset rack bushings with a bumpsteer kit. They are both intended for the same purpose and it will cause major problems with your alignment.

Back2Mustangs · Jun 7, 2007

In the pictures below you can see the ball-joint (pressed into the end of the A-arm) onto which the spindle will bolt to. the tie-rod can be seen also, and is not connected to the ball joint. Perhaps you are thinking of the ball-joint being in the end of the stock tie-rod -> and there is one. But what is commonly referred to as the "ball-joint" is the large one that connects the A-arm to the spindle.

97speedster · Jun 8, 2007

I stand corrected I was inded thinking of the outer tie rod end. Open mouth isert both feet.

Screamin' Demon · Jun 8, 2007

67effie-

It's alright, I could see where you were coming from, but I think we were all just a little confused. It's all good bro.

Back2Mustangs · Jun 8, 2007

67effie said:
I stand corrected I was inded thinking of the outer tie rod end. Open mouth isert both feet.

Not at all. You weren't wrong. We were just talking about different ball-joints.

Take care guys.
Michael

DropTopPony · Jun 8, 2007

I run the 03/04 Cobra A arms with Steeda Sport Springs and everything aligned up perfectly. The Cobra A arms are designed for a slightly lowered stance compared to the GT so maybe thats why they work well...

bakos24 · Jun 8, 2007

Are the Cobra A arms worth it to upgrade?

bullitt 736 · Jun 8, 2007

The Steeda spings don't lower the car so much that you need to worry about a bumpsteer kit or the X2 ball joints. The FRPP arms include low friction ball joints and stiiffer a-arm bushings. I put these on my car as my ball joints and bushings were worn out. The cost of the arms was about the same as buying new joints and bushings.

I would replace the inner and outer tie rods and while you're there replace the rack bushings with urethane ones. You don't need offset bushings assuming you have the stock k member.

Just these new parts will make your suspension better than new.

Steeda ball joint or Cobra control arms?

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