Tubular K members and A arms

invertmast

Founding Member
Dec 12, 2001
379
0
16
North Port, FL
Ok,
I'm looking at getting a full tubular front suspension. I REALLY like the Maxmimum motorsports stuff, but i cant afford it. Soo i've come up with either QA1 or Granatelli motorsports. Does anyone have any experience with either of these companies? I've heard some companies make them out of materials that aren't the best for Daily street driving, i just forgot what material not to get.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thomas
 
invertmast said:
Ok,
I'm looking at getting a full tubular front suspension. I REALLY like the Maxmimum motorsports stuff, but i cant afford it. Soo i've come up with either QA1 or Granatelli motorsports. Does anyone have any experience with either of these companies? I've heard some companies make them out of materials that aren't the best for Daily street driving, i just forgot what material not to get.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thomas

Ive got a PA racing k-member and A-arms. There are very high quality pieces for the price. I got mine with the spring perches so that I can still run my coil springs. Granatelli's K looks just like the MM one mostly because they copied the design. I would stay away from them. Just because it looks like theirs doesnt make it as good as theirs. PA makes theirs in either chromoly or mild steel. Jason @ PA recommended for me mild steel for mine because its a DD. Check them out at www.paracing.com
 
Good question is how would the Mustang hold up if God forbid you had a serious front end collision. What would your car insurance do/claim or denial if you so altered the car?

You are probably going to have to "roll the dice" if you do this mod. It seems very appealing though. Good luck with your decision.
 
invertmast said:
Ok,
I'm looking at getting a full tubular front suspension. I REALLY like the Maxmimum motorsports stuff, but i cant afford it. Soo i've come up with either QA1 or Granatelli motorsports. Does anyone have any experience with either of these companies? I've heard some companies make them out of materials that aren't the best for Daily street driving, i just forgot what material not to get.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thomas
Granatelli is GARBAGE.
Do it right the first time, and you don't need a tubular K in order to handle great. Save up for what you want

mrvax said:
Good question is how would the Mustang hold up if God forbid you had a serious front end collision. What would your car insurance do/claim or denial if you so altered the car?

You are probably going to have to "roll the dice" if you do this mod. It seems very appealing though. Good luck with your decision.

Trust me the mustang will either hold up, to the point where it'll snap you in half with the absorbsion, or the K member will cut right through the firewall and say hi to you. The mustang already has a great crash test rating for the front (trust me I know by experence) You do not want to alter it, and if anything does happen and the insurancce finds out, you're done. There is a reason why no company tests there aftermarket K member in a collision test.
 
invertmast said:
Ok,
I'm looking at getting a full tubular front suspension. I REALLY like the Maxmimum motorsports stuff, but i cant afford it. Soo i've come up with either QA1 or Granatelli motorsports. Does anyone have any experience with either of these companies? I've heard some companies make them out of materials that aren't the best for Daily street driving, i just forgot what material not to get.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thomas
If you're looking to do daily driving, then get one that is made of Chromoly steel. It is stronger than mild steel, and will hold up to the needs of daily driving without bending. I personally wouldn't buy the QA1 due to the fact that it is made in China, but then again, I'm going to be running their shocks and struts on my car, but that is only because I can't find a nice set of American made shocks and struts.:mad:

I have no personal experience with Granatelli. I've only heard people's reviews. Many people complain about Granatelli, so I don't know. Do a search, and see what you come up with.

If you're planning on running the stock springs, then you will need to either reuse your stock a-arms, or buy a set of a-arms with spring perches welded on to them. If convertering to coil overs, then you can run what ever kind of a-arm you pretty much want, just as long as it will fit the k-member. Be sure to also invest in a bump steer kit with any aftermaret k-member, as this is always recommended. You don't want to do a good job, and then end up having to tear back in there just to install a bump steer kit cause when you hit a bump, you have a hard time holding onto the steering wheel. If you converter to coil overs, get a set of caster cambet plates in a 4 bolt series.

I will be using the Maximum motorsport caster camber plates when I do a front end suspension swap and coil over conversion.
 
I have the PA racing K/A arms with the QA1 coilovers. GREAT setup, but there was some serious grinding involded to get the motormount to fit...also have to grind the shocks to get the coilover sleeve to fit. Takes some work and its not as DD friendly because of the "shock" of every bump being transmitted right into the car with 0 rubber and rattles the dash quite often...but its worth it to me. Handles pretty good for a full drag setup up front...actually I think better than stock now that I have been pushing it a little.

www.modulardepot.com has the kit from PA racing with the above...under specials I think for about $800.
 
QA1 and granatelli are both cheep k-members. Both have fit issues with some headers. On a drag car that only see's the track they are an ok choice, but on the street they are a very weak K-member. I would go with either an AJE , PA, or Maximum for a good street K-member!! Personally I went with the AJE road race K member with the matching road racing A-arms along with the Maximum Motorsports coilover kit. I've been very happy with it and daily driving it on the crapy PA roads every day.