1970442

Considering buying tubular control arms for my car any advantage like better handling and control?Anyone with experience with these pro and cons?

jfb

i have mentioned this several times contact ho or malibu racing in california if they are still there i have there entire handling plus traction kit and arms front rear plus bars springs tie rods etc under 1100 total. I handle stop and get traction like a mid to late 90,s vette plus reasonably priced how much more can you expect. this is the entire suspension front to rear with all parts you need to finish except new hardware bolts etc.

oldcutlass

It all depends on what your trying to accomplish. What improvements in handling are you after?

droptopron

Are yoy talking front or rear? The word on the fronts is that GM effed up the geometry from the factory and the tubular arms correct it. Make sure to get good quality stuff. I know someone that bought cheapies on line. When he got them they were from China and you could see the crappy quality straight out of the box.

1970442

I am talking front and rear control arms its time to change bushings and ball joints so I figured maybe improve the handling not that it handles bad but things are aging and curious if the new tubular control arms are worth the money and if there was handling advantages.

csouth

There will be some changes/improvements to the handling with the tubulars. One of the biggest improvements you could make would be to install a tall ball joint at the same time. This will help with the negative camber issue the plagues these cars.

507OLDS

In the late-90's,I revamped the whole front suspension on the 72.I did a lot of research at the time,and had-picked all the parts.my front suspensions consists of Hotchkis tubular uppers,78-96 GM B-body spindles,88-92 Camaro/Firebird 1LE option 12" rotors(PowerStop),GM calipers,original lower A-arms with special ball joint for the spindles,and 73-77 A-body outer tie rods.
Since then,Hotchkis,Global West,and a variety of other companies,have come out with tubular lower arms,which I plan to install someday,but I am happy with everything,and woudl do it the same way again.All of the parts can be easily obtained.You can use the B-body rotor,if you redrill the bolt pattern.Power Stop makes a drilled & slotted rotor for the 88-92 1LE Camaro/Firebird,which fit the B-body spindle,so that is what I went with.
The installation of the B-body spindles will lower ride height about 3/4",and widen the track about 3/8" on each side.

My rear suspension consists of Jeg's tubular adjustable uppers,tubular adustable lowers,Wolfe Racecraft spherical bushings for the housing ears,airbag in right rear spring(for the track)Hotchkis rear frame braces,and Hotchkis rear sway bar.

csouth

I used to have that same setup. The reason I switched is because after talking to a guy the builds Pro touring cars offered some advice. He said thet while the B Body spindles fix the negative camber issue, they magnify the problems with bumpsteer due to the steering arm angle. Since I want to use my car for autocross, that was important for me.
Most people are doing the tubulars and tall ball joints now, but as we both know those weren't available when we both bought the Hotchkis stuff.