wondering if its worth putting after market front a arms on my 72 cutlass. i redid all the other suspention and use it for street driving only.

 

IMHO unless you are changing the spindles to taller units probably not.

 

If your just driving your car on the street and not into road course style performance, I would use the stock setup. They last a long time with minimal maintenance and no worries.

 

Tubular lowers offer no real benefit over stock other than to increase strength, as the originals are prone to cracking through the bj opening after so many years on the road (i've had 3 of them over the years with cracks in that spot, and one that actually let go on me while driving)

Tubular or adjustable Uppers though are a different story. Stock upper arm geometry sucks and limits you to about 2 degrees of positive caster (or is it negative, can't remember). Most modern vehicles and performance cars align with from 6degrees or more caster. The new upper arms have this built into them, so you can achive modern specs.

So if you are considering the change- then I would recommend keeping the stock lowers (With new BJs & bushings, but after inspecting carefully for cracks) but replace the uppers with one of the modern tubular or double jambnut-ajustable A-arms available.
With no other changes, they will allow you get that "modern" alignment with more caster. This will give an immediate improvement in the way the car drives- it eliminates a lot of the "wander" going down the road at highway speeds that these cars have with stock (even rebuilt) components.

Tall spindles and all the other stuff... Really not needed if just daily driving... But the corrected geometry uppers, and a good stiff close ratio steering box will make it feel like a sports car, and that is a huge benefit for a driver.

Just my $.02

 

I agree. I replaced my control arms with tubular(Upper and lower) and it feels much better, especially when driving above 60mph. The car drives nice and straight and it carves corners much better.

 

i have the close ratio gear box already. so i dont need the taller spindles or the better lower a arms unless i want to?

 

Yes sir.

 

Tubular Lower arms don't have any impact on the geomety... they are (to my knowledge) made with the same geometry as stock lower arms had.

The reason people buy them (other than they look cool) is the stock lower arms are prone to cracking through the BJ mounting position after 40-50 years in service. The tubular arms are built stronger and won't have that issue. Now if you do a careful inspection on your stock arms and they show no signs of cracking- there is no need to replace.

Another reason people go with newer lowers- is if they planning to use coilover shock/springs- then you can get the lowers premade to accept the specific coilovers, which is nice, as some need the lower arm reinforced where they attach.

The Tall spindle vs tall ball joint conversation is a whole different can of worms- and I don't know enough to speak to it intelligently- but I can say that for a typical driver vehicle that won't be seeing high speed cornering, you can likely live without those mods and never miss them.

There are very detailed threads regarding all-out performance front suspension builds over on Team Chevelle in the pro-touring forum, or on pro-touring.com & lateralg.net.
If interested you could read for days and days on the subject- or Give Mark Savinski at SC&C a call, he'll talk your ear off about options and watch your credit card melt ;-)

It really all comes down to how you define a "driver" and how much $$ you want to spend.

Anyway- hope this helps some.
Ben