Opinions

Edited: 8/7/2006 11:21:58 PM by fatheadjames

Was wondering everyones opinion on control arms using bushings or heims on the frame side. Is one better then the other for a daily driver?

bushings.

Anyone else?

ive seen both used with a good outcome so i think its more personal prefrence.

bushings

bushings

bushings are probably considered "better"


but honestly, ive seen alot of arms use heims, and theyve allways been fine.


taylor

Can anybody give reasoning to why one is better then the other?

in my opinion it would be hard to control caster with heims. I know it would get too much movement before the heims motion couter acted each other, especially if the arms mounted wide. the more I think about it, I don't think you would be able to get too much if any caster change. I've had too many heim joint problems in the past, I've seen a couple of them snap a part because they have so much movement they manage to bind themselves up a little bit.

Granted the binding is a display of a lacking design, but a bushing wouldn't be capable of allowing that much twist to begin with. Hope that makes sense.

I know, I've only been here for a few days and I have already ravaged several of your forums...

"Granted the binding is a display of a lacking design" ...Exactly!



There are advantages to both heims and bushings

Heims are a very rigid joint. On a race car heims are used because there is no deflection. In a hard corner most bushings will flex and allow the suspension geometry change (not good for racing.) Heims will not flex (not enough to concern us.) BUT heims are expensive (the good ones)and transmit plenty of noise in to the chassis.

Bushings (of most types) are good because they are forgiving. There are many different bushing designs with more and less compliance (flex) Choosing the right one has been made easy by the aftermarket industry. But reguardless, bushings help to eliminate road noise and do allow some undesireable suspension movement. But if properly designed very tollerable.

On a performance build, I will almost always use a combination of the two.
99% of the time, I will place the bushing on the frame side. It helps to eliminate noise while still having better control over the suspension.