Mondeo Lower Control Arms

Just wanted to bring this thread over from the old forums. I will be needing (probably already need) to replace my LCA's and I was very interested in these. One thing that I wondered while looking back over the old posts was this: Since the poly bushings are replacable, could you replace them with rubber bushings if the poly turns out to be too harsh? This would address the concerns raised by Rara and others. I can't profess to be anything but a complete noob on the topic so please don't rip my head off if this is a stupid suggestion.

manufacturer link: http://www.deflex.co.uk/cgi-bin/deflexshop/deflexshop.cgi

original thread: http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/s...er=1239510&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=all&vc=1

Just so everyone know, the Cougar and Contour use the same arm no matter if it's the 2 bolt or 4 bolt design. There is no difference in the bushings or anything else for that matter.

Let me state this very clearly.

When you normally upgrade a bushing, you use a harder material that comprimised NVH for better wheel path control and responsiveness. This does not work with a compliance bushing like the 2-bolters. The poly bushings you show are designed to allow rotation about the axis of the bushing hole. They WILL NOT work in an application like the two-bolt arms - you NEED soft rubber to allow the arms to move freely. This means you get change in alignment specs under load, and quickly worn-out bushings. You can weld Heim joints to the arms or use tubular arms with Heim joints in them, since they can be oriented correctly. You can't use poly.

Rubber or solid, those are your options. There is no benifit, only negatives, from poly bushings in a two-bolt.

I understand what you are saying. This means that in order to use these LCAs, I would need to replace the bushings with rubber ones. Is that possible?

There is no performance benifit to these arms. If you think they look cool, go ahead and get them. But they're only going to make the ride worse. If you swap out the poly for rubber you'll have something that's no better than stock anyway.

I guess your best bet is to just get stock replacements, and if you really want to upgrade get some plates welded to the bottom to box the LCA in.

KingpinSVT said:

I guess your best bet is to just get stock replacements, and if you really want to upgrade get some plates welded to the bottom to box the LCA in.

Click to expand...

Hey Chris. Wanna' add a set of boxed front A arms to your rear suspension parts? They do wonders for wheelhop and I make 'em all the time...

Bradness said:

Hey Chris. Wanna' add a set of boxed front A arms to your rear suspension parts? They do wonders for wheelhop and I make 'em all the time...

Click to expand...

Not right now, Im broke foo! You have all my money!

Front suspension overhaul is next, however.

Bradness said:

Hey Chris. Wanna' add a set of boxed front A arms to your rear suspension parts? They do wonders for wheelhop and I make 'em all the time...

Click to expand...

Well I’m interested in this! I started the thread he referenced in the old CEG –but I ended up not buying a set of those arms, mostly due to Auto-X Fil’s compelling arguments against it.

I’ve also looked at the tubular arms with heim joints that BluStrk is/was offering. Interesting, but I have concerns about how durable they are. Would those arms hold up to over 400 front wheel horsepower? The welds in the picture make me cringe a little when I think about how absolutely reliable they must be. That StangKiller character never really addressed the issue except to say that he runs his car into curbs and potholes and such on purpose without breaking them. I’m going to wait to see how that turns out!

I’ve come to the conclusion that a new set of Ford arms (which I have sitting on the shelf) is my best bet. Will you box them for me – or am I better off buying a completed set? Just to say it, I’m really happy with the quality of the tubular toe control arms you sent me.

JEDsContour said:

I’ve also looked at the tubular arms with heim joints that BluStrk is/was offering. Interesting, but I have concerns about how durable they are. Would those arms hold up to over 400 front wheel horsepower? The welds in the picture make me cringe a little when I think about how absolutely reliable they must be. That StangKiller character never really addressed the issue except to say that he runs his car into curbs and potholes and such on purpose without breaking them. I’m going to wait to see how that turns out!

Click to expand...

I have stangkiller's arms on my car. I dont have alot of miles on them yet, and shortly after installing them I was in an accident, I dont want to go into details on what happened, but I cringe at the thought of what would've happened if I had the stock arms.

but we do have a number of cougar owners that have been running them for some time, and running them HARD. I can assure you if the the LCA's had any issues, they would've surfaced by now.

bensenvill said:

I have stangkiller's arms on my car. I dont have alot of miles on them yet, and shortly after installing them I was in an accident, I dont want to go into details on what happened, but I cringe at the thought of what would've happened if I had the stock arms.

but we do have a number of cougar owners that have been running them for some time, and running them HARD. I can assure you if the the LCA's had any issues, they would've surfaced by now.

Click to expand...

Everybody's "cringing" over these arms!

I'm going to bite the bullet here and give these a shot. I sent a PM to BluStrk asking if he’s still making these. I think I’d prefer zerk fittings on the heim joints so I could pump in a little grease occasionally (once or twice a year) to keep the bearing surface clean. My goal is zero wheel hop.

The car I’m assembling will certainly put over 400 HP at the wheels – but there is no way I will ever hook up with that. After thinking it over, the worst stress these will see probably is a pothole or curb. If I’m not comfortable with the weld quality, I just won’t install them. Nothing lost but a little money.

Hope he's still making them!

JEDsContour said:

Everybody's "cringing" over these arms!

I'm going to bite the bullet here and give these a shot. I sent a PM to BluStrk asking if he’s still making these.
......
If I’m not comfortable with the weld quality, I just won’t install them. Nothing lost but a little money.

Hope he's still making them!

Click to expand...

no I understand peoples concerns, but judgement has been harse since no one here has seen them in person.

you may want to drop him a PM on NECO also [under stangkiller], as he frequents there a bit more often. I know he's still making them [at least the 2 bolt configuration].

also he has said before, if your not happy with them, send em back and he'll give you a full refund [IIRC... I hope I'm not misquoting him].

I saw these as well, but I think I read somewhere they were really noisy because of the heim joint, and I don't really want clunky suspension on my daily driver. Anyone want to comment on this?

Not sure who said that [if anyone], but I have not heard that from anyone that actually has them installed.

heim joints will transmit vibration, but good bushings shouldn't clunk.

The biggest downside to the heim joints is that there is no recessional compliance in the suspension. What this means, is that every time you hit a bump, when it tries to move the wheel backward, the stock bushings let it give a little in the hit, but the heim joints will give nothing, and make any bumps very harsh, and hard on the car as well.

I was planning on making spherical bearings (same as heim joints) to press into my stock arms, but ultimately decided against it because of the harsh Michigan roads and the fact that my car will still be a daily driver.