My understanding is that the MM and Griggs torque arms are legal in AS because they are considered "traction aids" and not as actual control arms, and to get around the not removing stock control arms rules, you look at the bushing material choice rule, which states any bushing material is legal, so you then choose something like pipe insulation as your bushing material on the control arms you would normally remove, so they are made a non-factor, for the same reason the Steeda "5-link" is legal.
I really do think you are hung up on what hte Steeda actually does, it is a PARALLEL upper control arm setup, compared to the stock NON-PARALLEL upper control arm setup. The entire reason the stock suspension has bind in it is because the upper arms are a converging design (allows Ford to skip out on a panhard or a watts from the factory, as well as progressively restricting excessive bump travel, fine for stock, but bad for max handling) The steeda has PARALLEL upper arms, and therefore, no bind at all, and for that reason, it requires a panhard bar (or watts) which is included in the kit (very nice adjustable panhard too)
the steeda is no more of a "Band-Aid" than either the griggs or MM TA/PB setup, if you want a band-aid approach, look to Saleen or Steeda's other stuff.
I agree that everyone is going to come to their own conclusion about what they like best, be it a TQ arm or a real 4-link setup (steeda considers the panhard to be the 5th link, hence the name) or whatever (honestly, a TQ arm isn't really a 3-link, a 3-link is a lot more like a 4-link than a TA setup)
My entire point is, that the Steeda is light years better than stock, and no longer has the problems associated w/ the stock "quadra-bind" (patent pending) suspension, and is at least as good as, if not better than a TQ arm from either MM or griggs.
btw, where in Cali are you? I grew up in Santa Rosa, and only moved away so I could come work at Ford (I hate Michigan)
