BMR LCA Bearings & Steeda LCA difference ?

[Voodooo]

Another pic

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[wildcatgoal]

Exactly, too much of a hassle to put on this part. BTW, if you don't mind, what was the price of the LCA preloaded with the bearing?

Talk to [MENTION=25806]SteedaTech[/MENTION].

Asking me to find an invoice is like asking me to hit on a hot waitress at a restaurant... it is impossible to succeed. But I know it was the cost of the LCAs - same price essentially as if you get from Levittown or similar, the cost of the bearing, and like 30 min of shop labor or something there'bouts.

 

[wildcatgoal]

Those cortex bearings look pretty snazzy! Have similar spacers as the Steeda unit, but I don't remember if the Steeda spacer would slide right through which is what the Cortex looks like. Guess I'd have to take my LCA off to find out, haha.

Tell me more about the results from the front LCA bearing. I haven't noticed, personally, any want for the front to tighten up on my car (probably because it's not responsible for putting power down).

 

[Voodooo]

Those cortex bearings look pretty snazzy! Have similar spacers as the Steeda unit, but I don't remember if the Steeda spacer would slide right through which is what the Cortex looks like. Guess I'd have to take my LCA off to find out, haha.

Tell me more about the results from the front LCA bearing. I haven't noticed, personally, any want for the front to tighten up on my car (probably because it's not responsible for putting power down).

What do you mean "slide right through"?? Cortex,Steeda, BMR all use the same spacer design. A two piece spacer, one that goes onto each side of the bearing.

The stock front control arm bushing is a freaking sponge! It needs to go. Doesn't matter if you think its not putting down power or not, you car still has to handle and turn. Why not install it? Even for a drag race standpoint it will keep a more accurate front end alignment when the front wheels transfer weight. Plus it's over 1 pound lighter per side than the stock bushing.

For auto cross and track racing it provides more feedback and more solid feel. You'll notice it in the front just as you did swapping out the LCA bearings from the rear.

 

[DAVECS1]

http://www.mustang6g.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67958

Here is my thread for the install of my LCAs. I think all of the products available are about a 1000 times better than what Ford tried to pass off on us. You can see in my post, the stock bushing is dismal. I chose simply based on price, well and a tad bit on materials. I prefer my suspension parts to be made of steel alloys for the simple fact, most suspension see some degree of deformation under load. Aluminum has a finite fatigue life. If sized right it is almost infinite, but not infinite. With steel, especially the right grade, and size, it can have an infinite fatigue life. If the car is not going to be serviced like a race car and the weight penalty is not substantial, then I choose steel.

In this situation. I think all of the parts are over kill, so choose the one that trips your trigger. I do like the bearings that have mechanisms for retaining the bearing in the A-arm, but in all reality if you get to the point you need to use these mechanisms, things are failing anyway.

The thing I noticed MOST, is once this bushing is changed the rear shock and spring rates are way off, and the ride is a bit on the bouncy side.

 

[wildcatgoal]

It looks like in one of the photos that the spacer rod would be able to be pushed from one side to the other and fall out the other side but I hadn't seen the photos you posted on an earlier post which show up (for me) on a different page. That's my bad. I quote like the Cortex cone design of the spacer - makes for good surface area contact with the mounting point of the LCA in the back, plus a cone is basically a series of triangles (think base of a water tower) so that'll prove to be nice and strong. Looks like awesome stuff!

Regarding the front bearing, thanks for the info. Looks like changing it doesn't require the same amount of surgery as does the LCA bearing, which is wonderful. I'll have to add one of those to my list of things I shouldn't buy but... will. Haha.

 

[wildcatgoal]

The thing I noticed MOST, is once this bushing is changed the rear shock and spring rates are way off, and the ride is a bit on the bouncy side.

I experienced the same. Glad I wasn't the only one, because every one of the companies that make these state "no NVH or very little NVH" which is... I've stopped believing that, haha. I think this qualifies as the "H" part. Every car is different, I suppose. I had to adjust my rear shocks a few times until I was happy. Perhaps this is to be expected or I'm just "feeling things", but I also had to adjust my front shocks seemingly to "match up". And what got it just right was when I changed from spherical to delrin vertical links, which kept everybody tight but tamed the back end just enough. I think I'll miss the sphericals in extreme situations but I have to develop a package that works for me. All part of the experiment...

 

[Voodooo]

http://www.mustang6g.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67958

Here is my thread for the install of my LCAs. I think all of the products available are about a 1000 times better than what Ford tried to pass off on us. You can see in my post, the stock bushing is dismal. I chose simply based on price, well and a tad bit on materials. I prefer my suspension parts to be made of steel alloys for the simple fact, most suspension see some degree of deformation under load. Aluminum has a finite fatigue life. If sized right it is almost infinite, but not infinite. With steel, especially the right grade, and size, it can have an infinite fatigue life. If the car is not going to be serviced like a race car and the weight penalty is not substantial, then I choose steel.

In this situation. I think all of the parts are over kill, so choose the one that trips your trigger. I do like the bearings that have mechanisms for retaining the bearing in the A-arm, but in all reality if you get to the point you need to use these mechanisms, things are failing anyway.

The thing I noticed MOST, is once this bushing is changed the rear shock and spring rates are way off, and the ride is a bit on the bouncy side.

If you're worried about aluminum to steel suspension and bearing housings, you better throw away you rear control arms. All the LCA bearing housing does is "house" the bearing. Whether it's made of steel or aluminum makes no difference, except weight. It's the bearing itself that makes the difference.

 

[Voodooo]

It looks like in one of the photos that the spacer rod would be able to be pushed from one side to the other and fall out the other side but I hadn't seen the photos you posted on an earlier post which show up (for me) on a different page. That's my bad. I quote like the Cortex cone design of the spacer - makes for good surface area contact with the mounting point of the LCA in the back, plus a cone is basically a series of triangles (think base of a water tower) so that'll prove to be nice and strong. Looks like awesome stuff!

Regarding the front bearing, thanks for the info. Looks like changing it doesn't require the same amount of surgery as does the LCA bearing, which is wonderful. I'll have to add one of those to my list of things I shouldn't buy but... will. Haha.

I have both the BMR and cortex bearings. I personally like the cortex better. Just my opinion. The BMR is also a nice heavy bearing, but I like the fact cortex offers both front and rear matching bearings.

 

[DAVECS1]

Voodoo, I think you took a bit of what I said out of context. I completely understand aluminum is a viable option for suspensions. I said I prefer steel for fatigue life. On this purchase if I had to put a number on how much material played a factor, maybe 5%.

I will say under extreme conditions I would make the bet the bearing housing sees some significant loading that could lead to flex, not see it with the naked eye flex, but material deformation all the same.

Also I am not a huge fan of the lower control arm on the mustang but I understand the material choice. Just to to connect the dots would require the use of significant materials. To cover that ground with a steel alloy would be difficult to save weigh and combat flex.

Now that I think about it, it would not suprise me in the least, if us guys that have gone to a solid bearing, see cracking in our LCAs as our cars age

 

[Voodooo]

Voodoo, I think you took a bit of what I said out of context. I completely understand aluminum is a viable option for suspensions. I said I prefer steel for fatigue life. On this purchase if I had to put a number on how much material played a factor, maybe 5%.

I will say under extreme conditions I would make the bet the bearing housing sees some significant loading that could lead to flex, not see it with the naked eye flex, but material deformation all the same.

Also I am not a huge fan of the lower control arm on the mustang but I understand the material choice. Just to to connect the dots would require the use of significant materials. To cover that ground with a steel alloy would be difficult to save weigh and combat flex.

Doesn't matter if the bearing housing is made of steel or aluminum. It's a solid piece of material. The area you're going to see flex is in the bearing itself. Not the bearing housing. Now, the hosing could move inside the LCA bore and the bearing could also move inside the housing. This wouldn't matter if it was made of steel or aluminum. The only thing keeping these bearings held into the bearing housing and LCA are snap rings and a press fit. If either of these fail, your day is done regardless of the housing material.

 

[DAVECS1]

100 percent agree, I even mentioned that same failure in my first comment.

 

[BMR Tech]

[MENTION=7033]Voodoo[/MENTION] hence my argument as to why I believe ours are better than the others, that this thread is about. The issue with no retaining lip and lock ring is that you are solely relying on OEM tolerance...and your tolerance. Not to mention....you are pressing steel from aluminum....If one or the other is off too much then it can be a bad day.

As for the cortex stuff, I like those bearings. They're nice pieces. I don't think they offer any performance benefit increase except being a little lighter...but they do look awesome and of high quality.

Our front solutions are coming. Got some cool stuff coming.

 

[DAVECS1]

If we are speaking who wins the engineering contest. Sorry guys but it is Cortex. I love all their stuff, but as a 40 year old non-competitive, fat guy with a family, I cannot always justify the money for their stuff. By the way they are big fans of steel too, check out their struts.

Cortex has built some stiffness into their design by shaping the housing. It looks to me they have done a bit of FEA and strengthen the necessary load paths while keeping it light.

As for the Steeda pressing into the LCA, I agree there is some risk associated with that. I used a set of Calipers and made sure the clearance was something sensible. I ended up sanding one LCA.

In my opinion if a company is going to use a snap ring or any retaining device, in order for it to be effective, for more than a fail safe it would need to be installed with some pre load.

 

[Jmeo]

I get the retaining lip and lock ring will prevent side to side movement but to me the biggest worry, due to the up and down movement that actually happens the most, would be it spinning in place and none of the bearing choices we have will help here.

Ford and probably most (if not all) other companies press bushings and bearings with no retaining lip or lock ring. When bushings or bearings fail, replacement bushings or bearings are pressed in to replace them and life goes on. It has been a practice for years without issue. The exception here would be if the mating surface is too far damaged for the bushing or bearing to press in securely. If this is an issue then preventing side to side movement is futile since the bearing is going to spin in place anyway.

The Ford Racing Toe/Knuckle bearing is used by the majority of people here and it replaces a pressed out bushing by being pressed into an aluminum housing just like the LCA in mention and it hasn't been an issue that I've heard of.

If I ever have failure of the Steeda LCA bearing I'm using now or have to replace the LCA itself I will be getting the Cortex bearing simply due to amazeballs

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