Do I Need Adjustable Upper Control Arms?

[LA_S4]

I'm thinking about going with Bilstein's B12 setup for a mild drop.

http://raceconsultingagency.com/i-17...FQctaQodrDUC-Q

Do i need adjustable upper control arms to correct the alignment even though it is a mild drop? or it does not matter and I always need adjustable upper arms once I mod the suspension?

[jran76]

I don't think so. You'll be around -1.5 to -1.7 degrees of negative camber. That is technically at the high end of the factory spec. Unless you really need the extra adjustability, it's just more cost, things to adjust, go wrong, etc.

[BlownOne]

^+1. I went through the whole adj control arm idea and decided against it. Just get it aligned at a good place and you'll be gtg.

Will

[XLR8 Craig]

We typically recommend doing the adjustable upper arms depending on what type of drop the customer is looking for and what kind of mileage the car has on it. In your case the B12 kit isn't too drastic, it is on par drop wise with the H&R OE sport spring and like jran6 mentioned. You will be on the high end of spec for camber, lower mileage cars can be a bit less and higher mileage cars can be higher than that depending how the car was driven and where it was driven. The bushings in the control arm cause more camber as they wear. With that being said, we recommend them with setups with drop lower than the B12 or H&R OE sport are going to get you especially on cars that are getting up there in miles, it makes sense to do a control arm replacement while the assembly is out and being aligned. But it definitely adds quite a bit of cost on top, so it might not be needed for your application. Food for thought though.


If you have any questions, we have installed countless suspensions on these cars and installed upper arms on probably half of these cars.



Thanks,

Greg

[jran76]

Yeah, I would recommend them for a drop that goes beyond something like the H&R OE springs or the B12 Pro-Kit (-1.2"), or if you track your car a lot and need the additional adjustments. I ran the SPC arms for 3 years when I had coilovers, and I was very happy with them.

[SteveYem]

I'm lowered on coilovers to around 25.5" fender-to-ground in the front, which is beyond H&R OE drop height and resulted in front camber around -1.9 degrees when I had it aligned last year. I have a set of SPC adjustable control arms sitting in my garage, never installed. For the time being, I am going to absorb the potential extra cost of replacing my tires early due to premature/uneven wear from excessive camber. So far, for the past ~14 months that I have been at this ride height, it does not appear to be shredding my tires too badly, so I have not been able to justify the time/effort/expense of installing the adjustable arms. Plus I've been running OEM S5 wheels (19x9 et33) with 255/35 tires which I'm pretty sure would rub on the front fenders if it weren't for the excessively negative camber setting.

[LA_S4]

sweet!! my future suspension set up just got a lot cheaper. thanks everyone!!

[PCHS4]

I use them for 2 reasons; the L/R alignment is uneven when lowered and I want to make sure I am at 2.25 in the front. That setting is a good compromise of wear and handling. Actually, not much wear at all.

[waxxonMTL]

how much are these control arm going for ? oem vs aftermarket ?

[PCHS4]

I think the SPC UCA set is around $500. The OEM is not adjustable.

[XLR8 Craig]

We have them on our website on sale at the moment. Feel free to check them out here! (2) required per vehicle

http://vag.excelerateperformance.com...i-2247860.aspx

[PeteJ]

I'm lowered on coilovers to around 25.5" fender-to-ground in the front, which is beyond H&R OE drop height and resulted in front camber around -1.9 degrees when I had it aligned last year. I have a set of SPC adjustable control arms sitting in my garage, never installed. For the time being, I am going to absorb the potential extra cost of replacing my tires early due to premature/uneven wear from excessive camber. So far, for the past ~14 months that I have been at this ride height, it does not appear to be shredding my tires too badly, so I have not been able to justify the time/effort/expense of installing the adjustable arms. Plus I've been running OEM S5 wheels (19x9 et33) with 255/35 tires which I'm pretty sure would rub on the front fenders if it weren't for the excessively negative camber setting.

Steve, do you want to sell your SPC a arms?

[PCHS4]

Shouldn't start causing much excess wear under 2.5 degrees.

[xpoweruk]

Those who require a small adjustment could try
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-powerfle...pff3-203g~pfx/
FRONT UPPER ARM TO CHASSIS BUSH CAMBER ADJUSTABLE
PFF3-203G
Provides on-car adjustment of the vehicles camber angles, with a 1.5 degree range of adjustment. This part replaces OE numbers: 4B0407515 and 8K0407515. For a non adjustable bush use PFF3-203

[Acejam]

Despite what many think, excessive camber actually doesn't increase tire wear that much at all. I used to daily drive my Subaru STI SCCA race car when it had -3.5 degrees of camber on the street and never had any issues with my street tire setup. I even had fully adjustable camber plates front and rear on that car, but I left them perfectly aligned to my race camber settings. Why? Because of the following reason: On many suspension setups when you change camber, you're affecting toe as well, and excessive toe will absolutely destroy tires far more than camber ever will.

For an AWD street car, I would recommend running zero toe all around. Zero toe combined with -2 degrees of camber should cause very little chance of increased tire wear on a 255/35/19 setup.

[Caymanite]

To the OP, make sure you want a mild drop as this kit only lowered my car 1/2" in the front and back and nowhere near the claimed 30 to 35mm


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