Has anyone tried boxing their oem rear lower control arms for strength?

 

Most of the problem with the OEM LCas are the bushings, not the actual arm.

 

In my experience the stock lca has allot of flex, my older ones show signs of flexing at the ends. The stamped on weights on the inside do little to strengthen, I think they are there for harmonics more than strength. I find the stock bushings just fine with the roush lcas. They have the required give but non of the flex. As most forget the suspension needs to articulate. The perceived bushing problems is not a problem with a watts link as the bushings are only asked to do one thing, and that is to tampen. The factory setup asks the bushings to flex side to side, which is apparent from the shape of the rubber (notice the cuts on the rubbers themselves).

I like the lcas so much that I have two sets of spare bushings for when the ones on there bite the dust.

 

I wouldn't bother welding on them.

When I changed mine out I could flex the stock ones by HAND. Swap them and don't look back.

 

I just removed my J&M lca's and reinstalled the oem lca's. The ride is back to normal again. The J&M's weren't annoying at normal temps, I just didn't like the big bumps and definately didn't like -35*F. At that temp hitting a big road bump sounded like the rear of the car was being torn apart. They did reduce wheel hop dramatically.

I'm trying a different aprroach to reduce wheel hop. I've been thinking the upper control arms front slotted bushing is probably more a cause of wheel hop than the lca's so I have filled the slot's with Sikaflex 252 polyurethane adhesive. I don't know if it will help or last as I haven't had a chance to test on a highway but I have been driving for a couple of days with it and ride quality is much better than the aftermarket lca's.

 

They sell poly bushings for the gt500 lca's and as I have confirmed the bushings are the same. I own a set of gt500 lca's besides them having a different paint job, the bushings are the same as the gt bushings. If you want oem ride with less flex on the arms then get a set of roush ones with oem bushings. Or just remove the heavy metal inserts and weld them closed with plate steel.

 

Waste of time. The LCAs don't flex the problem is the rubber. If you like the soft rubber then leave the arms alone.